Business
Talented locals ready to set out their stalls at Craft, Food and Gift Fair
Taking part in an organised craft fair makes perfect sense for small businesses, especially if they are local start-ups, like some of those who will be showing off their wares this weekend in Galway City.
The third annual Galway Craft, Food and Gift Fair takes place this Saturday and Sunday in the Black Box on the Headford Road, where over 40 exhibitors will set out their stalls.
Organised by the Galway Enterprise Board, up to 6,000 people attended the two day event last year such is the interest in craft or cottage industries, especially if they involve organic materials or home grown or home produced food!
One of this year’s first timers at the Fair will be Sineád O’Brien, a law graduate student who has shelved her law aspirations for now to concentrate on a seaweed business.
Mungo Murphys Seaweed Co is based in the Conamara Gaeltacht, in Ros a Mhil, which has a history of fish and seaweed products.
Sineád’s products involve bath and beauty but she also supplies fresh seaweed to restaurants — the nori is quite popular with the growing popularity of sushi in local eateries.
She also hopes to further develop the beauty end of it and is currently working with the Limerick Institute of Technology on that aspect.
“I was in Amsterdam working on a Masters and saw a lot of my college colleagues setting up their own businesses, but it was when I met someone who imported seaweed from Galway that I got thinking maybe I should go into that myself.
“Though my mother is involved in the seaweed business, I hadn’t appreciated how it is valued until I went abroad,” she admits.
Her company was set up a year ago so this weekend she hopes to introduce her products to a whole new set of customers. Her products are currently sold online. . . and yes Mungo is a fictitious character!!
Another first-timer is Tony O’Reilly of Beleaf, also set up just a year ago quite by accident.
He was involved in a company which makes stairs but when the construction business quietened down, he agreed to help make a few wooden products for a friend who opened up a pop-up shop last Christmas. The chopping boards, jewellery holders and tea light holders were all sold out and he decided there was more demand on hand-crafted products than stairs.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
The new President of Local Ireland, the association representing local news publishers around the country, is Head of Irish Times Regionals Dan Linehan.
Mr Linehan takes over the presidency from Declan McGuire of the Connacht Tribune. His appointment was confirmed at the recent Annual General Meeting of Local Ireland at Bloomfield House Hotel near Mullingar, Westmeath.
Mr Linehan, who has served as Vice President of the organisation for the last two years, said: “The coming years are a very important time for local publishers with many important issues to be addressed, including the implementation of the Future of Media Commission recommendations, defamation reform, the role and support for local publishers in public service reporting and helping publishers develop commercial digital offerings.”
Speaking at the AGM, Mr McGuire acknowledged the work done by the Executive in the past two years under the direction of Executive Director, Bob Hughes, on several projects related to the publishing industry but most especially the successful conclusion of the long-running campaign for the abolition of VAT on newspapers.
He also wished Mr Linehan the very best in his new role as President of the association for the next two years.
Mr Hughes thanked Mr McGuire for his leadership and support during his term of office and said he looked forward to working with Mr Linehan on the key policy priorities for the association, including Government supports, Government advertising, fair remuneration for content from the tech platforms and the reform of the legislation for defamation.
Local Ireland members also elected Seán Mahon, Managing Director of the Southern Star, as Vice President for the next two years.
The shortage of affordable housing is the single biggest impediment in attracting and retaining workers in the West, according to business group Ibec.
At a ‘Regional Insights Series’ meeting in the Galmont Hotel in Galway last week, employers were told that capacity constraints and labour supply are the key challenges facing business growth in the region.
Ibec Head of Regional Policy Helen Leahy said: “There must be greater focus by government on enhancing quality of life issues such as housing and infrastructure which are driving labour shortages in the region.
“Ibec’s vision for the West is to realise its potential to become a globally competitive location. An inadequate supply of affordable housing is now the single largest impediment to attracting and retaining talented workers, without whom business investment and expansions are not possible.
“Labour shortages are a real concern for businesses in the region. People decide where to live and work based on quality of life and access to high quality services and amenities. Industry tends to follow talent, and in this regard, the region needs to have all the building blocks in place as the attraction and retention of world-class talent becomes increasingly competitive on a global level,” said Ms Leahy.
Amongst Ibec’s priorities for the West are:
- Addressing housing and infrastructure challenges
- Transitioning towards a new growth model with Net Zero energy powered by Atlantic offshore wind resources
- Adapting businesses to the new economic realities
- Enhancing capacity and skillsets to achieve sustainable development objectives
- Investment in people and skills
- Creating competitive advantage through digitalisation
- Innovation as a key driver of productivity growth
One in five Galway businesses want to go fully cashless, as the move towards card payments and tapping continues unabated post-Covid.
In all, 22% of Galway businesses would like to be fully cashless, according to a survey carried out by BOI Payment Acceptance (BOIPA), a provider of payment technology solutions, which asked Irish businesses about the current payment landscape as well as business confidence and concerns.
Over one-third (36%) of Galway businesses were unaware there is no contactless limit on mobile wallets – just below the national average – while 54% believe the increase in card over cash transactions has helped them run their business.
Six out of ten Galway businesses expect to grow this year despite the cost-of-living crisis and running costs dominating as key concerns; 62% believe their business will grow over the next twelve months despite global economic uncertainty.
Unsurprisingly cost-of-living increases and running costs were the main concerns the majority of businesses had.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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