Grant engineers French success

Grant engineers French success

In the wake of the Brexit vote, oil boiler specialist Grant Engineering immediately looked to develop its export markets.

The Offaly-based company employs up to 320 people. It also has operations in the UK, where it employs a further 80 staff and accounts for more than half of the UK oil boiler market.

This year it will launch in France, delegates attending Ambition France, an Enterprise Ireland event, heard.

How Enterprise Ireland supported market entry to France

It started by attending a French trade show, supported by Enterprise Ireland. “It was an opportunity to invite people from our industry to meet us,” said Niall Fay, a director of the company.

The company availed of Enterprise Ireland’s Business Accelerator initiative, which helps companies retain the services of an industry expert in country. “He spent two months contacting local potential distributors and clients, asking them to come to see us at the show and arranging the meetings.”

The result was an unexpected but welcome offer. “Two guys from a company that was of particular interest to us were looking for a career change and were keen to develop the business for us so we agreed to take them on an consultancy basis. We were lucky to find French people with 40 years industry experience between them.”

A Market Access Grant from Enterprise Ireland enabled the company to localise the product for the French market. The company then set up offices and a training facility. Grant established in France as an SAS company, the most common limited liability structure in France, opened bank accounts and registered for VAT.

Having French nationals heading up the company was a huge advantage. “One of the biggest concerns we had was finding someone within the industry who would come and join a company that is a complete unknown in France. We have gotten over that hurdle and now we are looking at sales. It is very common in France to have sales agents all over the various regions of France and that is the route to market we are going to go.”

Here too, having French nationals who know the market, and can assess candidates, has been a boon.

His French hires have extensive knowledge of the agent network and have already selected 12 they reckon can deliver. “That would have been very hard for us to do,” said Fay.

Establishing the right corporate structure is vital, said Noel Cunningham, head of FDI at Mazars in Dublin. While a liaison office can be a good way to test the waters, incurring no tax liabilities in the country, it isn’t a sustainable solution because it precludes the signing of contracts.

And if you have three or four sales people on the ground, you could find you have a taxable presence there.

Hiring locally is important. “But doing your due diligence in relation to who you hire is extremely important too,” said Cunningham.

“Apart from the cost and effort involved in hiring unsuitable candidates, it can also damage your brand. Make sure there is someone back at base who is controlling them and be clear about what type of reports they should be generating,” he said.

Work with people who have an understanding of the different culture and language, said Fabrice Folliot of F4B Development, a French national and market accelerator.

“The mistake is to come into the market from a very strong position in Ireland, even a dominant one, and think that going into to France from that position would be easy. It’s not the case,” said Folliot, citing the common tourist experience of Paris by way of analogy.

Efforts to localise essential for French market

“If you start to ask directions in English, no one will stop for you. If you start even with broken French, to show you are making an effort, people will. In business, it’s about making an effort and working with the right kind of people. That is a positive sign that shows you want to invest in, and plan to be in, the market for the long term.”

Despite France’s reputation for bureaucracy, the time it takes to set up a company has been reduced to a matter of minutes online, pointed out Hubert Levesque, managing director of Morgan McKinley France, a recruitment agency.

The “Macron effect” has seen economic growth of more than 2% and unemployment of 5% at executive level, leading to a tightening of labour market, Levesque warned. The result is salary inflation of 7% this year.  “All of this makes it harder and harder to get good high profile candidates if you have a good brand. So when you are entering with an unknown brand, it’s even harder.”

Being open to locating outside of Paris can help.

“Everybody wants to go to Paris but that is going to be more expensive and you are going to be more anonymous. There are other cities too to consider, including dynamic ones such as Lyons, Marseilles or Bordeaux, which is just two hours from Paris by train. Salaries are cheaper there because you can offer a better quality of life.”

Take advantage of the supports available to you, including Ireland’s short “distance to power”.

“When we opened our French office the Irish ambassador, government Minister Bruton and Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon all came,” said Tony Richardson, CEO of Venn Life Sciences.

