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Sep Stories of Brave – Vicki O’Toole When it comes to being brave in business you won't meet a better definition than Vicki O'Toole, MD of JJ O'Toole Ltd packaging supplier to some of the UK and Ireland's most well-known retailers.
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Aug Stories of Brave – Padraig McGillicuddy Padraig McGillicuddy inherited Ballygarry House Hotel just outside Tralee at 28 years old he was given a startling ultimatum by his accountant: to walk away or stay
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Jul Stories of Brave – Theodora Dimova Theodora's commitment in her role as Finance Director is evident in everything she does, it takes a lot to grow at this level, and Select Roofing Ltd. has grown hugely over the last six years.
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Jun Stories of Brave – Ger Leahy Ger Leahy owner of Newtownadam Farm Ltd. from county Tipperary is one of Ireland's leading tillage farmers and who knows all about commitment and hard work.
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Oct Agri Market Review & Outlook As the Brexit storm clouds loom and the possibility of a no-deal exit continues, 2019 to date overall has been a mixed year for the sector. In this article Tadhg Buckley, AIB Head of Agriculture share
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Oct Are you Brexit Ready? With the risk of a hard Brexit remains a possibility Emma Moore, AIB Sector Strategist
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Oct New Entrant to Dairy – Key Considerations With an increasing number of dairy new entrants, particularly in non-traditional areas, the Irish Grassland Association share some of the key insights to emerge from their recent Dairy Summer Tour.
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Oct Agriculture and the Sustainability Challenge Sustainability has become a buzz word within the industry. Noel Meehan, Teagasc discusses what it means, the challenges ahead and offers some practical steps to farmers on how to improve farm sustaina
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Oct Key Considerations When Contemplating Farm Investment The nature of farming is that farmers are continually investing in their farm business. Chris Nolan, AIB Agri Advisor outlines some key considerations if you are considering investing in farm infrastr
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Oct Waste Not, Want Not – The Environmental Impact of Food Waste With c.30 per cent of food wasted globally, Iseult Ward, CEO FoodCloud outlines some of the activities they are undertaking to minimise same.
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Apr 2019 – An Uncertain Outlook Spring 2019 brought some welcome relief to Irish farmers, but how long will it last? In this article Tadhg Buckley, AIB Head of Agriculture gives a review and outlook for the year ahead.
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Apr Health and Safety is crucial for Farming Sustainability Nothing has the potential to jeopardise the livelihood / sustainability of a family farm more than a serious or fatal farm accident or ill health. Dr John McNamara, Teagasc shares some practical advice ahead of the busy summer months.
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Apr Banking the New Zealand Dairy Industry Donal Whelton, AIB Agri Advisor examines the New Zealand dairy industry level of expansion has had on farm profitability and on-farm debt levels
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Apr From Stacking Bales to Stacking Blocks in the Front Field All your ducks seem to be lining up nicely - you have your dream home in mind and have been gifted your favourite field on the farm to build it. But where to next? Bernadette Oâ Shea, AIB Homes Advisor
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Apr Lessons from the Grass10 Grassland Farmer of the Year (GFOY) Finalists With grass supplies well ahead of this time last year, thereâ s great opportunity to turn grass into milk and added liveweight gain. In this article, Bryan Doocey, AIB Agri Advisor and 2018 GFOY judge
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Mar From Chatbots to AI, How Tech is Changing the Future of Business Three pieces of tech that experts are predicting will make a huge impact on the future of business.
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Mar 5 Tips to Help Grow Your Small Business in 2019 Five tech trends and areas to bear in mind if youâ re hoping to grow your small business in 2019
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Mar 5 Tips for Marketing to Millennials Top tips to help your business crack the Millennial market.
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Feb Chupi: An Irish Success Story Since its creation in 2013, Irish jewellery brand Chupi has gone from strength to strength - Founder, Chupi Sweetman talks about her journey of following her dreams and creating a home-grown business.
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Dec Marketing Ideas for Your Business in 2019 Have you been working hard to get your small business up and running? Have you got big plans for 2019? To help you get started, here are five ways to start marketing your business in 2019.
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Dec Staff Retention Tips for 2019 The economy is on an upward swing with unemployment rates at a post-crash low. While this is great news for businesses, it means your employees are more and more in demand. Here are some staff retention tips to take into 2019.
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Nov Is Your Business Brexit Ready? Find Out in Five Minutes Is Your Business Brexit Ready? Find Out in Five Minutes With the AIB Brexit Ready Check
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Nov Strategic Growth Award The AIB Women in Enterprise programme, which supports female business customers to sustain and grow their businesses was a huge success in its inaugural year. Award winners shared in a prize fund of €40,000 which included media coverage and mastermind as well as mentoring sessions provided by experts from the Entrepreneurs Academy.
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Nov Your End of Year Business Checklist Need an end of year business checklist? Our list explains how to review and set business goals for the next 12 months.
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Oct How Your Business Can Benefit from Strategic Planning Five ways a strategic planning will benefit your company.
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Oct 5 Tips to Master the Art of Delegation Knowing how to delegate can free up your time to focus on growing your business. Here are five tips to help you delegate more effectively.
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Oct 6 Ways Budget 2019 Will Affect SMEs 9 October 2018 saw the unveiling of the third Budget of the 32nd Dáil. Delivering his second Budget, Minister Donohoe said the Budget “will further develop the underlying strength and resilience of our economy.”
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Sep 10 Things to Expect at the Ploughing Championships A rundown of what's happening at this year's farming event.
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Sep Suite of AIB Cash Flow Options to Meet your Business Needs If the weather conditions is impacting on-farm cash flow, it’s important to remember there are a number of options available and AIB is here to help. Every case is different, and will be looked at on an individual basis. Bryan Doocey, AIB Agri Advisor outlines some of the options available to farmers who may need additional cash flow support this year.
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Sep Plan Your Cashflow Needs - Quantify the Impact of 2018 To Date 2018 will be remembered by most involved in the Irish Agri-Sector as the year of extreme weather events, prolonged workloads on most farms, in particular livestock farms and increased costs. Bryan Doocey, AIB Agri Advisor, examines the on-farm financial impact of the past few months, looking at case examples across sectors.
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Sep Grain & Feed Outlook – Philip Lynch, R&H Hall With concentrates being used by the lorry load, for longer than most would care to introduce, Philip Lynch, Senior Trader, R&H Hall discusses the grain market outlook and how it is likely to impact on the Irish feed market.
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Sep How to Find a Business Mentor Handy Advice When it Comes to Selecting a Mentor.
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Aug Talking Farm Tech: The Lowdown on Farming’s Latest Gadgets Take a look at some of the farming industry's most innovative tech gadgets.
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Aug 5 Key Traits to Look for in a Potential Employee Helpful advice when selecting the right staff for your company.
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Jul IGA Diary Summer Tour 2018 AIB Sponsor the IGA Dairy Summer Tour 2018
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Jul How to Choose a Business Name Tips to help select a name for your business
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Jun Battle Lines Drawn in Brexit Trade Talks Undoubtedly, Brexit is one of the biggest challenges facing the Irish Agri-Food sector. In this article the AIB Treasury Unit provide an overview of progress made to date and what can be expected in the months ahead.
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Jun 2018 - A Difficult Start But Signs of Improvement The agri sector experienced mixed fortunes in 2017. In this article Tadhg Buckley, Head of Agri Sector, AIB gives a review of 2018 year to date and looks ahead to year end, where again a similar story is unfolding.
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Jun Maximising Yield of Quality Grass Silage for 2018 With fodder shortages a common occurrence across the country this spring, there’s a big focus on replenishing reserves for the winter ahead. Martina Gormley, Teagasc shares some practical solutions on making this a reality.
