Cubic Telecom is Helping Germany’s Biggest Carmakers to Drive Forward

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“Enterprise Ireland is always extremely helpful in terms of providing meeting space and setting up partner meetings, finding out beforehand who we want to make contact with and enabling those briefings at the show.” Gerry McQuaid, CCO Cubic Telecom

Overview:

  • Sector: IoT
  • Markets: APAC, China, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East
  • Supports: Trade Missions & Events, International Office Network

Case Study: Cubic Telecom

In an always-on world where consumers expect instant access to information and experiences, car manufacturers are clamouring to ensure that 24/7 connectivity is provided behind the wheel — and Dublin-based Cubic Telecom is supplying the solution.

Cubic’s global connectivity platform PACE enables cars and other devices to automatically connect to high-speed local mobile networks around the world. The company is a fully licensed mobile services provider powering high-quality connectivity worldwide for global manufacturers, including six brands within Volkswagen Group, e.GO Electric Vehicles and Panasonic Automotive, among others.

Not to mention, Cubic’s connected car solution supports 2.5 million cars in 93 markets globally, with capabilities across Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Russia, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

“Our focus spans wider than the Irish market,” reveals CCO Gerry McQuaid, who has been part of the Cubic Telecom team from its beginning in 2009. “Obviously we support the sale of our partners’ products in Ireland but we are focused on the global market and we have had that global focus from the start.”

But scaling internationally requires more than identifying a global customer base and Gerry says Enterprise Ireland’s assistance has been critical in helping Cubic to forge strategic partnerships every step of the way.

 

Powering global connections

When Cubic Telecom made its first foray into the international market, it was with a SIM card that let travellers make low-cost phone calls from anywhere in the world without incurring huge roaming charges. But the company soon switched gears to focus on creating technology that would connect any device to the internet while abroad and in 2012 took part in a major trade mission to China, helmed by Enterprise Ireland and then Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

“Enterprise Ireland helped to arrange private meetings in China with the Taoiseach which gave a fantastic boost to our fledging profile in China,” Gerry says, noting that the trip ultimately helped to cement our business relationships with Qualcomm, Lenovo and China Unicom.

At the same time, demand for vehicle connectivity was on the rise. Automakers wanted to transform cars into infotainment centres on wheels and Cubic Telecom’s technology, which is embedded at the manufacturing stage, could enable standardised vehicles to offer connected services anywhere in the world.

“We’ve always attended MWC and exhibited as part of Enterprise Ireland’s pavilion stand. That’s where we meet our customers, prospects, mobile operator partners, technology partners and important industry analysts every year,” Gerry says. “We are delighted with the support provided to us by Enterprise Ireland in regard to exhibition stand facilities and the arrangement of key meetings ahead of each event.”

Cubic’s first auto contract was with German car giant Audi, which was looking to provide its drivers with a fully digital experience — something that traditional mobile operators were struggling to achieve.

“We were delighted to partner with the leading automotive brand within Volkswagen Group and this partnership has been an intrinsic part of developing our business success in Germany,” Gerry says.

As a result, Germany is one of Cubic’s biggest overseas markets.

“It’s important to point out that we did not select Germany as a generic target market,” Gerry says. “Instead, we looked at the world’s biggest automotive manufacturers and decided which companies we wished to build a partnership with. This naturally led us to Germany, the home of some of the world’s top auto manufacturers. We were very careful to take the time to understand what is required to do business successfully with large prestigious German companies and we had excellent support from the Enterprise Ireland team in Germany.”

Enterprise Ireland still works closely with Cubic Telecom to support its continued growth in other international markets.

“As well as being part of Enterprise Ireland’s pavilion at MWC Barcelona annually, last year we participated with Enterprise Ireland in MWC Americas in Los Angeles for the first time. That proved to be a great success,” shares Elaine Murray, Cubic Telecom’s External Communications Manager, adding, “Enterprise Ireland is always extremely helpful in terms of providing meeting space and setting up partner meetings, finding out beforehand who we want to make contact with and enabling those briefings at the show.”

Besides trade shows and networking opportunities, Cubic Telecom is often invited to sit on conference panels hosted by Enterprise Ireland, which Elaine describes as “integral” to the company’s exposure in foreign markets. Gerry agrees: “We’re always more than happy to participate because it’s a win-win situation.”

Brazil, Brexit and beyond

One of the next stops on Cubic’s path to world domination is Brazil, a notoriously tough nut for non-Brazilian car manufacturers to crack in terms of IoT connected device services.

“We have received excellent advice from Enterprise Ireland to assist with setting up our local presence in Brazil,” Gerry says. “Like in Germany, we align ourselves with the markets that our customers have prioritised. As all of the world’s major automotive companies want to sell connected cars in Brazil, we prioritised establishing a unique locally compliant solution for global automotive and IoT companies there.”

Speaking of complicated, while the UK is not a dominant market for Cubic, it is an important one for many of the company’s customers.

“If you’re driving on the motorways in the UK, most of the cars are German-built cars, so Brexit does have a concern for us in terms of what’s going to happen to the ease of doing business but we’re not as exposed as other companies because we are used to dealing with complicated market conditions around the world,” Gerry says.

His advice: Irish companies must reduce their dependence on the UK market, regardless of the Brexit outcome.

“Any Irish company that’s trying to do business in overseas markets has a very valuable resource that is always there to help in Enterprise Ireland,”

“Start by considering the needs of the customer you are selling to, what solution you are selling, who you need to sell it to and what markets those target customers are in. Then leverage the Enterprise Ireland regional offices to get introductions to the people in that market who you need to meet.”

Read more on the supports available to help your business diversify into new markets or speak to your Development Advisor today.

 

World class Irish companies have rising ambition levels for Japan

World class Irish companies have rising ambition levels for Japan

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Pat O’Riordan, Overseas Manager for Japan and Korea at Enterprise Ireland, describes what Irish companies need to succeed in one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated markets.

