Limerick Enterprise Week set to conclude with awards ceremony

A RANGE of free activities aimed at small businesses to mark Limerick Enterprise Week will continue up until this weekend.

All day this Thursday, there will be a series of one-to-one clinics providing business advice at the Local Enterprise Office at Patrick Street in the city centre.

Similarly, clinics for business people who are starting companies but are over the age of 55 will also take place this Thursday morning, at the Ireland Smart Ageing Exchange facility which is on the second floor of Arthur’s Quay Shopping Centre.

Helen Fitzgerald, of the Paul Partnership, and accountant Padraic Considine will this Thursday also present a session on how to maximise opportunity and minimise your risk in business at the Clayton Hotel on Steamboat Quay.

Early on Thursday afternoon, Paul O’Carroll of Adams Business Coaching, will be at the Limerick Chamber’s boardroom for a session on how to create a sales pitch for your company.

Limerick Enterprise Week will round off with a special awards ceremony, in which a local SME business owner will be named Local Enterprise of the Year, with the ceremony taking place at the Absolute Hotel.

The winner of this title will represent Limerick City and County at the National Enterprise Awards in Dublin Castle next May.

The annual Local Enterprise Week, which is aimed at supporting both established business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs, officially opened earlier this week with an event in which Dr John Teeling shared the wisdom of his experience.

Dr Teeling founded the Great Northern Distillery, and numerous stock exchange listed oil and mining ventures.

His advice to new business owners?

Energy, determination, resilience and persistence.

To nods from many present in the audience, he noted how in the early days of Cooley Whiskey – which took 11 years to turn a profit – he awoke at 4am each day to start work.

Mr Teeling answered questions from the audience on his own business experiences, including what he seeks in managers, and staff he takes on.

He also lashed management at the crisis-ridden transport firm Bus Eireann, describing them as “dinosaurs”.

He said the operator – whose staff suspended its strike action last week – needs to reform its “out of date practices”.

“I don’t think Bus Eireann is fit for purpose at all. I think [management] there are dinosaurs.

“They represent a different era. I think that type of state company being all things to all men, and regarding itself as a social service is hard to sustain in the modern world,” Mr Teeling said.

For more information on the events Local Enterprise Office Limerick is running up to the weekend, telephone 061-407499.