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Jun Spring 2018 – The Financial Implications Eamonn O’Reilly, AIB Agri Advisor examines the financial impact of Spring 2018 and offers words of advice to those experiencing / anticipating cash flow pressure as outstanding bills fall.
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Jun 5 Crucial Farm Safety Tips Tips on how to stay safe working on the farm
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Jun An Expert Guide to Online Marketing for Your Start-up Online marketing is a cost-effective way to market your start-up. Read on for some practical tips to help your business crack online marketing.
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May Tips to Increase Your Communication Skills in the Workplace Read our top tips for increasing your communication skills in the workplace, which in turn will boost morale.
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Apr 6 Helpful Business Expansion Tips Is your business expanding? This handy guide offers helpful advice and tips on how to grow your business sustainably.
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Apr Cash Flow support for Irish Agriculture Business Talk to our team of Relationship Managers to get Cash Flow support, call 1890 47 88 33 (Mon-Fri 8am-9pm, Sat 9am-6pm) or visit local branch.
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Mar Maximising Farming Efficiencies and Sustainability: Top Tips from Tim Crowley Maximising efficiencies can help to grow your farm. AIB can help with a farm development loan.
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Mar How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis If you need a SWOT analysis example, our simple guide will tell you how to apply SWOT to your business.
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Feb Setting Up an Online Business: What You Need to Know Setting up an online business? Here's everything you need to know about selling online.
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Feb Top Tips for Tackling Your Business Plan If you’re starting, or have just started a business, a well thought out business plan is one of the most critical tools you need to help you succeed. So, what are the ingredients that make up a good business plan? We’ve compiled some top tips to help you with your business plan.
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Jan 5 Crucial Factors for your Business Development in 2018 We’ve compiled a handy list that will be key to planning out your business development in 2018.
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Jan Why Building a Company Culture Could Revolutionise Your Business in 2018 Once an afterthought, building and maintaining a strong company culture has become an increasingly important concern for most of the world’s top companies. In the following article, we’ll explain the elements that make up a great organisational culture and show how these changes could make the difference for your company in 2018.
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Dec New Year’s Resolutions for Your Business With the help of these New Year's resolutions, you'll be able to put together the perfect business plan to start 2018 successfully.
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Dec Automatic Plastics: Moulding the Perfect Business Irish business Automatic Plastics are using AIB asset finance to help expand to new export markets on foot of Brexit.
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Dec Helping Your Business Survive the Christmas Rush Read our guide to surviving the Christmas crush, with tips for management and growth of your business over the holiday season.
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Nov Stars in Their Eyes: Irish Company ENBIO Are Sending Their Product to Space It’s not every day an Irish-made product orbits the sun. But that’s exactly what will happen when the European Space Agency launches their solar orbiter mission in 2018.
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Nov How Do I Switch From a Sole Trader/Partnership to a Limited Company? When starting out in business, many entrepreneurs choose to operate initially as a Sole Trader (or Partnership if there is more than 1 person involved) as opposed to forming a Limited Company.
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Nov 5 Reasons to Move to Galway Known for its rugged, untamed beauty – Galway – a county along the Wild Atlantic Way, is not only home to some of the best festivals in the world, but it also attracting an influx of tech start-ups that are availing of its well-established and growing business infrastructure.
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Nov Five Crucial Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting a Business Starting a business requires serious graft. Ask yourself these key questions before you get started. We offer a variety of start-up business loans for all stages of the process.
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Oct 6 Ways Budget 2018 Will Affect SMEs 10 October 2017 saw the unveiling of the second Budget of the 32nd Dáil. Delivering his first Budget, Minister Donohoe said the Budget “achieves sustainable and affordable tax reform, delivers improvements in services and ensures increased investment in our national infrastructure.
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Oct The Ultimate Social Media Marketing Guide for Your Business Read our guide to creating a social media marketing strategy for your business, including advice on goals, targeting and audience research.
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Oct Agri Economic Outlook The Irish economy continues to grow at a strong pace. Recent GDP figures from the CSO showed that GDP rose by 6.1% year-on-year in Q1 2017. This follows on from strong growth of 5.1% in 2016. While the data are distorted by issues related to the presence of large multi-national firms, Ireland remained the best performing economy in the Eurozone last year.
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Oct Agri Market Review and Outlook 2017 has been a much more buoyant year for Irish farming and most sectors have experienced a welcome margin uplift. The strong weather pattern in the first half of the year resulted in strong grass growth and livestock performance, and supported good crop performance in many parts of the country. Input prices are in general down on last year while output prices have recovered across most sectors, with some faring better than others. Combined, increased incomes is likely on many farms in 2017.
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Oct Dairy Summer Tour – producing milk on leased land This year’s Irish Grasslands Dairy Summer Tour, sponsored by AIB Bank focused on milk production on leased land visiting grass based dairy farms in Skeaghvasteen, Co. Kilkenny and Tullow, Co. Carlow on Tuesday July 25th. George Ramsbottom, Teagasc and IGA shares some of the key lessons to emerge.
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Oct Financing Farm Investment Improved output prices especially in the dairy, beef and pig sectors coupled with the availability of grant aid under the TAMS II farm investment scheme have all contributed to a large increase in demand for farm investment finance in the first half of 2017, says AIB Agri Advisor Donal Whelton.
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Oct People Management – Key Considerations Irish dairy farming has experienced considerable structural change over the past decade and is the fastest growing agri-food industry within the EU. Since 2010, there are over 300,000 extra cows being milked on Irish dairy farms. This increase in cow numbers has created a new and growing demand for labour writes Marion Beecher, Teagasc Research Officer.
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Oct Brexit & the Irish Food and Drink Industry In the fifteen months since the UK made the historic decision to chart its future outside the EU, much ink has been spilled on fathoming the political and economic implications for Ireland and the food and drink industry in particular.
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Sep Work is an Activity, Not a Place The nature of work is changing, becoming more fluid. The days when you would go in to the same place every day and sit down on the same desk for eight hours are gone.
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Sep Key Lessons from Past Farm Investment Experiences Thinking of investing in your farm? AIB Agri Advisor Liam Phelan gives some practical lessons on farm investment based on previous trends in Irish farming.
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Sep Expanding Horizons: Top Tips for Business Diversification Thinking of diversifying your product or business offering? Read our top tips for business diversification.
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Sep How to Plan for Profitable Farm Expansion AIB Agri Adviser, Tadhg Buckley outlines the key considerations to take into account prior to expanding your farm.
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Aug Driving Excellence in Irish Beef Production From improving grass management to introducing a closed herd system, Thomas shares his insights into driving efficiencies with the help of AIB Farm Finance and reflects on The Big Picture for beef farming in Ireland today.
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Aug Finding the Perfect Business Premises: 5 Things to Consider Searching for a workspace or office? Here's how to find the perfect premises for your business.
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Jul Growing up in the boardroom: Your first meeting Harry McCann (Kid Tech, Digital Youth Council) talks about his experiences as a young entrepreneur, and how he got ready for starting off in the business world.
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Jul Dairy Farmer Cathal Moran on this Year’s Dairy Summer Tour The Irish Grassland AssociationDairy Summer Tour is a firm fixture on the farming calendar, attracting hundreds of farmers from around Ireland as they share their knowledge, network and socialise.
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Jul Shop ‘til You Smock Mairead Vickers explains how MyBusinessToolkit has helped build her business, where it has now gained a reputation as a destination for savvy shoppers.
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Jul Blooming Brilliant: The Inspirational Story of Ocean Bloom Launched in 2015, Ocean Bloom has gone from strength to strength. Founder, Cheryl Cleminson states why having the support of a bank who knows you is key.