Irish exporters are waking up to fresh opportunities in the Land of the Rising Sun. While the country may not have regained the stellar growth rates it enjoyed in the 1980s, Japan remains the world’s third-largest economy. Japan’s corporates, driven by the stellar performance of the export sector, are cash rich with strong balance sheets.

It’s also highly attractive, as a “rich, advanced and sophisticated market. It is respectful of intellectual property and open to world class innovation,” O’Riordan adds.

Growing our ambition in Japan

If we have in the past “lost concentration” on Japan, it may be because of the considerable barriers to entry. We are now fortunate to have an increasingly sophisticated and globally ambitious base of client companies, and a market which is more open to external trade.

“Companies best positioned to win in Japan share particular attributes,” O’Riordan says. These are world-class technology, products or services; high levels of innovation, and management that is committed to – and able to handle – the lengthy sales cycles and demanding customer services levels common in the market.

“Companies really need to be strategically interested in the market to engage. For those who do, the prize is a market of scale and sustainability.”

A ‘hard sell’ rarely works. “Companies coming in here sometimes don’t appreciate how serious the Japanese are about detail. They will want to know who is funding you, how long you have been around for and how long you’re likely to be around for. Your first presentation slide should not be about your technology, or your value proposition, it’s about your heritage and sustainability as a long-term partner,” says O’Riordan.

Be ready for Japan’s most pressing questions

Expect demanding technology and customer service requirements. “Japanese people will ask multiple questions before they buy. They are data-driven, technology-driven, and very service driven. Take the questions as a compliment, they are investing their time in you,” he adds.

While there is potential across a variety of sectors, from fintech to travel tech and medtech, opportunities often emerge as a result of policy and regulatory changes. That has occurred in relation to eldercare, as the country’s aging population generates demand for both assisted living solutions and medtech innovations. In relation to renewable energy, opportunities can be found in Japan’s search for ways to reduce its dependency on nuclear power.

Changes in its visa rules have opened it up to unprecedented levels of tourism, with numbers on track to reach 40 million visitors per annum by 2020, driven also by the arrival of low-cost carriers into the country.

Plan your market entry strategy for Japan

Between 2014 and 2018, companies backed by Enterprise Ireland saw year-on-year growth of 14.5%.

“Companies that get it right can and need to scale up in Japan. To succeed you need to be resilient on the way in and have an ambition and scale agenda to realise a return on investment.”

Read how Connolly’s Red Mills became the largest importer of premium horse feeds in Japan

Irish companies considering a market entry strategy for Japan should undertake high level-research and then carefully verify and validate it. Once you have established a good product/market fit, look for partners – Enterprise Ireland can assist with both.

In Japan it’s not just the language that creates an additional barrier, but the business culture, which must be appreciated and understood. As such, we advise companies to expend shoe leather in market.  There is no substitute for visiting repeatedly to understand the nuances of the market. Ultimately it makes the decision to invest in an on the ground presence a much easier one.

The recent EU Japan Economic Partnership Agreement provides for a much-improved free trade environment between EU and Japan across several categories, which “will add significant momentum to Ireland and Japan trade relations, not least in the food sector,” he says.

Taking the time required to win your first customer will pay dividends. “If you can point to a satisfied Japanese customer, there is no more powerful reference customer across Asia,” says O’Riordan.

The overarching message on Japan is that it very open to and welcoming of world class Irish companies with good product market fit and an ambition to scale. It is proving to be a very rewarding market for committed Irish companies, as is evidenced by the export performance of our clients in recent years and rising levels of ambition for the market.”

Kitman Labs wins with Leinster Rugby, Everton FC, and now Japan

Kitman Labs wins in Europe, US and now Japan

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Supporting the Irish team driving some of Japan’s biggest sports teams.

Kitman Labs is the leading performance and health analytics provider to the global sports industry.

The Irish sportstech company was established in 2012 by Stephen Smith, former injury rehabilitation and conditioning coach for Leinster Rugby. Its software has fundamentally changed how the industry uses data to increase its chances of sporting success.

When Smith began working with Leinster Rugby, he inherited a system in which training information, game information and medical information were all managed separately.

Developments in data science inspired Smith to build a performance and data analytics system that combined all three, with a view to increasing athlete availability and boosting team performance.

 

Focus on innovation enabled Kitman Labs to scale around the world

Until Kitman Labs launched in 2014, no other system merged performance data with medical information, in order to unlock fresh insights. “We’re very focused on innovation,” he explains.

The system’s success has enabled the company to grow and scale internationally. In 2014, it signed its first customer, UK football club Everton.

Success there saw Smith move to the US to raise investment to fund further growth. It signed its first US contract the following year. “Today we have 250 teams across all sports, from Mixed Martial Arts to soccer, rugby and baseball,” says Smith.

Kitman Labs’ product is translated into 29 languages and sells across all five continents. “Our marketplace is still fragmented, insofar as a number of companies collect athletes’ data, and some provide either performance analytics or medical information, but no one combines all three. We see huge opportunities in front of us across the insurance, corporate health and digital health sectors too,” says Smith.

The company has offices in Dublin, Silicon Valley and Sydney and is active in 41 global sporting leagues. These include the English Premier League, the Bundesliga, Premiership Rugby and National Football League.

 

How Kitman Labs got big in Japan

It also has a presence in Japanese rugby’s Top League. One of its newest client acquisitions on this front is elite Japanese rugby team NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes, based in Osaka. It selected the Kitman Labs Athlete Optimisation System to enhance its performance and medical programmes.

Kitman has a number of clients in the Asia Pacific region, including Australia, New Zealand and China.

“We entered Japan via initial interest from Toyota Verblitz, a professional rugby team in Japan’s Top League, who had seen Kitman Labs coverage in the media and made contact with us.”

