Congratulations to Sligo manufacturing company and STS participant, O'Hara's Gutters, who has been recognised by Intertradeireland for its commitment to innovation after taking part in the all-island technology transfer programme, FUSION. Follow link below
http://www.sligochampion.ie/news/tubbercurry-firm-wins-intertradeireland-prize-3007836.html

 Success Through Succession: Cohort II an interactive workshop

The Success Through Succession (STS) Programme is a three-year programme with total project funding of €1.74m and is a collaborative partnership between Dundalk Institute of Technology, Glasgow Caledonian University, being led by the University of Ulster and aims to strategically assist family owned SMEs across Northern Ireland, the Six Border Counties of Ireland and the West of Scotland to manage the challenges of succession using a series of interventions.
On 31^st January 2012 the STS Programme in Ireland hosted our regional Workshop 2 event for our Cohort II STS participant companies in the Glass House Hotel, Sligo. All twelve cohort II companies were able to attend the event with a total of 26 delegates from our companies and a generous mix of both senior and younger generation. The event was also attended by some our mentor panel with representation from each of the STS mentoring themes of finance, general business, tax and business psychology. This one-day event offered interactive sessions crossing themes of the family business context facilitated by Francis Martin of the BDO Family Business Centre, and preparation for succession, focusing on family and management components and finally developing the business facilitated by Cathy Booth of the BDO Family Business Centre. The event also included a keynote speaker and family business practitioner Barbara Hughes of Boozeberries.

 
Participant testimonials of the event include:

‘Very interesting.’

‘SWOT analysis very interesting. ‘

‘Thought provoking. ‘

‘Well conducted.

‘Hit the most relevant organisational issues.’

Participant testimonials on the most valuable part the event include:

‘Open discussions, processes.’

‘Group work plus feedback. ‘

‘Interaction with other family business owners… Speaking with other companies and highlighting the weaknesses.’

‘Excellent speakers, very informative.’

‘Preparation of an action plan to deal with handover. …Preparing for succession. ‘

For further information visit:

www.successthroughsuccession.com where the STS Workbook and other pertinent information can be accessed by both the participant companies and other family owned businesses.

And/or contact Aidan Browne, STS Project Manager for Ireland on +353 (0)42 9327455

To celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the Novation Enterprise Platform Programme, the Regional Development Centre was transformed into an exhibition centre on Thursday 19^th January last. The Novation EPP is a comprehensive programme of support for technology start-up companies and over 20 past and current participants “set up stall” for the day. Just short of 150 delegates were in attendance many of whom were also interested in learning about the new 2012 programme being unveiled during the exhibition.

President of DkIT, Denis Cummins welcomed those in attendance and gave an overview of some of the successes achieved by the 130 programme participants over the past 10 years. – notably a growth in turnover to €64 million per annum and employment of 400 direct employees (mostly 3^rd level graduates). He was particularly pleased with the collaboration with DCU Invent which was agreed in May 2011 and which will continue for future programmes.

Conor Fahy, Regional Director Enterprise Ireland, spoke about the pivotal role that the RDC plays in fostering start-ups and innovation in the Region and Enterprise Ireland’s delight to be partnering with DkIT on the new programme.

Three past participants spoke about their journey building successful businesses and the role the Novation EPP programme played. For Peter Smyth, Founder and Chairman of RedMere the programme provided focus and the environment to learn how to start and grow a business that now is headquartered in Ireland and has a significant presence in the United States and Taiwan.

Deirdre MacCormack, CMO Mcor Technologies, had some advice for those starting out on their entrepreneurial journey – “avail of all hard and soft supports you can, mentors are magic, enter as many competitions as you can (it sharpens the business plan) and Network, Network, Network.

Kieran Fitzpatrick, CEO Barracuda FX, was on the programme in 2008/09. For Kieran the programme supported him in many ways:

• Getting from Idea to Business
• Exposure to New Ideas & Fresh Thinking
• Mentoring & Networking
• Provided a supportive Environment
• Objective Critical Review
• Building Confidence
• Provided Discipline

The audience also heard from Grainne Lennon InterTradeIreland who spoke about the unparalleled run of success NEPP participants have had in InterTradeIreland’s Seedcorn Competition providing overall winners on three occasions and Regional Winners on a further three occasions.