“Our French staff were gobsmacked by the level of access an Irish company can get to a government representative, which you simply would not get in France. It made them feel really important and that they work for an Irish company which is really important to the Irish government.”

For more information on doing business in France download our Going Global guide to France.

How DEM Machines manufactured success in new markets.

“Our export sales have trebled over the past three years. We are now looking at opportunities in Canada, the US and Australia.”

– John McCann, Operations Manager

Key Takeouts:

  • DEM Machines provide software for real-time factory floor data, in addition to bespoke industrial weighing equipment.
  • After their domestic success, they now look to international markets for growth.
  • Their export sales have trebled with Enterprise Ireland support, and are now looking at entering North America and Australia.

Case Study: DEM Machines

DEM Machines has seen export sales triple and employment grow by 50% over the past three years, since accessing Enterprise Ireland market research supports. The company, which counts leading food companies such as Kerry Group, Kepak, AIBP and Glanbia among its domestic customers, initially focused on the UK for overseas expansion.

DEM Machines is a Kildare-based company that manufactures bespoke industrial weighing equipment and develops industrial software solutions for a range of customers, mainly in the food and meat processing sectors.

“There are two interlinked strands to the business”, explains operations manager John McCann.

“We are a software company. We provide industry-specific software solutions, based on the award-winning SAP Business One platform. We also manufacture and supply the hardware that the software runs on.”

“There is a lot going on in a food processing plant”, McCann notes.

“We offer a fully integrated factory solution that connects back-office financial processes with factory floor processes, such as barcode scanning, label printing, handheld devices, weighing scales and data capture devices. That gives managers access to real-time factory floor data, enabling them to make quicker, better decisions. The idea is to provide food processors with a one-stop shop for all production and financial processing needs.”

A decision to re-energise the business was made three years ago. “We saw an opportunity to develop new products and services for the markets we serve”, McCann says. “We got rid of a lot of older stuff and built new software on the SAP platform. That was when we re-engaged with Enterprise Ireland.”

The company’s domestic success meant that the Irish market now offered limited prospects for growth. “The domestic market will always be a certain size”, McCann continues. “While we count all the major players among our customers here, we know the Irish market inside out. It is growing but at a relatively low rate. We had to look beyond the domestic market if we wanted to grow the business. We had to find additional markets and that’s where the engagement with Enterprise Ireland came in. We had worked with them previously on other developments and wanted to talk to them about overseas growth.”

The company initially looked at the UK and, with Enterprise Ireland assistance, has enjoyed considerable success in the market. “Our export sales have trebled over the past three years. That’s still a small part of the business but all growth is being driven by international markets. We are now looking at opportunities in Canada, the US and Australia. They use the English language and are mature markets with similar food and meat processing sectors and standards to our own. It’s at an early stage for now but that’s where we see future growth coming from.”

Enterprise Ireland market research supports have proven very helpful in assessing the UK market. “Enterprise Ireland were of great assistance”, McCann says. “It’s not just a grant. We used the Market Research Centre in East Point extensively. The team are very skilled at market research and assisted us in identifying excellent quality market intelligence.”

“Getting the grant is straightforward”, he adds. “You submit your plans and do projections. The turnaround time is very quick. We understood what they wanted from us, and they understood what we wanted to do. It was a very good meeting of minds. I would absolutely recommend other companies with export growth ambitions to talk to Enterprise Ireland.”

Tricel

Commitment to France Pays Off for Tricel

“In France, we are a French company with French people on the ground and a nationwide French distribution network. We have a very responsive business set-up providing next day delivery once a product is assembled.”

— Mike Stack, Managing Director.

Key Takeouts:

  • Developing a range of environmental products was timely.
  • Local factories and French-speaking staff are important.
  • Enterprise Ireland toured France with Tricel in early days.
  • More emphasis on marketing within the business in recent years.

Case Study: Tricel

While attending a trade show in Evreux in France in 2009, Killarney-based manufacturing firm Tricel heard an announcement which would prove to be a watershed moment in terms of its growth in that market.