In 2018, Smith travelled to Japan to speak at the Sports Tech Tokyo conference. “We used it as a test bed for the market and began an outreach programme on the back of it, to get some initial conversations started. Out of that we got two new deals, with NTT DoCoMo, and the Yokohama BayStars, a professional baseball team.”

 

Learning to do business in Japan

The business culture in Japan is different to that in other markets. “There are a lot of formalities and structure to meetings, for example, and the hierarchy in organisations is very different,” says Smith.

Enterprise Ireland’s Japan team is on hand to support Irish companies interested in stepping into the market and emulating Kitman Labs’ success.

Smith describes his experience: “Enterprise Ireland has been of even more help to us because Japan is so different. Their team has helped us with translation services and organised for us to have translators present at meetings. They have helped us by, not just setting up events, but getting the right people in the room.”

Support also helped Kitman Labs to gain a deep understanding of the business culture. “We could probably have set up meetings ourselves but if you don’t understand the nuances, you could burn those opportunities just as quickly as you make them,” he says.

“They also helped us to understand what kind of follow-up is required after a meeting, by explaining what level of detail is required in that follow up. That has been a game changer for us and one of the reasons we have managed to grow quite quickly there.”

Japan will be an extremely significant market for Kitman Labs in the future, Smith says.

“For a start, it has some of the largest corporate names in the world, and corporate health is a growing area of opportunity for us. Japan is unique, in that all its major teams are owned by corporates, so no other country offers that same level of opportunity in terms of corporate health for us.”

 

How success at home helped Connolly’s Red Mills win in Japan

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Kilkenny-based Connolly’s Red Mills makes scientifically advanced nutrition and healthcare solutions for animal health, well-being and performance.

The fifth-generation family-owned business was set up in 1908. It is led by chief executive Joe Connolly, chief operating officer Bill, and business development manager for exports Michael. The brothers work with the next generation of Gareth, William and John Connolly, and a dynamic management team, to drive the business forward. The company employs 320, working on three main strands: a vertically integrated domestic feed and grain business; the manufacture and sale of pet foods in 40 countries; and the manufacture and sale of premium horse feed into 80 countries worldwide.

 

How Connolly’s Red Mills became a global leader

Its premium horse feed is used by some of the world’s most successful race horses, show jumpers and dressage performers.

“In the field, we are considered a global leader, selling right across the northern hemisphere, and beyond that, as far away as Australia. Enterprise Ireland has supported us significantly with research and development, which was the key to our success, especially in Japan,” says Michael Connolly.

“We received funding from Enterprise Ireland for market research and product development for specific markets, including customisation and localisation.”

Connolly’s Red Mills’ success at home helped it succeed abroad. “Race horses are the best paid athletes in the world. We were able to piggy back on the success of our Irish breeders and trainers, to follow our customers, and their customers, around the world,” says Michael.

The UK was the company’s first export market, which it entered in 1985. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s it grew sales across Europe. In 2004 it entered Japan.

Connolly’s Red Mills initially sought to sell pet foods into Japan but found there was greater opportunity for horse feed. “Japan has a very wealthy racing industry. It has prize money of around 10 times the average amount you’d see in Ireland,” he says.

 

Prepare to do business in Japan

Success wasn’t assured. Connolly found Harvard Business professor Geert Hofstede’s view of Japan, that it is the most ‘foreign’ country from a business point of view, to be true.

“The biggest difficulty is communications. That is not translation, it’s the fact that what is not said in a meeting is what often counts most. But if you don’t know what should have been said, you won’t know what that means,” says Connolly.

If you have the right product and are prepared to put in the time building relationships, you can succeed. “Your business has to hit all the markers they want to see, which is sustainability, profitability and growth, which thankfully align exactly with our own values at Connolly’s Red Mills,” he says.

Customer acquisition takes Connolly’s up to four times longer in Japan than it does elsewhere.

“Where it might take three months in France, it will take 18 months to two years in Japan,” he says.

Business meetings are highly structured and formal. Irish people’s traditional bonhomie can work against us, he cautions. Not handling business cards with due deference is a case in point.

Japan has a very hierarchical business culture, to the point that business teams meeting across a table must sit opposite one another in order of rank.

“Often it is in the après meeting, when things relax a bit over a meal, that deals are really done and compromises are made. Decisions are very much done on the basis of consensus. Trust is hugely important and has to be built up.”

 

Japan rewards right product and right approach

If you have the right product, and approach the market in the right way, you can reap the reward. Today Connolly’s Red Mills is the largest importer of premium horse feeds in Japan, with 30% market share of premium horse food.

Enterprise Ireland’s Japan team provided practical on the ground assistance in relation to introductions, itineraries, and local expertise, including setting up meetings and providing information about how to set up a company in Japan.

“It helped us interpret business culture and ensure business and tax compliance. It was also a keyhole into the Irish business community in Tokyo, which was invaluable.”

Japan is not for the fainthearted, he cautions. “It is an exacting market. It has to be a strategic move and you have to have your research done.”

But get it right and it will pay dividends. “Japan is a homogenous market which means that if you can win a small part of it, you can win a large part of it.”

 

Read more on doing business in Japan and the support available from Enterprise Ireland.

Horizon 2020: Supporting transformation in the agri-food sector

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“There were multiple challenges, including a substantial amount of EU politics at the start with many partners wanting to take the lead, but we were determined to keep DEMETER rooted in Ireland.”

Kevin Doolin, Co-ordinator of the DEMETER project and Director of Innovation at Telecommunications Software & Systems Group

Overview:

  • TSSG, part of the Waterford Institute of Technology, is leading a project that aims to transform Europe’s agri-food sector through the rapid adoption of advanced Internet of Things technologies, data science and smart farming.
  • The DEMETER project is being significantly funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
  • With 60 partners, 18 countries and 20 pilots, DEMETER is one of the largest Horizon 2020 projects coordinated by an Irish entity and is expected to have significant impact across the agri-tech sector in Europe, and beyond.