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Jul Making the Grade with TutorHQ Are you a student in need of grinds? Perhaps you’re not getting the one-on-one attention that you need at school or college and you want to find someone to help you fast, but someone who is highly qualified and living in your area?
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Jul Evan Doherty: Through the Lens of a Dedicated Follower of Fashion From an assistant chef made redundant to photographing top models, Dubliner Evan Doherty is one of the most sought after photographers in Dublin.
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Jul The Mobilisation of Business Communications Ideas and insight need to be transmitted and put to good use effectively throughout the organisation. Efficient communication is the key to perfecting this process.
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Jul 10 Tips for Effective Communication How many needless rows, arguments and disagreements have you had with colleagues, employees or clients that were down to simple misunderstandings and bad communications?
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Jul Branding Strategies for Your New Business Got a new business, or simple looking to increase your brand? Making your mark from the start can be tough, but in terms of marketing your business, your product or your services, there are some simple steps to follow.
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Jun The Western Front: How PorterShed Backs Startups John Clancy, CEO of Chatspace gives us an insight into working in PorterShed, a co-working space in Galway that's backed by AIB.
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Jun Suits of Armour – Dress to Impress in the Workplace If you’re too casual in your dress sense, you’re going to be casual in your job.” That’s the advice of tailor Louis Copeland, and there’s no shortage of places to get fitted in Dublin these days either.
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May Farm Safety: Your Decisions Matter Irish farms remain the most hazardous workplace. We take an honest and frank look at farm safety and provide guidance and safety tips.
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May Backing Retail – Pointy Helps You Find it Locally Do you ever need something but have no clue where to find it? Enter Pointy, a new technology that works for both retailers and consumers.
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May Finding Your USP for your Start-up Business with Lisa Hughes What is your Start-Up Unique Selling Proposition? Lisa Hughes from the AIB Start-up Academy gives her tips on finding your USP.
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May The Craft Beer Market Explored Craft beer is big business in Ireland, but does that mean that it’s getting a little too crowded?
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May Axonista CEO Claire McHugh on Women in Tech Claire McHugh, the CEO of Axonista has risen to the top of the tech start-up game, leading a company that makes television and video more interactive and lists media giants MTV, ESPN, and QVC among their clients.
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Apr Creating a Space for Irish Talent to Flourish in the PorterShed Are you a startup business in the West of Ireland? Learn more about PorterShed's welcoming co-working space in Galway.
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Mar 5 Steps for Launching a New Business or Product Your business or product launch is the first impression people will remember. These five steps can help you make your launch a success. It’s not enough to create a great business or product.
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Mar Bringing Your Irish Business Abroad Irish people can sometimes be guilty of overestimating our influence around the world, but when it comes to business, it’s most certainly a trump card.
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Mar Growing Pains: Why Every Business Needs a Growth Strategy Setting up a business is hard, but growing your business can be even harder. Implement a growth strategy for your business. Read our expert advice here.
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Mar Managing farm Cash Flow: AIB Agri Advisor Patrick O’Meara Talks Cash Flow Getting to grips with cash flow management is integral to farming success. But with farmers facing a variety of challenging factors from the weather, to volatile output prices, to Brexit, it can often feel like navigating a minefield.
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Feb Executing a trademark strategy for your business When a company devises a new product, part of the creative and marketing process involves constructing a brand or trade mark for that product.
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Feb Feeling The Fear and Doing it Anyway - Four Entrepreneurs Share Their Tips for Success With decades of experience and success between them, Bill Wolsey, Eleanor McEvoy, Caroline Wilson and Diane Roberts shared the following advice.
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Feb Give Your Start-up a Fighting Chance – John Kavanagh Shares His Advice As coach to ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor, John Kavanagh is someone who knows a great deal about the dedication, effort and commitment that goes into achieving success.
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Feb 9 Tips for Online Customer Service As a small business, it’s important to have contact with your customers. But some phone calls could easily be handled by your website and other digital channels.
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Jan Making Adjustments – Starting Out in Business with David Wallace For 15 years, David Wallace was a familiar presence on the rugby pitch, representing Munster, Ireland and the Lions with distinction. As a two-time Heineken Cup winner and member of Ireland’s historic Grand Slam winning team of 2009, David is someone who reached the very pinnacle of his sport.
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Jan How to Mitigate Against and Handle Security Breaches The potential ramifications of a cybersecurity breach to a business can be devastating, such as loss of customer confidence, damage to company reputation, theft of assets and extensive administrative costs in dealing with all affected stakeholders.
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Jan Your Business Plan Checklist The primary value of your business plan will be to create a written outline that evaluates all aspects of the economic viability of your business venture. It will be valuable in number of ways.
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Dec ’Tis the Season for Sprouts Meet the Weldons, who farm Brussels sprouts each year from their base in County Dublin, for the Christmas market.
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Dec The Challenges of Descriptive Brand Names It isimportant that brand owners be aware of the trademark registration process when choosing a new brand name. Not only should a brand name address the commercial needs of a company, it should also satisfy the legal requirements for registration. To qualify for registration, a trade mark needs to be distinctive so that consumers can easily identify the trade origin of products or services.
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Dec 7 Tips on Keeping Your Limited Company Compliant When you incorporate a limited company in Ireland, one of your main concerns should to be to keep the company (and directors) fully compliant from a legal, company secretarial, taxation and accounting perspective. With the level of corporate regulation continuously increasing in Ireland, it is of vital importance to the company and its officers to ensure all such legal responsibilities are met.
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Nov 4 Ways Your Phone System Can Improve Your Customer Support In today’s commercial environment, there is an increasing focus on customer experience. From an existing customer perspective, the most critical function to get right is of course customer support and service.
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Nov How to Make the Most of National Digital Week It might be most famous these days as the home of Olympic heroes Gary and Paul O’Donovan, but Skibbereen is rapidly gaining a reputation as a centre for digital excellence in Ireland.
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Nov How your shipping can take advantage of the $1.9 trillion eCommerce market Only 20% of Irish online shops that ship goods quote international delivery as a service upfront. What does this mean to Irish online retailers in the eCommerce market? It means a lot of missed opportunity to grow their business! By not having or not stating the facility to ship overseas, eCommerce retailers are restricting themselves from a rapidly growing global eCommerce market worth an estimated $1.9 trillion.
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Nov 7 Tips for Starting out in Farming The agri sector needs young, well-educated people to provide vibrancy and fresh thinking to aid industry progression, but entry isn’t always easy, particularly for those who don’t inherit a farm.
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Oct Pumpkin Picking with a Pro Most Irish people only see pumpkins at Halloween. Noel Hayes, a Wexford based farmer, who grows pumpkins, explains where they come from & why we don't eat them.
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Oct Dare to Know What You Don't Know Don't let pride get in your way: Bridge knowledge gaps. One of the biggest growth barriers that business owners face has nothing to do with weak sales, sloppy strategic planning or lacklustre personnel. It's a psychological hurdle: knowing what you don't know.
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Oct 7 Ways Budget 2017 Will Affect SMEs 11 October 2016 saw the unveiling of the first Budget of the 32nd Dáil. The Budget seeks to “divide the resources available between increased investment in public services and tax cuts in proportions of at least two to one in favour of public services
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Oct Brexit – 4 Things You Can Control The UK’s decision to leave the EU caught a large majority of businesses offside. Whilst uncertainty abounds, there are ways for businesses to navigate the current landscape by focussing on the things they can control, writes Aidan Gough from InterTradeIreland.
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Sep 6 Tips for Choosing a Business Name No matter how great a business is, an inappropriate or poorly-chosen name can have a negative impact on its success – especially when first starting out. On the other hand, a business name that is appealing and memorable can do wonders for a business's bottom line.