A representative from the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and the Sea told participants at the trade show that from that point on a government

licence would be required for waste-water treatment systems for one-off houses in France.

Called KMG (Killarney Manufacturing Group) at the time, Tricel went about getting such a licence for its sewage treatment products – which it managed to do in 2011 – and the company’s growth in France took off from there. It secured a significant volume of sales in its first year, and sales have doubled year-on-year over the past four years in France, according to managing director Mike Stack.

Mike’s parents Con and Anne Stack founded Killarney Plastics in 1973 to manufacture high quality composite and fibreglass (GRP) products. At that time GRP was a new and innovative material to the Irish market.

The company went on to develop its own range of products – water storage tanks and meter enclosures – and built up a strong business supplying housing and commercial buildings in Ireland and the UK.

“Things were going nicely until the crash in 2008. Sterling devalued by close to 40% and almost went to parity with the euro in December of that year. This made UK companies more competitive and the market for houses and commercial buildings started to collapse rapidly from then on,” says Stack.

“We had to think about how we could reposition ourselves so as not to be so dependent on the UK. So, we looked to continental Europe and developed a range of environmental products, including the sewage treatment solution which has done so well in France.”

Top Tips for Exporting to France:

  • France requires commitment, particularly in relation to the language.
  • Having a base in France allows for expansion.
  • Building a strong brand in France led to global re-branding.

For more detail, click here

A Strong Brand

Tricel was one of the first companies from a country outside France to get the government licence mentioned above, which has allowed the company to build up a strong brand in the market since 2011.

“What has worked well for us has been the fact that our product is simple, robust and reliable. It is made with composite materials and high quality parts – people like the fact that they don’t need to adjust it or spend money maintaining it. This is also important for distributors who don’t want to have to make call-backs once a product is installed,” notes Stack.

Recognising that the French business was going to be substantial, Tricel established a factory in Poitiers in 2011. The group’s first factory on mainland Europe, the site acts as a commercial hub for France as well as a base from which to expand to other mainland European markets and French-speaking countries. Similar to the approach it took in the UK since the mid 1990s, Tricel manufactures all the parts in Ireland and uses the French factory for assembly.

Now with 25 people based in France, Tricel is in the process of kitting out a second plant in France, in Avignon. It has started recruiting for this new operation in the south-east of the country, which will play a pivotal role as a key assembly, logistics and distribution centre.

“In France, we are a French company with French people on the ground and a nationwide French distribution network. We have a very responsive business set-up providing next day delivery once a product is assembled,” says Stack. “This is important for distributors, which are mainly small businesses in local areas. It means we can get the tanks to them very quickly.”

 

Scope for Growth

“Last year we launched our new Seta waste-water treatment tank in France to meet the demand in the holiday home market. It is suitable for both constant and intermittent effluent use.”

Further to establishing the Tricel brand for sewage systems in France and Germany the decision was made to rebrand the entire group to Tricel in 2014. It is now an established global provider of high performance solutions for the water, environmental, construction and materials industries with 12 operating locations across Europe.

Tricel currently employs 350 people, 134 of which are based at its headquarters in Killarney. “Since 2010 we have doubled our headcount and plan to employ 600 people across the group by 2020,” says Stack.

“Innovation will be the key driver of this growth. Over the past year we have switched from a cross-company approach to innovation to having someone with dedicated responsibility for this in each of the four divisions. A big thing for us has been to get better at measuring innovation and setting targets.”

The key to Tricel’s success in France has been being absolutely committed to the market since it first went there. “We have a managing director in France and the back-up of a lot of French-speaking staff both locally and in Killarney,” says Stack.

“We have taken a committed approach to all new export markets as we believe things don’t go so well generally if you just dip your toe in. In order for both customers and sales people to feel confident about our products, it is important for them to know that we have factories on the ground and people locally they can speak to.”