The European Union has identified smart farming as a key component in supporting sustainable agriculture and food production, protecting natural resources and boosting food safety. At the heart of this is the need for new technology and standards to achieve full supply chain interoperability.

This is the subject of DEMETER, a large-scale, €17.7m Horizon 2020 project involving 60 partners across 18 countries, 6,000 farmers and 38,000 devices.

At the helm of DEMETER is Kevin Doolin, Director of Innovation at Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG), an internationally recognised centre of excellence for ICT research and innovation and part of the Waterford Institute of Technology.

“The situation now is that you have various different elements in the agri supply chain – machinery, warehouses, trucks, sensors and so on – but none of these systems talk to each other so it’s impossible to get a holistic view from farm to fork,” explains Doolin.

“With DEMETER we’re trying to connect those elements, so we’re developing new industry standards, writing software for platforms and building interfaces.”

DEMETER’s goal is nothing less than the digital transformation of Europe’s agri-food sector and it includes a series of 20 pilot programmes that aim to demonstrate the impact of the technology.

A key deliverable is the DEMETER Dashboard. “This will give farmers an instant update on the status of their farm. It’s a precision support system that provides information to assist decision making, and increase productivity and efficiency,” says Doolin.

 

 

The Horizon 2020 process

The first step in the Horizon 2020 process is building the consortium, which Doolin did using his extensive network of contacts and the opportunities afforded by networking events run by the Commission.

“It’s important to identify a core set of partners that you can rely on to help write the proposal. Within DEMETER there are about 10 partners that did most of the heavy lifting on that, and then we drew on expertise from the other partners when required.

“We also engaged quite heavily with Enterprise Ireland’s National Contact Points who were able to introduce us to additional partners. And the EI financial support we got to write the proposal was really important.”

As a highly experienced Horizon 2020 co-ordinator, Doolin was aware of the challenges a project of this size, one of the largest ever coordinated by an Irish entity, presents.

“There were multiple challenges, including a substantial amount of EU politics at the start with many partners wanting to take the lead, but we were determined to keep DEMETER rooted in Ireland,” says Doolin.

Co-ordinating 60 partners is an ongoing challenge but one that is mitigated, says Doolin, by having good work package leaders.

“Each Horizon 2020 project is structured into a number of work packages with specific roles. If you have a good team of work package leaders you can leverage them very heavily to co-ordinate the overall effort.”

Moreover, the challenges are offset by the benefits.

“Horizon 2020 enables us to engage in large-scale work, with a substantial group of partners from across the agri supply chain. We have access to technology providers, research and academic experts, real works users and policy makers,” says Doolin.

 

Walk before you run 

Involvement in a Horizon 2020 project can be as a partner organisation or as co-ordinator. Doolin strongly recommends starting as a partner.

“I estimate the level of work involved in being a participant versus co-ordinating to be about 1:10, so I think the best place for institutions to start is by partnering on a proposal and maybe taking a work package leader role where you’re involved in writing the proposal. After you’ve done a few projects you can go down the route of co-ordination, starting with a small project.”

Doolin also advises engaging early with Enterprise Ireland to find out the project topics that are coming up in the next Horizon round of funding, and starting to build the consortium before the Commission launches the call for proposals.

“After the call you’ve only three months to write the proposal, which isn’t a lot of time,” he says.

“It’s also important to tell Enterprise Ireland what proposals you’re writing or you can end up in a situation where different entities in Ireland are writing competing proposals when in fact we should be collaborating. Enterprise Ireland is the mechanism for bridging that gap.”

Within the DEMETER project €1m of funding has been reserved to be given out to new partners who want to join the programme.

“We’ll be issuing our own mini-calls for proposals starting on September 16, inviting SMEs and farmers and so on to come up with a small project idea that will test elements of DEMETER in different scenarios.

“These open call projects are something that I think industry in Ireland needs to take advantage of. It’s a really good way for companies to get into Horizon 2020 and get quite a bit of funding to do just one trial of the technology.”

For advice or further information about applying for Horizon 2020 support please contact HorizonSupport@enterprise-ireland.com or consult www.horizoneurope.ie

 

Enterprise Ireland’s top tips for entering the Singaporean market

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Singapore, the gateway to SE Asia, is the regional business hub for ASEAN and the wider Asia Pacific region, providing stability and highly educated workforce, making it the perfect location to create a base.

If you are considering doing business in Singapore, please be sure to explore our top tips to enter the market below and also be sure to reach out to our team in Singapore

  • Singapore’s English dominated business environment and business-friendly legal and tax systems give Irish companies at every stage of development the opportunity to establish a business presence in Singapore at relatively low risk.
  • Singapore’s highly-educated workforce, political stability, excellent air transport links, developed infrastructure, transparency in business operations and Western business practices mean that many companies adopt a “hub and spoke” approach, using Singapore as a base from which to access opportunities in neighbouring markets.
  • Singapore’s business language is English and it is spoken throughout the island among all ethnic groups.
  • Singapore has the highest per capita spend on healthcare in ASEAN, which averages 4% of GDP, and this is expected to increase annually as the Government seeks to invest in quality healthcare infrastructure and services making it an attractive market for medical device and life science companies.
  • Singapore is seeing increased activity in the Life science sector. There are opportunities for client companies currently selling into the pharma and medical device supply chain in Ireland as many of the same global multinationals also have strong presences in Singapore e.g. Roche, Pfizer, GSK.
  • Singapore is a top-three global financial centre and therefore a key market for companies involved in financial services and fintech. Key activities include FX, wealth management, commodities trading, hedge funds & treasury.
  • There are over 210 banks and approx 1200 Financial Institutions registered in Singapore. Notable changes in the financial sector include the liberalisation of the banking market with the awarding of five digital banking licences in December 2020; the launch of the Variable Capital Company as an entity for new investment funds in Singapore, and the embrace of fintech and automation by the sector in enhancing competitiveness and innovation.
  • Punctuality is a sign of respect in Singapore. It is best to inform your Singaporean counterpart if you will be late.
  • Modesty and humility are key values in Singapore, therefore it is important not to “oversell” during initial meetings with Singaporean counterparts.
  • The decision-making process in Singapore is done collectively and up through the hierarchy, and therefore it may take more time than you are used to.
  • Over 200 Irish firms are already active in this market thanks to EI assistance, contact the local MA here.