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Sep 9 Ways to Hold Effective Meetings Most people in business complain that there are just too many meetings. That may be true, but business meetings are a fact of life, and the best we can do is learn to make them worth the time and effort they require.
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Sep Key Steps for Buying a Business The process of acquiring a business requires a significant commitment of time, energy, money and ultimately a willingness to take on risk, but the right acquisition can transform and enhance your business significantly.
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Sep Brexit – M&A Potential Across the Irish Sea While Brexit creates widespread uncertainty for business, M&A opportunities for Irish companies in the UK can reduce currency exposure and provide a route for international expansion at a reduced cost.
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Sep 5 Benefits to Putting Your Phone Number in the Cloud In the not so distant future, the majority of phone numbers will be cloud-based as the number of organisations using IP telephony grows year after year. A new era of virtualised phone systems and numbers can bring numerous benefits to your business.
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Aug How Apprenticeships Can Work for Small Business A lack of investment in apprenticeships has led to a decrease in their availability and uptake in Ireland over the past few years. However, Ireland’s National Skills Strategy 2025 looks set to change that.
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Aug Are You Too Slow to Hire the Best Talent? Whether it’s a fear of missing out or an overconfidence in their employer brand, businesses often delay hiring decisions and miss out on top talent, writes Siobhan O’Shea of Cpl Resources plc.
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Aug The Pros and Cons of Buying a Business Buying an existing business can help your company expand into new markets and new product lines.
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Jul Paternity Leave – New Legislation, New Obligations New legislation on paternity leave will come into effect in Ireland on 30th September. In advance of that, employers need to understand their obligations under the Bill and what they should expect from employees who want to take this leave.
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Jul 5 Tips to Help You Get Your Business Plan Right Business plans are dead — or are they? For many entrepreneurs, the business plan is an outmoded document and start-ups rarely think they need one to get by. But the fact is that a business plan isn’t simply a paper document; it can be a very valuable tool and a roadmap for even the smallest or earliest-stage idea.
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Jul How Brexit Could Affect Intellectual Property While intellectual property (IP) rights will not be affected by Brexit in the immediate future, IP owners will need a strategy to ensure those rights previously and currently existing in the UK are not forfeited once the UK exits the EU.
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Jul 7 Principles for Inspiring Employees Here are seven principles for inspiring your employees that you can take action on today. Implement one of these principles and make a difference. Implement all seven and change the culture you live and work in.
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Jul Mastering Digital – Competitor Analysis on Social Media In our latest “Mastering Digital” article, Antonie Geerts (Managing Director, Seditio Digital Consultancy & Training) looks at how to use social media URL shortening tools to extract competitor insights.
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Jun 10 Pitfalls to Watch Out for When Outsourcing Outsourcing is an effective way of conducting many non-core parts of your business, allowing you to concentrate on the key parts. The regulation of outsourcing transactions in Ireland depends less on the nature of the outsourced service than on the sector in which the outsourcing takes place.
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Jun Dealing with the Dreaded Price Objection In today’s commodity-driven world it is easy to fall prey to discounting your product or service in an effort to capture the sale. However, there are better ways to deal with the dreaded price objection.
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Jun Brexit by Numbers With just days to go to the UK referendum on its EU membership, and uncertainty undercutting the debate, there is a big decision facing more than 46 million eligible voters. An EU without the UK would unequivocally be bad for Ireland, bad for the UK, and bad for the EU.
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Jun Brexit – The Legal Dimension Brexit would make legal history.No Member State has ever left the European Union in its 60-year history – territories have left (Algeria, Greenland and Saint Barthélemy) but never a Member State. Moreover, the legal consequences for businesses and citizens are both unknown and unsure.
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Jun Brexit – Customs, Border Controls and Irish Exporters A leave vote in the UK referendum would affect Irish exporters more than anyone else across the EU.
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Jun How to Enable Remote & Mobile Working in Your Business Remote and mobile working – where an employee is working outside the traditional office environment – have become increasingly common. The benefits are hard to ignore. Happier employees chasing a work-life balance and increased productivity from employees on-the-go are something most businesses wouldn’t turn their nose up at.
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Jun Brexit and the Irish Tourism Sector With the UK referendum fast approaching, there is much speculation about the potential implications for the Irish Tourism sector. As our largest neighbour and trade partner, if the UK decides to exit the Eurozone, it would undoubtedly have a significant effect on the Irish economy.
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Jun How Brexit Could Affect Irish Retailing There has been much written and said about the prospect of Brexit and the potential implications for the Irish economy. Although not widely debated in retailing circles in Ireland, the prospect of Britain leaving the EU would have a very profound and negative effect on both British and Irish retailers operating in Ireland.
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Jun How Brexit Could Affect Irish Exports How would Brexit affect the international logistics industry? At this stage, it’s difficult to predict every potential implication for Irish business, but what we can state with some confidence is that Britain operating outside the EU would add complications and costs to the supply chain and inhibit movement of goods across our borders.
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May How Brexit Could Affect the Irish Motor Industry Should it come to pass, Brexit would have far-reaching implications for the motor industry in Ireland.
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May How Brexit Could Affect the Irish Transport Industry With a few weeks to go until the UK referendum, many polls point towards the exit and non-exit camps having roughly equal support, so the undecided block is all to play for in what is one of the most important referendums ever for the Irish transport industry.
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May Brexit – A UK Decision That Would Impact Ireland Most of All The possibility of the UK leaving the EU is very real according to opinion polls and, if it occurs, the impact on Ireland will be possibly greater than it will be on the UK itself.
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May How Brexit Could Affect Irish Tourism As one of Ireland’s largest indigenous industries, tourism is vital for the country’s economic well-being. If the UK votes to leave the EU, there could be far-reaching consequences for the sector in Ireland.
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May How Healthy is the Irish eCommerce Market? While the US, UK and China are e-Commerce giants by virtue of their size, smaller countries like Ireland are holding their own albeit growing at a much smaller rate.
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May Brexit – Opportunities Amongst the Challenges When they vote in the referendum on 23rd June, they’ll determine the fortunes of many others, around them and after them, for years to come.
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May How to Approach Salary Reviews Applying a consistent process to address such requests is crucial to ensure a good result for employees and employers.
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Apr Patent 101: 5 Tips for Protecting Your Idea To effectively secure your patents, and hence guarantee the protection of your idea, there are five main things you need to do.
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Apr Brexit and the Polls The UK Referendum on EU membership in June will put polling back in the spotlight. Such an important vote, which will likely be decided by a fine margin, is a challenge for pollsters.
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Apr How Brexit Could Affect Irish Agriculture The referendum on UK membership of the EU on 23rd June presents a major external risk for the Irish agriculture sector, with potentially far-reaching economic, social and cultural consequences.
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Apr How Brexit Could Affect Your Business The UK Government has set 23rd June 2016 as the date for its “In-Out” referendum vote on Britain’s continued membership of the EU. Opinion polls are pointing to a very close outcome, and an “Out” result would undoubtedly change the landscape for business owners in Ireland.
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Apr Social Media – How to Protect Your Business Social media has permeated almost every aspect of our daily lives, as many businesses are using sites for marketing, advertising and recruiting. However, social media can create huge challenges as well as opportunities for businesses.
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Apr 5 Step Approach to Entering New Markets Planning for exporting, like any other business planning, is hard work. Although often overlooked, it is absolutely essential.
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Mar Hiring the Right People, the Right Way How can you de-risk the hiring process and increase the probability that your chosen candidate is going to integrate with the team and, most importantly, deliver?
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Mar 5 Tips for Driving Innovation in SMEs Innovation has become a key differentiator for firms seeking to thrive and compete more effectively. In the face of increasing demands for customer value, firms are looking at ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their innovation processes.