Tricel’s Partnership with Enterprise Ireland:

  • Enterprise Ireland outlined four pillars to focus on for market diversification
  • Members of the Tricel team took part in training courses to boost international sales
  • Paris office hugely supportive during market research and entry phase in France
  • Strategic marketing review supported by Enterprise Ireland particularly useful

CurrencyFair

“The foresight and belief that Enterprise Ireland has given us, and the practical advice and mentoring, we wouldn’t have gotten that anywhere else. It was really key to our success.”

Caroline Nangle – Head of People & Culture

Who

CurrencyFair gives ordinary people access to foreign exchange rates normally reserved for banks and market professionals, making it cheaper to transfer money internationally.

How

CurrencyFair was able to scale rapidly and internationally through practical advice and mentoring that they received from the Enterprise Ireland team.

Result

CurrencyFair is now a global operation with over 90 staff and offices in Ireland, Australia and the UK.

See How We Helped CurrencyFair

Tips for entering European markets from Combilift

Based in Co. Monaghan, materials handling manufacturer Combilift entered European markets a year after it was established, directly targeting customers at first and then appointing distributors. Here managing director Martin McVicar shares his key pieces of advice.

Managing Director at Combilift, Martin McVicar

Dealing with different languages has been one of the challenges we have come up against in mainland Europe. Irish companies need to be aware that they require additional resources to achieve the same volume of business in a country with a different language, compared to an English speaking country. To overcome this challenge in Germany and France, Combilift appointed English-speaking distributors to speak to customers on its behalf as well as putting dedicated sales resources on the ground with local language fluency.

Once your product is innovative, we have found that the most effective strategy is to segment the market and carefully target customers directly, then appoint a distributor. When we had a number of users in different European markets, distributors then approached us. This meant they were 99% convinced about the product and more likely to sell well for us.

The unique selling point of your product may vary from market to market, so be prepared to adjust it accordingly. For example, in Combilift’s case, the fact that our forklift helps to save space has been most important for a lot of European clients, while timber companies in the US place more emphasis on the ability to handle long products safely.

When considering entering new markets I would advise against targeting the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries as they are so volatile. Russia used to be Combilift’s fifth largest market and this dropped to almost zero because of issues in the Ukraine and the devaluation of the ruble. Even though you will have to work harder to grow business in mainland Europe compared to English speaking markets, these countries provide consistent growth and are less volatile than the BRIC markets.

How Brexit drove Associated Rewinds to grow in new markets

“Our focus up to two years ago was on the UK and Scandinavian markets, so when the Brexit vote came we recognised quickly that we were very exposed”

– Eamonn Griffith, International Sales Manager

Key Takeouts:

  • A strategic decision to target EU markets in response to Brexit.
  • Niche specialists with clients that invest millions of euro in locomotives who want to maximise the lifespan of that investment.
  • The Enterprise Ireland market research support was the ideal mechanism to help realise market diversification ambitions.

Case Study: Associated Rewinds

The outcome of the UK Brexit referendum in June 2016 prompted a strategic rethink on the part of Associated Rewinds, the Tallaght-based company that is the largest independent specialist in Europe for re-engineering, repairing and maintaining traction motors for trains, trams and metro systems. While the company boasts customers stretching from Scandinavia to Spain and Saudi Arabia, it had concerns in relation to its level of exposure to the UK market.

“Our focus up to two years ago was on the UK and Scandinavian markets, so when the Brexit vote came we recognised quickly that we were very exposed”, says international sales manager Eamonn Griffith. “We couldn’t predict the long-term impact but fluctuations in sterling became a problem again very quickly. It was like going back to the pre-euro days.”

In 2015, Associated Rewinds completed a large investment of approximately €5 million in a third factory in Tallaght, increasing capacity by 30%. “Due to Brexit and our increased capacity, we took a strategic decision that we needed to reduce our exposure to the UK as quickly as possible. We targeted EU markets – France, Germany, Austria and other countries where there is a sizeable volume of train assets and currency stability.”