For more be sure to check out our Going Global Guide 

If you would like to know what to prepare ahead of your first MA call, click the graphic below

Key questions to ask at your Dutch Market Advisor meeting

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This is an open discussion between you and one of our trusted Market Advisers, to discuss your business and the export opportunities that lie for you in the region. Below are some suggestions of questions to ask your MA, to learn more about the Dutch market, and the supports we can offer you.

  • What resources do you need? Enterprise Ireland can help entrepreneurs and businesses to scale and reach their potential, let it be from funding support, market insights, or finding the right contacts through international networks. Ask your MA what they can do to help you scale your business and enter the market prepared, confident and supported.
  • What are the opportunities in the market for your business? Ask your MA which opportunities lie within your sector, and how best to leverage these growth opportunities for your business.
  • What should the next steps be? Discuss forming a plan towards global exporting – have an open discussion and together plan objectives, goals and discuss what time frames to expect. Next steps may include further market research and discovery, funding applications or buyer introductions.

Set up a call with our team in Amsterdam and be sure to check out our Going Global Guide.

Enterprise Ireland’s top tips for entering the Dutch market can be viewed by clicking the graphic below.

Pestle & Mortar CEO Sonia Deasy

Read how Irish skincare company Pestle & Mortar is perfecting sales around the world

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Kildare woman Sonia Deasy and her husband Padraic have always had global ambition in business. Unfortunately, their first enterprise, a highly successful photographic studio, couldn’t deliver it.

“No matter how much we did, we knew we couldn’t scale it,” says Sonia.

Photography did, however, provide the inspiration for a business that could scale. In 2010, while attending a trade conference in the US, Sonia watched other photographers at work.

“We were always photographing normal people but at these events, other photographers were photographing models and they’d bring along make-up artists. I’d see them prepping their skin before the shoot. I noticed that a lot of models don’t have good skin. They’re up late and work really long hours.”

The make-up artists were using a product that seemed to have a transformative effect.  On further investigation, she discovered it contained a super ingredient, hyaluronic acid.

Though HA is common now, at the time it was almost unknown in Ireland. Where it was available, it cost hundreds of euro.

Deasy reckoned there was enough of a gap in the market to make it worth her while to develop her own product, initially working with a laboratory in Taiwan, a contact she got through her brother.Pestle & Mortar product range

After three years in development, in 2014 she had a product ready to bring to market. She called the brand Pestle & Mortar, a nod to her heritage. Deasy’s parents are Indian and a family member was a ‘medicine man’, whose work crushing herbs inspired the name. It also captured both the best of what is natural with the innovation of science.

She and Padraic built an e-commerce website for what would be, she fully expected, an online only business.

 

Pestle & Mortar goes global

An early slot on a TV magazine show resulted in immediate sales however and calls from Brown Thomas and Arnotts followed. A subsequent stand taken at a cosmetics trade show at the RDS sold out and attracted 120 more retail stockists nationwide.

But it was an appearance on US shopping channel QVC that provided the business with its biggest fillip. It was the channel’s first Irish skincare brand and Pestle & Mortar sold out in just seven minutes. “It was monumental,” she says.

That led to its first international retail order, to supply Bloomingdale’s throughout the US. Today, Deasy regularly appears on QVC in London, helping to grow UK sales too.

Pestle & Mortar HQ in KildareWith the help of Local Enterprise Office Kildare, the business took on new staff and, in 2017, the couple closed the photography studio completely to concentrate on Pestle & Mortar.

Within 18 months, it had launched a second product. Today, it has an entire range, some of which were developed and manufactured in Germany but most of which are made in Ireland. “Because we are Irish-based, we felt we should have products that are made in Ireland and which use Irish ingredients. We are very proud of that,” she says.

Pestle & Mortar was the overall winner of the LEO National Enterprise Awards in 2019 but by the time it received the award it had already attained Enterprise Ireland High Performance Start-Up status.

In 2018, the company had revenues of €3 million, which Deasy predicts will double by the end of 2019. Some 30% of its revenues are generated online, with the rest coming via distributors and wholesale customers worldwide.

With Enterprise Ireland’s help, Deasy spent much of 2018 and 2019 developing its international distributor networks. “My commercial team was out in Indonesia, Dubai and China,” says Deasy, who today employs 27 staff.

The business moved from its original base, a 1500 sq ft converted photographic studio, into a new 10,000 sq ft facility in Kildare, giving it space to grow. She invested €500,000 in the fit out alone, to create a showroom fit for a worldwide brand.

 

Get support for market discovery

“Ireland has just 4.5 million people, our ambition is to think global,” says Deasy, who retains public relations agencies in London and New York to support the brand in those markets. Every three months she travels to both to meet with bloggers and influencers. “It’s all personal, it’s all hands on,” she says.

Enterprise Ireland facilitates this. “We wanted to transition from the LEO to Enterprise Ireland as soon as possible because we knew we could really use Enterprise Ireland’s resources. Thanks to its Market Discovery Fund, my commercial team has been out to its China office six times, which provides us with both contacts and office space,” she says.

“Distribution is key for us and Enterprise Ireland’s team helps us with contacts. If you choose the wrong distributor it can ruin your business in a country and even worldwide. Enterprise Ireland’s offices became our eyes and ears on the ground.”

When Pestle & Mortar recently won a global beauty product award in Dubai, at a ceremony she couldn’t attend, “Enterprise Ireland staff collected our award for us”.