Sean MacEntee, Incubation Centre Manager in the RDC gave an overview of the new programme and announced that the new programme is now open for applications. Phase one will be over 8 weeks (part time, evenings) delivered in two locations Dundalk and Glasnevin and will commence in February.

For the remainder of the afternoon delegates visited the stands, networked and did business. The showcase, with exhibitors such as Digiweb, The Design Basket, SMEContracts.ie, Danu Wind, STATSports, Big Mountain Productions, Armac Systems, Mara Irish Surf and many more, also highlighted the variety of sectors and business ideas developed with the support of the programme over the past decade.

If you would like further information on the Novation EPP or would like to Apply for the new programme, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Tel 042 9370427

The engineering students of DkIT got a welcome treat when one of the local leading employers in the renewable energy sector came to give the students a talk. Organised and run by DkIT Student Enterprise, it was not an event to be missed as students and staff alike filled the engineering theatre. Manufacturing manager Niall O'Callaghan presented the up and coming technology of tidal energy systems which are being developed in Greenore and which have been deployed off Canada and France. Although the company has not yet commercialised their products, they have received investments of over €80 million from different corporate and private investors, which signifies the belief in this new sector. The event finished up with a lengthy Q&A session as students left with renewed hope of potential employment possibilities. DkIT Student Enterprise would  like to thank everybody who attended OpenHydros talk. We look forward to your continued support throughout the year.

For more information about DkIT Student Enterprise and upcoming activities you can find us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/dkitstudententerprise

It was a day to remember for Student Enterprise at DkIT, Bobby Kerr Chairman of Insomnia who has other vested business interests in the hotelier, restaurant and food sectors took time out from his hectic schedule to come and speak to a packed Whitaker theatre full of budding entrepreneurs. Taking to the stage Bobby talked about how he started off in life after college and the first day he opened his doors for trade on Grafton Street. Bobby kept the crowd entertained throughout with a collection of pictures from over the years and funny clips from Dragons’ Den. His advice included what not to do in business and most importantly his top ten tips for life. He was also enthusiastic about the €10 Challenge encouraging students to take part in it at the end of his talk. DkIT Student Enterprise would once again like to thank everybody who attended Bobby Kerr’s talk. We look forward to your continued support throughout the year.

For more information about DkIT Student Enterprise and upcoming activities you can find us on facebook at: www.facebook.com/dkitstudententerprise

The Innovation for Competitive Enterprises (ICE) programme has recruited it’s second cohort of 31 companies and will be working with these companies to enhance their innovation capability through the intensive twelve month ‘learning by doing’ programme.

The companies were brought together for a first Group Innovation Workshop which was held on October 26^th 2011 in the Glenavon Hotel, Cookstown, Northern Ireland. The theme of this first Workshop was “Ideas in Business”, how to introduce creativity into the business, how to capture ideas from employees and customers and how to assess and evaluate new ideas before preparing the roadmap.

The Workshop was practical and interactive and there was an opportunity for the learnings to be put into practice through a Group exercise where some owner managers presented their own real business issues and others carried on “brainstorming”, idea creation and idea evaluation on the issues and offered potentials solutions. The solutions were also assessed through an ideas assessment toolkit.

The day closed with some real live case studies presented by Professor Dennis McKeag former Professor of Product Development at the University of Ulster. Professor McKeag has been helping international and local companies in Northern Ireland to improve their manufacturing processes and increase their bottom line for over 20 years and presented a case study from one of the companies he has worked with recently, Rapid Engineering Ltd.

Kieran Fegan ICE Programme Manager commented, ‘It is important to put processes in place to identify, capture or generate and effectively assess ideas so that those with potential can be implemented effectively’.