The company enjoys considerable advantages when it comes to exploring new markets. “We are a niche specialist in traction motors for the rail sector”, Eamonn explains. “We remanufacture and maintain the motors. Our clients invest millions of euro in locomotives and they want to maximise the lifespan of that investment. They want to get 40–50 years’ life out of their assets and maintenance is crucial. It’s like owning a car, if you maintain it well, you will get a much longer life and better value from it.”

Associated Rewinds services all the main motor brands – GM, Bombardier, Siemens, Alstom and so on – and it has earned a reputation for solving difficult problems for customers. “Our clients have different environmental challenges. Scandinavia is subject to big weather extremes, with hot summers and very cold winters. We have the experience and capabilities to redesign and rebuild the motors to suit the environment. This sets us apart from our competitors.”

One example of such a customer is the Royal Mail in the UK which, 12 years ago, was experiencing severe difficulties with motors failing and trains breaking down on the tracks. “It was causing such chaos that it got to the stage where they were told to take the trains off the line until they resolved the problem. They asked us to investigate and establish what was causing their problems which resulted in us redesigning the motors. They haven’t had a single failure since. Royal Mail has since been happy to recommend us to other rail companies.”

Associated Rewinds discussed its ambitions for market diversification with Enterprise Ireland. “We wanted to reduce our UK exposure and fill our increased capacity as quickly as possible”, says Eamonn Griffith.

The Enterprise Ireland market research support was “the ideal mechanism to help us. It enabled us to do what we intended to do much more quickly than our resources allowed us to do and helped us carry out detailed market research in each of the target countries. We put in our application to Enterprise Ireland in late 2016 and received approval in January 2017. We have made some really good progress in the past 12 months.”

The French national rail company SNCF audited the Associated Rewinds facilities recently. “We have just received our first order from them. In addition to our original target markets we have received our first orders from Spain and Belgium. Our increased access to the European rail market is a direct result of the expansion of our sales team, combined with the results of the Enterprise Ireland market research undertaken into each of our target markets.

This research helped find where there was most demand for the company’s services. “We wanted to identify companies with problematic motors. That is the sweet spot and gives us something concrete to bring to the table with potential customers.”

“I would recommend the Enterprise Ireland programme very highly to other companies. Their office network in Europe is very helpful and the Enterprise Ireland people have been around the block many times. They are knowledgeable about both the positive and challenging aspects of researching and entering new markets. Enterprise Ireland has experienced the successes and failures of many other companies before us and can help companies like Associated Rewinds avoid the pitfalls and capitalise on previous success.

Researching and validating new markets can be an expensive and a time-consuming process. The Enterprise Ireland market research support assists with that. But you need to have a very clear focus on what you want to achieve and know your value proposition for that market.”

 Learn how Enterprise Ireland’s Diversification supports can help you to develop market knowledge and prepare for the challenges of entering new markets.

 

How H&MV Engineering achieved high voltage growth in new markets

“When you have access to that funding, it gives you comfort, as the alternative seems costly to explore a new region.”

– PJ Flanagan, CEO

Key Takeouts:

  • H&MV had grown steadily from a small electrical sub-contractor to high voltage specialist.
  • The Enterprise Ireland Market Access Grant helped them set up in new regions.
  • With a country by country, market by market approach, the focus is on the quality of the contracts and having the ability to be selective.

Case Study: H&MV Engineering

Headquartered in Limerick, high voltage solutions specialist H&MV Engineering (H&MV) has experienced rapid growth in recent years, breaking new ground in the UK and Norwegian markets. Enterprise Ireland has provided valued assistance to H&MV throughout this busy growth period.

“We specialise in grid connections”, says CEO PJ Flanagan. “If a high-energy user customer wants to connect to the power grid, they need H&MV to build a sub-station and connect them. We also work for distribution network operators (DNOs) and transmission network operators (TNOs). If a company is developing a data centre, the first thing they need is a grid connection. That’s what we do.”