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Mar 5 Reasons Start-ups are Choosing Galway Galway isn’t just a great place to live; it’s an ideal location for entrepreneurs who are starting their own businesses.
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Mar Union Customs Code – What Importers/Exporters Need to Know The Union Customs Code (UCC) will take legal effect across all EU Member States from 1st May 2016. What are the changes and how will they effect Irish exporters and importers?
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Mar Topform Wins Overall SFA National Small Business Award 2016 Topform won the overall SFA National Small Business Award 2016 at a gala event in the RDS, Dublin on 3rd March.
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Mar Featured Business: Carr Golf Group Having begun by providing management services to golf courses, the company then expanded into three areas: golf course management, golf course maintenance and golf travel.
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Feb Tips for Managing Your Time Time – it's a precious commodity. While no one ever seems to have enough of it, some people manage to accomplish far more than others in the same 24 hours.
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Feb How to Enter a New Market Without a Physical Presence How can a business operate on a day-to-day basis in a new country without an office? Quite easily, actually.
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Feb Mastering Digital – Reducing Your AdWords Spend Online advertising – it can be a very effective way of getting more business at a set cost per acquisition, but if done incorrectly it can actually be a lot more expensive than traditional advertising.
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Feb SFA National Small Business Awards 2016: Finalists Showcase With 33 companies selected as finalists – from 16 different counties, across seven categories – the Finalists Showcase presented a unique opportunity to network with innovative entrepreneurs and hear their hopes for the future.
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Feb How Big is Your eCommerce Market? Finding new leads online and quantifying the size of your eCommerce market doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming.
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Jan Featured Business: Dúnmasc Genetics As well as bovine embryo transfer and pregnancy scanning, the business has moved into the artificial insemination market.
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Jan 12 Tips to Boost Your Sales and Marketing Results The economy is recovering. Now is the time to get your sales and marketing plans in tip-top shape to take advantage.
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Jan 3 Things to Avoid when Establishing your Online Presence Let’s put it simply: if your brand has no online presence, you’re doing at least one thing wrong.
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Jan Featured Business: Blacknight Providing domain name registration services and website hosting, Blacknight owns numerous servers (read big computers) that are connected to the internet all the time.
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Jan The Role of IP in the Business Plan Many emerging ventures overlook the fact that a business plan is fundamental to securing funding, and start-ups often discount the significant role that intellectual property (IP) plays in strengthening a business plan.
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Jan 7 Things to Consider When Registering a Company Abroad Registering a company abroad can often be a lot easier than you may think, but there are numerous factors to consider and a significant amount of research required.
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Dec 10 Rules for Great Customer Service Negative buying experiences are almost always linked to shoddy customer service. Even though most businesses claim that they put people first, it's rare to find really good customer support.
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Dec 5 Ways to Avoid Unfair Dismissal Claims Here are the five things employers should never do when considering terminating an employee's employment.
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Dec Start-up in Style – The AIB Start-up Academy Graduates From a bespoke children’s book publisher to a health food producer, the AIB Start-up Academy graduates boast a diverse range of businesses.
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Nov Doing Cross-border Business for the First Time One of the biggest challenges currently facing small business owners is dealing with the decrease in demand in their home market. For a first-time exporter, trading in Northern Ireland is the perfect place to begin.
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Nov Featured Business: Topform Topform manufactures beautiful yet affordable laminate kitchen worktops for the building industry, with a clear focus on therepairs, maintenance and home improvements sector.
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Nov 7 Common Challenges for SMEs While SMEs are good at getting to a certain sustainable level, they often find it difficult to achieve real growth beyond that critical point.
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Nov Export Review: Q3 2015 Competitive exchange rates and sharply lower oil prices have pushed exports to new highs.
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Oct Mastering Digital: The Truth About Link Building If you have ever attended digital marketing training or hired an SEO consultant or company, you will have heard the term “link building”. So what is this magical link building that so many “experts” are raving about for the last couple of years?
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Oct Featured Business: Premium Power Premium Power has big industry clients across Europe and Ireland in the high-tech manufacturing space, from pharmaceutical to medical devices, and from micro-chip manufacturers to data centres.
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Oct 5 Ways Budget 2016 Will Affect SMEs Budget 2016 intends to “create the conditions in which new ideas, innovation and entrepreneurship will be encouraged."
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Oct AIB Announces Five-Year Partnership with Galway City Innovation District To kick off our partnership with GCID, we are sponsoring PorterShed – the first step in a journey aiming to transform Galway into a technological hub to rival anything the world has to offer.
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Oct Network Ireland National Conference & Awards 2015 Over 200 businesswomen from all over Ireland attended Network Ireland’s National Conference and Awards in Westport, Co. Mayo on Friday 25th September.
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Sep 6 Tips When Using e-Commerce to Export The increasing popularity of internet shopping has led to a rapid rise in online export selling, but doing it right means taking the time to address some key legal and non-legal matters.
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Sep Featured Business: Dive & Marine Contractors Two heads are better than one when it comes to setting up a successful business, and Dive & Marine Contractors is no exception. During the downturn, two businessmen with commercial diving experience got chatting and came up with the idea of a diving contracting business.
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Sep Budget 2016 – Entrepreneurs Must Be Incentivised, Not Penalised Budget 2016 will be the first expansionary Budget in eight years. Therefore, it must be used to support sustainable economic development and insulate our economy from external shocks.
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Sep Mastering Digital – Measuring Digital Marketing In the fourth part of our “Mastering Digital” series, Antonie Geerts (Managing Director, Seditio Digital Consultancy & Training) looks at how to measure digital marketing activity in line with conversions.
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Sep Featured Business: Verde LED The company started out selling energy-saving solutions to customers by retrofitting existing lighting.
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Sep How to Develop an Effective Company Trade Mark Companies that create, register, and monitor their trade marks stand to gain both increased market share and profits
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Aug Featured Business: Good4U Bernie Butler has been in the food business for over 30 years. Since she first discovered the health benefits of sprouted seeds, she has never looked back.
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Aug Starting a Business – Sole Trader or Limited Company? Starting up a new business is an exciting time but it can also be a very stressful experience. Whilst mistakes will happen, there are some key decisions that are important to get right from day one. One of these centres around whether you should set up as a sole trader or limited company.
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Aug Export Review: Industry Half-Year 2015 Export growth momentum continued unabated from the first quarter of 2015 through the period to June, but the question many are asking is: Will the good times for exporters continue?
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Aug Featured Business: Dualtron Ltd The euro changeover had a huge impact on consumers and businesses, especially Dualtron, a provider of cash handling equipment. The challenge facing the company was how to manage the introduction of over 10,000 pieces of new equipment on the same day to nearly every town and village in Ireland.
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Aug Gender Diversity is Not a Problem, it’s a Solution When gender diversity is discussed, it often sounds as though it’s a problem that needs to be fixed. However, evidence is mounting to support the view that tackling the diversity issue can actually be a solution to key business problems.
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Jul Featured Business: Kevin Egan Cars Setting up a car sales business during a recession may seem like an unusual move. For Sligo-based car salesman Kevin Egan, it has been worthwhile.
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Jul Featured Business Born and reared in Newport, Co Mayo, Seán and his brother Seamus have turned the family business, set up in 1930, into an artisan butchers specialising in traditional black and white puddings and sausages under the Kelly’s brand.
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Jul The Do’s and Don’ts of Meeting Your Competitors While there is no legal prohibition on competitors meeting each other, there are strict competition law rules prohibiting such meetings where they result in a breach of competition law.
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Jul Choosing the Right Overseas Business Partners For many firms new to foreign trade, it can be a steep and difficult learning curve – especially if they are trading on credit terms. While the potential for bad debts or late payment is a reality of business life, there are supports out there to help mitigate the risks.
