Business
Venture capitalists hit town!
A conference which aims to bring together companies in the West of Ireland with capital providers takes place at NUIG this Friday, hosted by Galway Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Irish Venture Capital Association.
In addition to venture capital firms, representatives from Enterprise Ireland, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Udaras and the Irish Stock Exchange will be speaking at the event.
Master of Ceremonies for the event is Galway native Harry McGee, Political Correspondent at the Irish Times.
“Obtaining capital is key to supporting the growth of companies,” said Galway Chamber of Commerce President Frank Greene.
“In 2014 we submitted our Economic Development Plan to both the City and County Councils. One of the areas we identified as requiring attention was access to capital. The Venture West conference aims to address this,” he added.
Entrepreneurs and companies from across the West of Ireland will be attending the event.
‘The conference provides a platform for companies in the West of Ireland. It is important that we see strong capital flows into the West of Ireland to support continued growth’, said Maurice O’Gorman who is leading the conference organization on behalf of Galway Chamber.
Keynote speaker at the event, Mike Krenn, who will look at how San Diego has emerged as a hub for start-ups.
The President of the San Diego Venture Group, he is in the midst of a mission to help grow the emerging growth tech community in San Diego – helping companies get their first round of funding, and helping existing companies to grow, and connecting companies both with capital and customers.
He is the founder of both the Tech Coast Angels and CommNexus. While at DLA Piper (the world’s largest law firm), he founded the Venture Pipeline group – a free service that matches entrepreneurs with capital sources nationally. He has served on boards for Connect, The MIT Forum, the San Diego Software Council, and numerous other organizations.
During his career, Mike has worked with hundreds of companies and entrepreneurs, helping more than 50 companies raise start-up capital, in excess of $100M. He also has experience (and empathy) with start-ups, having worked as a COO and VP at a privately-funded technology start-up.
There is a strong line up of 35 speakers from various business sectors, including life sciences and ICT.
Full details for the conference can be found at www.venturewest.ie
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.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