The firm was founded in 1997 and Flanagan joined the following year as its first apprentice electrician. Growing steadily since 1997, the company has transitioned from a small electrical sub-contractor to a high voltage specialist, operating as principal contractor on major projects.

In 2015, Flanagan and his business partner John Stokes led a management buyout (MBO) of the company with the support of MML Growth Capital Partners. “MML is backed by Enterprise Ireland and AIB”, says Flanagan. “That was our first introduction to Enterprise Ireland. We had turnover of €7 million and 70 employees at that time. We now have 155 employees, turnover has grown to €33 million, and we have just announced our planned expansion. This expansion will result in H&MV doubling our workforce here in Limerick over the next five years. In the last two years, our design team alone has grown from 1 to 14.”

As part of the MBO process, Flanagan and the management team set out a long-term vision of how they wanted the company to develop. “Our ambition was to grow the company in the UK and across Europe”, he says.

“Enterprise Ireland’s market research supports have been very beneficial for us. When you have access to that funding, it gives you comfort, as the alternative seems costly to explore a new region. We have been very successful in the UK to date and anticipate UK turnover to reach £4 million in 2018.”

H&MV has also focused on the Norwegian market as part of its strategic growth. “Business in Norway is progressing for us now and we secured a €6 million contract outside Oslo last year. We have applied for another grant to assist in researching and validating the Dutch market.”

This country by country, market by market approach is a deliberate strategy. “We are looking for steady organic growth”, Flanagan points out. “We don’t chase numbers. We chase quality in terms of the contracts we work on and the clients we work for. We are very selective and we don’t take on just anybody. Our clients tend to be very large companies in industries like pharmaceuticals, utility provision, data centres and renewable energy. Many of our customers are state-owned.”

Growth ambitions are not limited to Europe. “I am travelling to South Africa in the near future to look at that market. We might explore the Far East as well. Advance research to ensure market viability is imperative.”

Enterprise Ireland support has played a key role in the company’s growth in recent years. “It has been massively important to us”, says Flanagan.

“Enterprise Ireland helped us make initial contact and build relationships in new regions. They are very helpful in terms of organising meetings and introductions. We have been able to use Enterprise Ireland’s overseas office network as well. Support from the organisation gives you great confidence. It can be lonely at first when you’re trying to break into a new market, so it’s great to have someone on the ground to give you support and help. I would encourage other companies to approach Enterprise Ireland if they have ambitions to expand into a new region.”

How Aerogen’s ‘Born Global’ Mindset Drove Export Success

“The more resources you apply — particularly on the ground — the more traction and sales you achieve. We found that you can’t dabble in a market; you have to go all-in.”

John Power, CEO, Aerogen

Key Takeouts:

  • ‘Born Global’ mindset drove export success.
  • Strong distributors plus people on the ground accelerated market penetration.
  • Each market entry enabled locally by Enterprise Ireland.

Case Study: Aerogen

CEO of Aerogen John Power recognised long before he established the company in Galway in 1997 that he would have to make sure it developed a unique solution that could be sold globally — distinct from something designed specifically for Europe or the US.

The result was an aerosol drug delivery system that reduces the length of time a patient needs to be on a ventilator, meaning they recover faster and have a shorter stay in hospital. Its proprietary vibrating mesh technology turns liquid medication into a fine particle mist, gently and effectively delivering drugs to the lungs of critically ill patients.

Aerogen is now synonymous with the effective treatment of respiratory illness among patient groups of all ages, playing a critical role in emergency departments and intensive care units in over 75 countries worldwide.

“Medtech companies by nature are ‘born global’. I knew there was no chance of setting up and sustaining a business developing original medical equipment just for sale in Ireland and the UK,” says Power.

“All of our products are heavily regulated and any new iteration has to get both European and US approvals, so we have always brought those markets along in parallel since early 2000. A lot of our partners, such as GE Healthcare and Medtronic, want products that sell internationally and are regulated internationally.”