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Jul 6 Ways Email Trumps Social All the marketing talk these days is about social media – yet research shows that “old-fashioned” email packs a mighty punch in both reach and Return on Investment.
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Jun JJ O’Toole Ltd JJ O’Toole Ltd supplies plain and bespoke packaging to the retail, industrial and food service sectors. It is the preferred packaging partner to over 6,000 clients in Ireland and the UK
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Jun Italian Tile and Stone Studio The Italian Tile and Stone Studio provides tiles to every type of commercial project, including office blocks and pubs, mainly through architectural firms.
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Jun 7 Tips for Accessing Public Procurement Analysis carried out by the Office of Government Procurement last year indicates that around 93% of contracts are awarded to companies within the State, meaning there is ample opportunity for Irish businesses to compete to win contracts.
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Jun 5 Intellectual Property Facts You Should Know Before Exporting When establishing an export business, financial considerations are often top of the list of concerns, but Intellectual Property (IP) rights are also an important aspect in the success of an export venture.
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Jun Mastering Digital – Automating and Scheduling with Hootsuite tsuite is a social media management tool, which allows you to track and manage your social media channels, monitor what people are saying about your brand, and directly post updates and replies.
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Jun clubstohire.com For between €35 and €60, holidaying golfers can hire a set of clubs on arrival rather than transporting their own clubs at a cost of between €60 and €100.
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May Featured Business: DB Sports Tours Established in 2010 and operating since 2012, DB Sports Tours started out with the vision of giving all children, regardless of age or ability, an experience of professional football.
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May Mastering Digital – Introducing Remarketing Remarketing is becoming very popular in digital marketing as the initial setup is very straight forward. Understand the concept of remarketing and how the majority of businesses incorrectly use it.
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May The Importance of Terms and Conditions of Sale The task of drafting up a detailed set of terms and conditions of sale may not be a top priority when starting a new business. However, moving this task further up the list will save you time and money.
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May Export Review: Q1 2015 The Euro area finally turned a corner and jump started exports in the first quarter of 2015.
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May Featured Business: FeelsRight FeelsRight has been selected for a European incubator called Transition. It is helping 50 companies around Europe that are trying to solve a societal problem to fast-track growth.
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Apr Ensuring the Family Business Does Not Fail for Family Reasons An overwhelming majority (86%) of Irish family business leaders expect growth in the next five years, of which 10% are seeking aggressive growth.
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Apr Featured Business: Placelift Professional house doctors Placelift offer the full spectrum, from presentation consultancy right through to repairs, upgrading kitchens and bathrooms, and clearing the property.
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Apr 14 Tips for Managing Your Key Accounts Whether you are trying to get more out of existing key account relationships, or wondering where to start in terms of finding and winning new key account customers, the platinum phrase on the journey to becoming a trusted advisor/partner is “quality communication”.
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Apr Companies Act 2014 – Time to Choose Your Company Type The Companies Act 2014 will come into effect on1st June 2015.It will have an impact on all company types and directors in Ireland but in particular Private Limited Companies.
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Apr 4 Tips for Selling Your Services Internationally Major international opportunities exist for services exporters, but not enough small businesses sell their services abroad.
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Apr Featured Business: MICAD Security Clients include pubs, clubs and retail companies while MICAD Security offers site security, alarm call-outs to business and houses, mobile patrols and 24/7 security.
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Mar Thinking Outside the Box To give yourself the best possible chance of success, there needs to be a huge amount of thinking carried out to devise a business strategy that will knock the socks off the competition.
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Mar Featured Business: Wattspot Anybody with a smartphone knows the pain of having to ask for a charger or seek out a socket to charge a phone. WattSpot is about having free phone charging everywhere you go.
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Mar Mastering Digital – 5 Fundamental SEO Tips New business owners make brave decisions every day. At AIB, we’re Backing Brave and, in this digital era, we recognise that many SMEs struggle with the ever-changing digital landscape.
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Mar 7 Ways to Build Relationships with Overseas Companies Products, technology or price don’t buy mindshare – it’s all in the relationship. For exporters looking to nurture relationships with overseas companies, the Canons of Channel Management can transform the approach to channel management
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Mar AIB Customers clean up at the SFA National Small Business Awards 2015 AIB customers enjoyed a fantastic night at the SFA National Small Business Awards 2015 in the RDS on 4th March 2015, winning awards / commendations in all eight categories.
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Mar Featured Business: Heritage Hampers Who doesn’t love getting a hamper, whether it’s for a special occasion, Mother’s Day, or a corporate Christmas gift?
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Feb How to Plan Your Website Upgrade Upgrading to a new website can often seem like a daunting challenge, particularly if you are an SME owner with limited resources and funds. However, knowing what the challenges are can help ensure a smooth transition.
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Feb Featured Business: Cartoon Saloon Two feature films, two Oscar nominations. What next for Cartoon Saloon? This year it begins production on a third feature film, The Breadwinner, which will take two years to complete.
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Feb 5 Ways Employers Can Avoid Costly Mistakes As the economy continues to improve, more and more SMEs are hiring staff, but there are potentially high costs to an employer if they get it wrong.
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Feb SFA National Small Business Awards 2015: Finalists Showcase On 5th February, the Small Firms Association held an event to showcase the entrepreneurship, innovation and achievements of this year's finalists.
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Feb The Family Constitution – Empowering the Next Generation of Leaders Every business – small or large, public limited or privately owned – requires rules, protocols and guidelines to function effectively, writes Dr Eric Clinton and Ms Martina Brophy of the DCU Centre for Family Business.
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Feb Featured Business: Full Health Medical By 2020 the number of people with chronic disease is going to increase by 40%. Full Health Medical aims to make a positive difference to a lot of lives with easy to understand medical reports.
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Jan Export Tiger Roars Again – 2014 Export Review Exports from Ireland roared into overdrive in the second half of 2014, as foreign consumers and businesses released pent-up demand and fuelled the biggest expansion in over ten years.
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Jan Featured Business: Rye River Brewing Company Since brewing its first batch of beer in late-2013, Rye River Brewing Company has built a state-of-the-art brewery, the first 100% Irish made brewery to be built in over 100 years.
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Jan 3 Ways To Future Proof Your Business Workplaces of the future are going to be very different environments, but changes are not decades away.
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Jan Planning for Growth – A Tax Perspective Many businesses, particularly in the food and tech sectors, are focusing on overseas markets to grow their businesses.
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Jan Why You Need an Export Plan for 2015 AIB Export Sector Specialist John Whelan advises why it is so important to have an export plan to develop your business in 2015.
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Jan 3 Social Media Trends for 2015 The social media landscape is constantly changing and it can be hard to determine what is “in”, what is not, and what will help increase your business profits.
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Jan Featured Business: ReviveActive Taking advice and a health supplement from a friend helped influence Dáithí O’Connor to trade his financial services business for a health start-up
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Dec Featured Business: GoBus Early retirement isn’t for everybody, as Jim Burke found out when he sold his established business in 2003. Missing the buzz of business after a few years, he got the opportunity to establish a new venture in the form of GoBus in 2009 and jumped at the chance.
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Dec Motivational Quotes for Start-ups Starting your own business can be a daunting experience, and for many people it’s a big leap. Some of our business customers share their favourite motivational business quotes, which helped give them the drive to succeed.
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Dec Are You Home Alone and Full of Ideas? If you’ve been thinking about setting up a business but find that being at home alone all day isn’t quite conducive to success, an incubation centre could be just what you need, says Susan HayesCulleton.
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Nov Featured Business: TenderScout Every year €263billion is spent globally on putting together 25 billion tenders. In most cases, there can be only one winner. So if six companies spend €1m each on preparing a tender, that’s €5m lost to business.