All of the support Enterprise Ireland provides helped to reinforce Deasy’s belief that she was doing the right things. “It confirms the fact that this is what you should be doing, you should be going global, and ‘we can help you do that’. That is the message you get from Enterprise Ireland.”

Today Pestle & Mortar retails in the US, UK, Sweden, Denmark, Thailand, Indonesia, Russia, Hong Kong and China, as well as the UAE. What’s more, “We’re only starting,” says Deasy, whose medium term plan is to grow turnover to €40 million.

From there, the sky’s the limit. That’s the beauty of a scalable business. “If you can get to €40 million you can get to €100 million. After that it’s just numbers.”

Learn how the Market Discovery Fund can support your diversification plans.

Hong Kong

How Irish companies can leverage fintech disruption in Asia Pacific

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Digital disruption in Asia Pacific offers opportunity for Irish fintechs. The Asia Pacific region is leading the way when it comes to the use of financial technology innovations. For Irish fintechs, opportunities abound, suggested Felimy Greene, former digital officer Asia and EMEA at Citi.

Social platforms are disrupting banking in Asia Pacific

Speaking about digital disruption in the world’s most dynamic region for Ambition Asia Pacific, a major conference organised by Enterprise Ireland, Greene described how social networking platforms are leading the charge when it comes to disrupting the banking sector in Asia.

Korean messaging application Kakao, which the average Korean person is using for 14 hours a month for daily communication, is a primary case in point, he said. In 2017, it launched a highly anticipated digital-only bank, which provided a “real shock to the banks in the country and an eye opener for the banks around the region,” he said. Within 24 hours of the launch of Kakaobank, a quarter of a million people had opened an account.  By the end of the first month, that number was three million. “All of it digitally without a single branch, and with a very novel and fun approach to the user experience,” said Green.

The trend in Asia is clear.

“Consumers love the super apps” such as WeChat, Grab, GoJek and Line, all of which started variously as social media messaging or ride sharing apps in the region but segued into payments, “and so do the investors that are financing them,” he said.

“These apps are going to have a huge impact on many industries, not just banking, across Asia and this model is something you can start to see being replicated in Europe and in the rest of the world.”

 

Paytech innovations in China

China is already home to what is “probably the scariest vision of the future possible for a banker,” he said, given how success platforms such as Alipay and WeChat are achieving in China, where they are already moving beyond payments into areas such as investments and insurance.

“It’s staggering to see what they’re doing, the ease with which they’re doing it and the efficiency – using custom-built cloud-based technology.”

Massive disruption around payments has already taken place across the region. Among the most prominent features to emerge is the use of QR codes and phone camera for payments, which allows many Asians to go through their entire day without ever needing cash, or indeed cards.

“This is turning some of the fundamentals of banking upside down,” he said, not least for bank branches that have become redundant right across Asia Pacific.

“The incumbent banks have a lot to do to optimise their footprint and get out of the business of physical business. In many cases, branches are only necessary for face-to-face meetings to open an account but regulators are now starting to move quite quickly to recognise the opportunity for financial inclusion (which these new platforms offer) and so are changing the laws, changing the rules.” The result is that, increasingly, face-to-face meetings are no longer required at all.

“The advantage is going to the digital disruptors and the banks are really scrambling to catch up,” said Green.

 

Regulators helping to drive change in Singapore and Hong Kong

Locations such as Singapore and Hong Kong are leading the trend, where regulators are helping to drive change. The monetary authorities of both have launched significant initiatives and compete with one another on this front, driving change, he said.

“Singapore went very big early on and introduced legislation around sandboxing to enable banks to experiment, and to use cloud, for example, which was forbidden in most countries as little as three four years ago.”

Its fintech festival now draws 45,000 people from around the world every year and is recognised as the largest and one of the most influential of its kind.

Hong Kong’s fintech event is starting to get similar scale, with about 15,000 people attending last year.

“Everyone in Asia is coming to these events. It’s a fantastic opportunity to network, to recruit talent and just to feel out the market, I’d highly recommended it,” said Greene, who lives in Singapore.

 

Financial inclusion driving fintech in Asia Pacific

Financial inclusion is one of the biggest drivers of fintech in the region and demand for it includes not just major centres such as Singapore and Hong Kong but places such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

It represents a huge opportunity for Irish fintechs.

“Banks are so focused on the transformation that they’ve got to go through that there has never been easier to get through the door with a new solution or a new idea. Most of the banks have dedicated innovation teams that are looking for solutions. Regulators even have such groups. And inward investment authorities are offering significant incentives to companies that want to establish in Asia,” he said.

Fintechs looking to establish a base in Asia Pacific will find Hong Kong and Singapore “for starters” vying with each other to get you to establish a base in their country. “They are going to give you subsidies on payroll, grants, and may even give you free office space. It’s extraordinary what the possibilities are for those who are willing to venture out,” said Greene.

“This is a huge opportunity for Irish companies because all this change requires massive amounts of technology that banks cannot possibly build themselves as they would have done in the past.”

 

Learn more about opportunities in the fintech sector and how Enteprise Ireland can support your ambition.

edtech

Edtech for the workplace: opportunity or obligation?

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As AI and automation change the nature of work and jobs rapidly over the coming years, edtech innovations must be ready to help people and organisations keep pace.

Jean Hammond of LearnLaunch, an edtech accelerator and innovation hub based in Boston, was keynote speaker at a conference organised by Enterprise Ireland and The Learning Forum in Dublin in June. At Impacts and Future Trends in the EdTech and Corporate Learning Landscapes, Enterprise Ireland-backed companies met industry experts and investors, to hear how education is changing, and the opportunities that change presents.

As automation becomes more widespread, the importance of soft skills – including complex problem solving, critical thinking and teamwork – will persist. In her keynote presentation, Jean asked: “Why do we call them soft skills? Because they’re really, really hard.”