ICE which has received approximately €2.49 million of support under the EU’s INTERREG IVA Programme, with assistance from Scottish Enterprise is spearheaded by Dundalk Institute of Technology. Representing a truly collaborative approach Dundalk Institute of Technology is implementing the project alongside the University of Ulster, the University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian, University. ICE is designed to enhance the innovation capacity of local businesses through an intensive twelve month ‘learning by doing’ programme. The three year project will enable 90 company participants to develop new business models, products and services.

For further information on ICE contact the Regional Development Centre at DkIT on Tel: 00353 42 9370425 or contact Kieran Fegan directly on 00353 87 417 4681. The ICE website can be found at www.iceprogramme.com

Contact:

Kieran Fegan

ICE Programme Manager

Tel: 00353 87 417 4681

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Success Through Succession (STS) Programme is a 3 year programme with total project funding of €1.74m and is a collaborative partnership between Dundalk Institute of Technology, Glasgow Caledonian University, being led by the University of Ulster and aims to strategically assist family owned SMEs across Northern Ireland, the Six Border Counties of Ireland and the West of Scotland to manage the challenges of succession using a series of interventions. The STS Programme has now reached a milestone wrapping up with its first cohort of companies while starting a second cohort on the STS journey.

STS Cohort I update

To date 10 companies across the six southern border counties from sectors including engineering, medical devices, construction, crafts and transport have been successfully brought through Cohort I of the STS programme. Throughout their journey each company has been supported in their Succession Planning with intervention mechanisms that have included one-to-one mentoring and consultation and group activities such as themed workshops and training seminars.  With the help of the STS team each participant company from Cohort I have developed and documented bespoke Succession Plans that provides a framework and action plan to realise their Family Business Succession goals.

Cohort I testimonials:

Testimonials from Cohort I family businesses include:

‘The S.T.S. Programme opened communication channels for us. The workshops were interesting and enjoyable with the ones targeted at the younger generation particularly helpful.’ [Senior Generation]

‘I found the programme invaluable…our company has changed as a result.’’ [Senior Generation]

‘…without the STS programme we would have been lost and the company would not have survived into the future because I, the family, the business, and the staff were not prepared for the succession challenge.’ [Younger Generation]

‘…it was very helpful, it gave us great direction…we weren’t sure how to go about succession before STS.’ [Younger Generation]

STS Cohort II

Following a robust recruitment drive twelve companies were accepted onto the Cohort II of the STS programme. The sectors cohort II companies are from range in diversity to include textiles, construction, light and heavy engineering, memorials, ground drilling, and hospitality. Each of the twelve companies have now had their mentoring support action plan developed and have commenced the STS Programme support process.

On 30^th November 2011 the STS Programme in Ireland also hosted the regional Workshop 1 event for our Cohort II STS participant companies in the Four Seasons Hotel in Monaghan. 9 of the 12 cohort II companies were able to attend the event with a total of 23 delegates from our companies and a generous mix of both senior and younger generations. The event was also attended by mentors from each of the STS mentoring themes of finance, general business, legal, tax and business psychology. This one-day event offered interactive sessions crossing 3 themes of finance- facilitated by Feargal McCormack of FPM Chartered Accountants, tax- facilitated by Desi Foley FPM Chartered Accountants and family business values facilitated by Catherine Curran of Level4 Business Psychologists.

The event also included keynote speakers from John Tinnelly and Sons, Patsy Tinnelly Snr and Patrick Tinnely Jr, who are very much a model of ‘Best Practice’ in terms of family business succession. The business was started in 1959 by Patsy Tinnely Snr’s father John, and was passed to Patsy and his brother. Patsy subsequently bought his brother out of the firm and grew it to were it is today with the support of the seven third generation family members and a fourth generation who are working in the business.