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Nov Export Review: Q3 2014 Robust export growth of 4.9% in the third quarter (Q3) of 2014 pushed Irish GDP growth to the top of the European ladder, writes John Whelan, Export Sector Specialist at AIB.
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Nov Successfully Selling Your Business The key to successfully selling your business starts with advanced preparation. It is essential that the seller views the business through the eyes of a potential buyer.
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Nov Featured Business: WorldBOX.ie WorldBOX.ie aims to bring to consumers an easy-to-access service in a saturated market. It’s a shipping service, but it’s the service around it that makes it unique.
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Oct Featured Business: Kay’s Kitchen Group Having experienced emigration in his youth, one of the driving forces for Dubliner Bart Glover in keeping the family business going is exactly that – to have his family close by.
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Oct Why Your Business Needs a .ie Domain Business owners can be overwhelmed with the domain options available to them but, if you own a business in Ireland, a .ie domain is the logical choice for many reasons.
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Oct 4 Ways Budget 2015 Will Affect SMEs 14th October 2014 saw Ireland’s first “non austerity” Budget since 2007. So what will it mean for SMEs in Ireland?
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Oct Featured Business: All In Care Ten years ago, there were just a couple of private homecare providers in Ireland. Now there are 130, and one of the big Dublin players is All In Care.
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Oct Taiwan can be Ireland’s Gateway to China It's widely accepted that Ireland should seek to develop greater trade and investment links with Asia, so it is high time to evaluate and redefine the role Taiwan can play in Ireland’s future.
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Oct 9 Reasons Some SMEs Hire the Wrong People Every business talks about the key role that people play in their success. However, many SMEs continually make the same mistakes in their hiring process.
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Oct Network Ireland Business Women of the Year Awards 2014 Many of Ireland’s top business women attended the prestigious Network Ireland Business Women of the Year Awards on Friday 26th September 2014.
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Oct 7 Ways to Create a Successful Working Environment at Home If you work from home, it is important that you create the most productive home office environment possible.
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Sep Featured Business: Mark McConnell Agricultural Consultancy Ltd. A love of farming drove Mark McConnell to get a degree in Agricultural Science and eventually set up business as an agricultural consultant and agricultural auctioneer with an online farm shop
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Sep Featured Business: Loylap Loylap saw huge potential to become a number one provider of technology for small businesses and decided to focus on loyalty — an idea that would reward customers and subsequently offer businesses specific information about their customer demographics.
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Sep Budget 2015 Must Build on Recovery For the first time in many years, the Budget provides a genuine opportunity to fan the flames of growth in the Irish economy.
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Sep Export Review: Industry Half-Year 2014 For the first time in many years, the Budget provides a genuine opportunity to fan the flames of growth in the Irish economy
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Sep Is Your Business Ready for e-Day? e-Day – 19th September 2014 – marks the date when public sector bodies will stop sending and accepting cheques from businesses.
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Sep Featured Business: Brú Brewery Meath-based Brú Brewery started selling in September 2013 and one full year later Brú is sitting on the shelves of most major off licences in Ireland.
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Sep Managing Absence in the Workplace Small businesses in Ireland lose over €563 million per annum through absenteeism. But what can be done to address the problem?
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Aug 6 Factors in Choosing the Right Sales Channel to Grow Your Business No matter what sector your business operates in, it is important to find the right sales strategy to develop relationships with potential new customers or manage existing clients.
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Aug Featured Business: OnePageCRM An important part of business that’s easy to overlook is its inventiveness. Michael FitzGerald, founder of OnePageCRM – a cloud-based customer relationship management tool – doesn’t let that happen.
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Aug Cultural Tips for Successful Business Negotiations in Asia Improving levels of cultural awareness can help companies maximise on international opportunities, and avoid costly misunderstandings and setbacks.
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Aug Becoming a Truly Digital Business Despite concern about digital challenges, only a small number of business leaders are addressing this crucial business issue.
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Aug Featured Business: Monaghan Music & Piano Centre If any business was to have a worst nightmare scenario, it would be to put stock in temporary uninsured storage, only for it to be flooded by freak summer rain.
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Jul Energy Saving Tips … Retail These quick tips can help retailers generate energy savings on heating, air conditioning, lighting and refrigeration.
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Jul Featured Business: Irelands Eye Knitwear Featured Business, Irelands Eye Knitwear, knitwear, Paul O’Sullivan
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Jul Blogging for Sales: 6 Tips for Success What are the key ingredients to writing a blog that will give you the best possible chance of being noticed and contacted by your sales targets.
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Jul Insurance Cover for Innovative Businesses Because of their innovative products and services, complex partnership arrangements and global footprints, ICT, Life Sciences, Media and Telecom businesses can face unseen pitfalls when it comes to insuring against business risks.
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Jul Featured Business: E-MIT Solutions For Eamon Moore, taking a client call on holiday in 2007 was the prompt that it was time to take somebody else on to share the load.
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Jul 10 Online Retail Implications of New EU Consumer Rights Directive The new EU Directive on Consumer Rights (2011/83/EU), effective since 13th June 2014, has important implications for every business that sells online.
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Jun Export Review: June 2014 The global outlook is better than at this time last year. However, there is mounting evidence that recovery is once again proving much more intractable than most Governments and economists had expected.
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Jun Featured Business: Blessington Bookstore Irish regional finalist for Independent Bookseller of the Year 2014 in the UK Bookseller Awards, Blessington Bookstore is a great example of how to embrace change.
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Jun The Business Planning Process Various research shows that entrepreneurs who use a business planning process are twice as likely to be successful in getting a business started than those without.
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Jun Featured Business: VOYA Products If you’ve spent time in luxury spas or hotels worldwide, you may be familiar with the spa and skincare brand VOYA.
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Jun Getting Paid on Time Getting paid on time is a never-ending problem for most small businesses. Research conducted by the Small Firms Association shows that late payments continue to be a problem for 95% of small companies. test
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May AIB Commissions Report on Foreign Direct Investment in Ireland Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Ireland is at an all-time high, and AIB recognises the vital role it plays in the growth of the Irish economy.
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May Featured Business: Owen Chubb Garden Landscapes Limited Business to Owen Chubb is about delivering a superb new garden for the client. It’s a great privilege to do landscaping, he believes, as you are making an impact on a customer’s personal space
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May Energy Management Case Study: Riverside Park Hotel and Leisure Club In 2012 REL Cooling Services Ltd replaced the hotel's existing beverage and food cooling systems with state-of-the-art glycol cooling to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions
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May Getting a Multi-Device Digital Strategy off the Ground Creating a great website experience for consumers across multiple devices can help businesses generate more engagement and increase conversions.
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May Featured Business: Integrity Solutions A serial entrepreneur in his mid-30s, Eoin knows all about keeping going after your first business fails. His company, Integrity Solutions, is his second business venture.
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Apr Featured Business: Brook Catering Brook Catering’s clients include corporates and multinational companies that require catering onsite, as well as everything from weddings, corporates and house parties on the events side.
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Apr Energy Saving Tips … Hotels Long hours of operation, plus the need to keep guests comfortable, can elevate heating and lighting demands in hotels
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Apr Preparing for a Sales Meeting There are a number of ways to prepare for meetings. These guidelines can help you better understand the buyer’s needs and, ultimately, increase your confidence, productivity and sales
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Apr Featured Business: Apex Fund Services Comprehending hedge funds and funds administration services is very difficult for many people. Irishman John Bohan puts it in simple terms: it is a USD$2.2 trillion industry globally.