 

Edtech is an unstoppable force

Edtech innovation is accelerating, as the ways people learn in school, university and the workplace undergo a major transformation. Workforce education is about to become intricately entwined with people’s careers, Jean explained: “We’ve had a history of thinking that there was a period of time, four years in college, and then you worked for ten years and then maybe went away for two weeks, or went back to education for a year, but that’s not what the world looks like now.”

This is a challenge facing society as a whole, Jean noted. She advised delegates not to solely focus on the next great start-up or innovation: “Don’t spend all your time thinking about the innovators. Think carefully about the innovation adopters. What does it take to adopt change?”

Industries must interact with edtech entrepreneurs and signal what they need, in order for start-ups to create the solutions required. If the market fails to tell innovators what it wants, it’s extremely unlikely that innovators will be able to develop the right solutions.

Jean described her role linking companies with start-ups: “I have probably seen over a thousand different edtech start-up business plans over the last ten years. We know what people are out there trying to work on.”

 

Impact of big data and machine learning

Technology has moved at an amazing pace over the past few decades. Jean advised that big data and machine learning will drive change even faster: “Machine learning can analyse any system and find out where there are problems, where there are issues, and then go and provide a way to address these.”

The challenge for edtech is to react to change in time, so that people can transition into new roles before their old tasks become automated or obsolete. Jean commented, “We need to make the systems and processes of learning and deliver them where we need them.”

 

Today’s edtech market

She explained that only about 2.7% of the global education market is currently digitised: “Probably it will max out at around 12% because we’ll always have teachers, we’ll always have humans as a part of the system, but across the next few years, there will be a lot of change.”

The market globally is worth around US $5.75 trillion, with that value projected to rise to US $10 trillion by 2030. Jean explained that education is the biggest sector to ever undergo digital transformation.

Delegate John O’Donnell of Irish curriculum management company Akari Software asked Jean about lifetime learning and how it may disrupt universities. Jean noted that a level of transformation is inevitable but that universities provide quality credentials and should start offering “bites of learning that can be delivered over and over again into a set of stackable credentials.”

After reaching a high in 2015, venture capital investment in edtech fell but is now rising again. A LearnLaunch study looked at where funding for edtech resides: “Clearly there are some things happening in formal education to bring an increased amount of skill training into the higher education and community college, or sometimes even high school. Then the workplace is delivering both functional skills and soft skills, with a high rate of company formation in technology.”

Jean said that some of the most intriguing innovations were the next generation of learning management systems (LMSs), new e-learning tools, advanced ways of looking at assessment and analytics, and credential management.

Companies who have never invested in edtech previously are entering the market (such as Walmart) and long-time funders are entering the process earlier. Jean explained that earlier engagement is intended to “push those start-ups in the direction that they need because start-ups will listen if you tell them what to do. They care about your opinion so they will be steering themselves to try and meet your needs.”

This is advanced strategic thinking, which will help ensure companies have the tools they need to upskill their workforce: “I don’t just think edtech is the opportunity of the decade, I think that we have to do this.”

Learn how Enterprise Ireland invests in new technologies with our range of innovation supports.

John Ferguson Ambition Asia Pacific 2

‘Phenomenal’ middle class growth in Asia Pacific an opportunity for Irish companies

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The growth of the middle class throughout Asia Pacific presents ambitious Irish companies with unprecedented opportunities, delegates at the recent Ambition Asia Pacific conference in Dublin heard.

Some 23 million new ASEAN households are on track to earn more than US $35,000 a year by 2030 in what is “the fastest-growing, most dynamic region in the world,” said John Ferguson, Director of Country Analysis at the Economist Intelligence Unit, who provided an overview of growth trends and opportunities in the region.

 

Growth rates in Asia Pacific countries

In China, major strategic programmes such as Made in China 2025 and the long term Belt and Road construction initiative “are not going away”, he said.

“Chinese growth is still just very modestly slowing down to around 6%,” he said. The government there is using monetary goals and fiscal policy to maintain that growth.

Even allowing for the challenges facing China, “it’s still going to grow pretty reasonably well over the next couple of years,” he said.

Growth prospects in Japan, at 1%, are much smaller, however. As a huge, developed and rich economy, it’s one in which there are still “a lot of opportunities” for Irish companies, he suggested.

Much of that opportunity relates to Japan’s Society 5.0 initiative, the Japanese government’s focus on artificial intelligence, sensor technology and automation.

“This is a huge initiative for the Japanese. That’s where some of the growth opportunities will present themselves in Japan, already a highly developed economy but really trying to push themselves with this fourth industrial revolution.”

India represents a particularly “bright spot” in the global economy, said Ferguson, who predicted growth of around 7% on average likely over the next five years.John Ferguson Ambition Asia Pacific

This compares with global growth of around 2% and Asian growth of between 4% and 5%. India’s growth outlook is “extraordinary”, he said.

The primary opportunity in India, as in Asia Pacific countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia, is one of population development and subsequent growth in demand for consumer goods and services.

With predicted growth levels of 5% and a large population, Indonesia is another really strong performer, again driven by the fast growth of its middle, or consuming, class, he said.

Indonesia’s five-year growth rate forecast is almost double that of Singapore’s, at 2.9%. However, the additional opportunity in Singapore comes from its ease of doing business and its popular status as a launchpad from which to do business elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region, he said.

So, while Singapore is growing a more slowly than some of the less well developed countries in the region, it’s still growing at “a pretty impressive rate of growth for economy at its stage of development.”

South Korea is another mature market but still likely to show average growth of 2.7% over the next five years. “In our view, that’s a pretty reasonable growth for a country at that stage of development.”

“The rising middle class in the Asia Pacific region is phenomenal. The world is moving east.” Kevin Sherry, executive director Global Business Development, Enterprise Ireland

Australia – another frequent launchpad into the wider region for Irish companies – and New Zealand are both stable economies but, cautioned Ferguson, both are seeing climate change and immigration becoming significant political issues.