For further information visit:

www.successthroughsuccession.com where the STS Workbook and other pertinent information can be accessed by both the participant companies and other family owned businesses.

contact Aidan Browne, STS Project Manager for Ireland on +353 (0)42 9327455
email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Success of the Success Through Succession Programme

Family businesses in the six southern border counties of Ireland are reaping the rewards of spending 12-months in a specially customized programme to assist them with considering their own unique challenges and issues regarding their business succession. The Success Through Succession Programme is a joint collaboration of the Regional Development Centre at Dundalk Institute of Technology, the University of Ulster (lead Partner) and Glasgow Caledonian University. The project is a three-year programme. The total project funding is €1.74m from the EU INTERREG IVA Programme with match funding contribution from the accountable departments in Northern Ireland and Ireland and Scottish Enterprise Ayshire, Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway and Cooperative Development Scotland.

The project seeks to strategically assist family SMEs to manage the challenges of succession and to increase their potential for innovation, growth and competitiveness. Throughout the duration of the programme, the STS team has worked with the different various family members to work out their own individual needs and how this impacts upon the family business and the family unit in order to gain an understanding of the process of succession planning. The programme activity centered on workshops and in-house mentoring which provided families (1) with an indepth understanding of how to go about the process of succession; and (2) with an appreciation of the implications of making the various difficult decisions. The mentoring areas covered topics relating to the area of psychology, finance, legal and general business/management.

The first intake of companies in Ireland included 10 participant companies from diverse industry sectors including engineering, medical devices and construction, crafts, transport and textiles. All ten companies positively rated their experience and some have even initiated the business transfer process as demonstrated in the following testimonials.

We joined the STS Programme because our main issue was we had a lack of a shared vision on the business future, combined with no clear succession plan. The topic of succession had been discussed many times, but as aspects of the business developed and profiles changes, the obvious route became less clear. There was a lot of potential in skills, experience, and qualifications within our family members working in the business but there was also a fractured work ethos. A culture existed of constant “shape-shifting” to satisfy demand resulting in a lack of continuity and accountability. We needed the STS Programme as a medium to address these issues. The Programme facilitated us in raising our unique issues and in creating dialogue in a neutral context, which meant we all had to at least contemplate “other ways” of working going forward. The high calibre of the mentoring support we received through the programme enabled us to engage in new approaches that assisted us in “moving on” with the issues – it certainly put parameters on what was important to the family members in and outside of the business. We were enabled to create a priority list of common issues of immediate concern hence we have made significant, even life-changing, progress as a result.
       [Younger generation family member]

We joined the STS Programme to assist us all to move in the same direction. I had thought about succession for a long time, I just had not got around to doing anything about it! The programme opened “structured” doors of communication between the first and second generation, it helped us all to appreciate our skills and in learning what skills we need to develop going forward.
        [Senior generation family member]

The STS Programme assisted future progress within our company by the STS expert team working with us on aspects of planning, training, identifying problems, problem solving and extensive mentoring. Truthfully, at the beginning I did not take it too seriously but then the whole experience became scary as I was identified as the only family member for the Managing Director Position, the Programme soon became a real living project in itself with a scary timeline…but without the STS Programme we would have been lost and the company would not have survived into the future because I, the family, the business, the staff were not prepared for the succession challenge.
      [Younger generation family member]

Before we joined the STS Programme we were two (over 60 year old) directors of the company with no exit plan in place, we probably thought we would have to sell. Our two sons have since joined the business and both are interested in managing and operating the business. The programme assisted us in having those difficult conversations about how they see the business going forward. I am not easily pleased but the mentoring support we received was excellent, we got good sound advice. The workshops were excellent too because it was good to talk and listen to others and to discover they had the very same problems and aspirations as I did. We made major progress; it just shows you what can be done with the “right” support, we soon discovered the STS team had the expertise to take us through the process.
      [Senior generation family members]

I received an invitation to attend the STS Programme launch event in Monaghan and until then I hadn’t given it a second thought, boy am I glad I went! We needed to plan our succession process and address the necessary requirements (instead of brushing it under the carpet). I have found the programme invaluable, we have identified with other family business participants on the programme and this has been a fantastic network for us to be in as a family business.
     [Senior generation family member]

For further information on the STS programme, please email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Telephone the Programme Manager for Ireland, Dr Cecilia Hegarty on Tel: +353 (0) 429370422