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Mar Featured Business: Keohane Seafoods The Keohanes set about researching, developing and marketing 'added-value microwaveable products' in 2010
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Mar Successful Succession Planning What will happen to your business when you retire? Without succession planning, a business that has become successful can just as easily fail
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Mar Energy Management Case Study: Centra AIB customer Sean Caulfield was intrigued by what Wattics could do to help monitor the impact of energy efficiency upgrades to his Centra store in Wexford
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Mar AIB Customer Wins Overall SFA National Small Business Award 2014 Keohane Seafoods won the Overall SFA National Small Business Award 2014 at a gala event at Trinity College on Thursday 6th March.
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Mar Featured Business: Farm Tours Ireland Gerry Giggins, an agricultural consultant, and his son Aonghus bring farmers from around the world on tailored tours of Irish farms
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Feb Understanding Google AdWords: A Step by Step Guide Find out how to leverage Google AdWords to build effective and successful campaigns for your business.
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Feb Featured Business: Wexford Home Preserves Wexford Home Preserves may have moved firmly into the 21st century, but the production methods are still the same.
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Feb 5 Tips for Selecting LED Luminaires Not all LED luminaires are created equal, but these five tips can help you choose the right product for your business.
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Feb SFA National Small Business Awards 2014: Finalists Showcase This event highlighted the entrepreneurship, innovation and achievements of small enterprises in Ireland.
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Feb Featured Business: Algaran Seaweed Algaran has been established in Donegal since 2004. It was set up by Italian woman Rosaria Piseri, who has been working with seaweed since 1996.
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Jan Featured Business: FCS Services Anna Holland recognised a gap in the market for company secretarial services outside of Dublin, which is dominated by law and audit/accountancy firms.
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Jan Networking Tips These tips can help you make networking pay dividends for you, your customers and your service providers.
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Jan Business Advice for Irish Start-ups: Part 2 In the second of a two-part series of articles, AIB customers provide invaluable advice for businesses starting out.
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Jan Energy Saving Tips… Manufacturing In your manufacturing operations, it may be possible to reduce your energy bills by as much as 20% just by implementing simple, inexpensive energy efficiency measures.
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Jan Featured Business: Kanum Thai With a clear focus on quality food, Kanum Thai employs 11 Thai chefs, including their head chef who designed all the recipes.
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Dec Featured Business: Kildare Farm Foods December is a very busy month for turkey farmer David Sexton – providing daily customers with the usual level of service while tackling the extra business of processing up to 80,000 Christmas turkeys.
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Dec Business Advice for Irish Start-ups: Part 1 Some of our SME customers tell us about the best business advice they’ve received.
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Dec Energy Saving Tips … Office Space There is significant evidence that energy reduction saves money for office building owners and operators, and increases property value.
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Dec 10 Tips to Successfully Select a Biomass Boiler Becoming more competitive is vital to business, and one way of achieving this is to cut your energy costs.
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Nov Featured Business: Celtic Rider Paul Rawlins runs a motorcycle tours company offering tourists an alternative route around Ireland.
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Nov Featured Business: Bryan Lynch Finest Salads Food is Bryan Lynch's passion and, since the mid-1990s, he’s been running food-related businesses.
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Nov 9 Questions to Ask Before Starting Your Own Business How do you know you are ready to start your own business? Asking yourself these nine questions can help you decide.
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Oct Tech Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Jim and Vincent Weldon have grown Tech Refrigeration and Air Conditioning at a steady pace, allowing them to keep growing through the recession.
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Oct 10 Email Marketing Tips for SMEs For SMEs, email marketing is one of the most cost-effective digital marketing tools available.
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Oct Featured Business: Celtic Pure Padraig McEneaney and his wife Pauline founded Celtic Pure in 2000 and have been growing and developing the company ever since.
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Sep Featured Business: Megazyme Megazyme is one of the two biggest suppliers of testing kits for the wine industry.
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Sep Featured Business: Brigit’s Garden Brigit’s Garden comprises four specially designed gardens representing the Celtic seasons, nature trails, a roundhouse and other features.
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Aug Featured Business: M&T Plant Hire When Tom Murray set up a business 26 years ago with a tractor and tanker to empty septic tanks, he knew he had hit on a niche market.
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Aug Grow Your Business on Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram Although many SMEs are already growing their businesses online using social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, some businesses are leveraging other channels to great effect.
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Aug Featured Business: Cronin Movers Tim Cronin filled a scrapbook with ideas taken from the specialist moving and relocation companies he visited on his travels. By 1986, with six years’ experience and savings behind him, he started Cronin Movers with one truck, one helper and a pager, working out of a lock-up unit on Hanover Quay in Dublin.
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Jul Featured Business: Element Software Element Software, which started business as a mobile app development company, has made the pivot to offer a Saas real-time mobile analytics product.
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Jul 10 Tips For Effective Presentations One way to raise the profile of your business, or of yourself within an organisation, is to seek opportunities to speak in public.
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Jul Featured Business: Moll Industries Ireland Ltd. Owned by Michael and Helen Masterson, Moll Industries is an outsourcing manufacturing partner for medical device manufacturers and pharma companies.
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Jul Featured Business: ForeGolf It is the hand making of clubs that separates ForeGolf from the rest of the golf industry; no other golf retailer hand-builds their own clubs
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Jun Featured Business: Woodfarm Fencing Supplies Having the right person in the right place at the right time can play a key role in the continued success of a business.
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May Featured Business: Murray’s Recycled Plastic Sometimes the needs of one client can unearth a new business opportunity, which is how John and Sheila Murray’s landscaping business transformed into Murray’s Recycled Plastic.
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May Featured Business: Buggabandz Thanks to a new Irish brand of anti-mosquito fashion bands – Buggabandz – mosquito bites could be the least of holidaymakers’ worries.
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Apr Preparing to Sell on Online Marketplaces Selling on the internet can open up a whole world of opportunities for your business, but make sure you are ready before you jump online.
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Apr Featured Business: Eight Degrees Brewing For friends Cameron Wallace from Australia and Scott Baigent from New Zealand, a love of beer has turned into a commercial brewery in County Cork.
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Apr Get to Know Your Market Using Public Information While working in a business and dealing with customers on a day-to-day basis can give some insights, there are plenty of other free resources available.
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Apr Featured Business: Cuinneog Creating premium and award-winning food products – using traditional methods employed by previous generations of Irish people.
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Apr Is Your Business Ready to be Franchised? If you’re considering expanding your business, but are worried about finances, franchising is something that could reap you rewards.
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Mar Featured Business: Scurri Scurri’s focus for 2013 is the B2B market and working directly with e-commerce merchants who have put value on the technology developed by Scurri to match merchants with transport companies.
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Mar Featured Business: AA Caterex Over the course of 13 years, AA Caterex has grown to become a diverse business with two parts: warehouse and distribution, and an engineering company.
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Feb Featured Business: Riverview Eggs For the founders of Riverview Eggs in 1966, it was a loan from AIB’s predecessor, Munster & Leinster Bank, that enabled Dan Joe and Margaret Kelleher to set up the business to supplement their farm income.
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Feb Featured Business: Sanctuary Synthetics For landscape company Sanctuary Synthetics, the supply of artificial grass for domestic gardens, schools, crèches and companies was a gap in the market that has been well worth filling.
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Jan Carysfort Healthcare Carysfort Healthcare brings innovative pain and fever relievers to the Irish market.
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Jan SleepAngel When you put two heads together that have expertise in different areas, great things can happen. Gabriel Scientific, the company behind the innovative SleepAngel pillow, is an example of how collaboration can result in head-turning innovation.
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Nov Top 10 Tips to Getting your Business LinkedIn. LinkedIn calls itself “the world’s largest audience of affluent, influential professionals” and setting up shop in this powerful network is a must for every business.
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Nov Smiles Dental