Kevin Sherry at Ambition Asia Pacific Conf.For Irish businesses looking at these markets, either as part of their supply chain or as end markets, it’s worth keeping an eye on regulatory initiatives in relation to either, he said.

Enterprise Ireland is working with more than 600 companies who are doing business in the Asia Pacific region.  “Irish companies are used to winning in the Asia Pacific markets,” said Kevin Sherry, executive director Global Business Development at Enterprise Ireland.  “The rising middle class in the Asia Pacific region is phenomenal. The world is moving east.”

Depending on what happens in October in relation to Brexit, Ireland may be the only English speaking country in the EU, a fact that presents challenges but opportunities too, he pointed out.

Enterprise Ireland is expanding its footprint in the Asia Pacific region to help support Irish companies looking to capitalise on the growing level of opportunities there, opening new offices in Auckland, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in Melbourne, Australia and in Shenzhen, China, he said.

 

Read more Global Ambition articles on the opportunities for Irish companies in Asia.

Asia Pac Conference

Ambition Asia Pacific is closer than you think

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Places are booking out fast for a major event bringing opportunities in Asia Pacific to Irish businesses.

Ambition Asia Pacific is a major Enterprise Ireland conference taking place in Dublin in June to provide Irish exporters with a roadmap to success in some of the region’s fastest-growing markets. The conference takes place on 13th June at the Aviva Stadium.

“The purpose of the event is to not only to raise awareness of the opportunities that exist in the APAC region, but to provide Irish companies with an understanding of how to do business there,” says Tom Cusack, Regional Director Asia Pacific at Enterprise Ireland.

Secure your place at Ambition Asia Pacific now.

 

Support for entering Asia Pacific

It’s one of a number of events Enterprise Ireland is hosting to support Irish businesses looking to trade there, including trade missions due to take place later this year in markets such as Japan, Korea, and China.

Enterprise Ireland is also opening two new offices, in Melbourne Australia and Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam. That brings to 10 the number of offices it has in the Asia Pacific region, a clear indication of the deepening of its support for Irish businesses looking to trade in the region.

“In the context of Brexit, expanding the Irish export footprint in markets beyond the UK is a key priority for Enterprise Ireland. The Ambition Asia Pacific event is about raising awareness in Irish companies – and the ambition – to pursue realisable opportunities throughout the Asia Pacific region,” says Cusack.

Traditionally, the biggest perceived barrier to Irish businesses in the region has been distance but ease of access has never been greater, he points out.

“Ireland now enjoys ease of connectivity to the region, with direct flights to destinations such as Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Beijing, meaning Irish companies can leave Dublin at lunch time and arrive in Asia in time for breakfast,” he says.

 

Big opportunities for Irish businesses

The scale of the opportunity for Irish businesses is unprecedented, too, and spans multiple sectors.

These include aviation. “Over the next 20 years, half of the world’s air traffic growth will be driven by travel to, from, or within, the Asia Pacific region. This rapid growth requires significant investment in infrastructure, products and services,” he says.

There are enormous opportunities for financial services and fintech too, thanks to a growing middle class, increased digitisation of financial products, and massive investor interest.

Within the past two years “fintech financing in Asia Pacific has eclipsed that of North America for the first time, and is now four times larger than the European market,” says Cusack.

“Weak legacy IT infrastructure in Asia Pacific countries incentivises quicker adoption of digital technologies, providing a great opportunity for Irish companies, not least in fintech and payments.”

The potential for education services is clear too, he says. What’s more, if the UK leaves the EU, Ireland will become the largest English-speaking education market in the EU at a time when demand for English third-level education across the APAC region is fast growing.

Construction and engineering services, healthcare products and services and agritech solutions are also in demand.

All these sectors, and more, stand to benefit from GDP growth rates across Asia, which average 6%, compared with growth rates of just 2% in Europe and the US. By 2030, Asia will account for two thirds of the world’s middle class, and Asian economies are predicted to be larger than the rest of the world combined in a matter of months.

 

Irish success in Asia Pacific

Very many Irish companies have already successfully capitalised on opportunities in the region. This means that, while opening up new markets in faraway places is always a challenge, first time exporters to the region will, in fact, be following a well established path.

“Most Irish companies’ first foray into the Asia Pacific region is via Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. These are familiar places in which to do business, with substantial and highly supportive diaspora networks,” he points out.

On top of that, is an array of Enterprise Ireland supports including business networking and introductions, market research and entry strategy advice, as well as financial support for market diversification.

Irish companies looking to enter the Asian market can also draw from the wealth of experience of those that have already done so. To date, more than 600 companies supported by Enterprise Ireland have exported to the region. In fact, exports by Irish companies to Asia Pacific now surpass €2 billion, having more than doubled since 2012.

 

Learn from the Irish experience in Asia Pacific

The upcoming Ambition Asia Pacific event is an opportunity to find out exactly how they did it, learn from their successes – and mistakes – and pick up invaluable tips.

In a packed programme of events, speakers include Denis Hickie, general manager ATA Group (Ireland & UK); Brian Mehigan, chief strategy officer Kerry Group, and Elaine Coughlan, managing partner and founder of Atlantic Bridge.

Niall Norton, CEO and board member of Openet Telecom; former chief digital and client experience officer at Citi Asia and EMEA Felimy Greene; and John Ferguson, director of country forecasting at the Economist Intelligence Unit will also make presentations.

The event features a number of dedicated breakout sessions, too, spanning financial services, aviation, digital technology, and international education.

It will also include an event on opportunities in China with a panel discussion featuring a number of Irish success stories in the region. This particular breakout session will include a large business delegation from the China Hi-Tech Fair trade show in Shenzhen, who are actively interested in meeting Irish companies with ambition for China.

Admittance is limited and booking out fast so to secure your place at Ambition Asia Pacific register now.