The US is Aerogen’s leading market — its aerosol drug delivery system is now being used in the intensive care units of 60% of the top 200 hospitals in the US. Europe, including the UK and Ireland, is its second biggest market accounting for around 30% of sales, followed by Asia and the Middle East.

Aerogen’s Partnership with Enterprise Ireland:

  • Partnership began with feasibility funding in 1997.
  • Accesses Enterprise Ireland’s network in every market it enters.
  • R&D supports have enabled risky and costly innovation.
  • Shares Enterprise Ireland presence at important trade events.

To see how Enterprise Ireland has enabled Aerogen’s success, click here.

Working with distributors

While Aerogen currently sells through distributors in all of its markets, its entry strategy in many cases was to partner with large healthcare multinationals which sold its solution alongside major pieces of capital equipment. Power’s connections in the industry helped in this regard as he had worked in multinationals previously.

Aerogen’s annual revenues have been growing by 25-30% over the past number of years, reaching €50m in 2016. Of its total workforce of 130, there are now 20 people based full-time in the US, four in Germany, three in France and two in the UK. It added 35 people to its headcount in 2016 and will do the same this year.

 

“One of the things we have learned is making money in any given market is all down to putting more resources into it – both commercial and clinical. The more resources you apply, particularly on the ground, the more traction and sales you achieve. We found that you can’t dabble in a market, you have to go all-in” says Power.

Selecting the right distributor in each market for Aerogen’s products has been crucially important and the expertise and experience that exists within the workforce has played a key role in this regard.

“I have a group of guys involved in our export markets who have worked all their lives in export sales for big multinational companies and specialise in different regions,” says Power. “They know who the good distributors are. Most of the time distribution is done on the basis of personal experience or a strong recommendation from someone you know.

 

Germany and France – challenges overcome

While Ireland is a huge exporter of medtech products, a large percentage of this is by US multinationals based here. This is in contrast to Germany and France which have large indigenous medtech sectors.

Germany and France dwarf Ireland when it comes to their indigenous medtech sectors. Both are quite protectionist in many ways and want to support their own industries in their own countries,” says Power.

“For that reason, our products have to be better than those manufactured by German and French companies to make sure they will sell. Germans like to develop their own innovative products and France has a long engineering and technology track record. So any technology you’re trying to sell has to be substantially better than what they have developed themselves if it is to interest them.”

In order to sell into Europe, a medtech product must achieve the CE Marking certification. After that, it must be approved by the individual authorities in each country. How easy or difficult this is depends on the structure of the health system.

“For example, in France, there is a very strong public health system which can mean a reticence to change. You have to ensure products are properly coded by the relevant health authorities before you can sell into that market,” says Power. “Normally there is more of a mix of private and public health systems – sometimes it is easier to get in the door of private hospitals as there is less bureaucracy.”

A further challenge in France and Germany has been that healthcare providers demand proof of the economic, as well as the clinical, benefits of any new medical technology. Aerogen has concentrated a lot on this area in the past 18 months, investing in clinical studies to prove the benefits of its technology clinically and how it can reduce the cost of care – for example by reducing admissions from accident and emergency departments.

“Everybody prefers data from their own market. It is an expensive game, but if we want scalability in terms of our product, we have got to be prepared to invest in this area,” notes Power.

Top Tips for Exporting to Europe:

  • Develop a superior, differentiated solution — not a ‘me too’.
  • Start with a narrow market focus and service that well.
  • Work long and hard to identify the right distributor.
  • Nothing beats your own people on the ground, driving your distributor.

For more details, click here .

fintech

Nordic Countries Offer Opportunities as Irish Fintech Grows

As a source of growth in both the Nordic and Irish markets, the fintech sector has become an important focus for innovation initiatives. Over the past five years, Stockholm attracted 18% of all European fintech investment, second only to London. When the organisers of Money 2020, the world’s largest financial services event, came to Europe, they chose to locate in Copenhagen.

Significant fintech growth predicted in Ireland

Ireland has become a fintech powerhouse with potential to grow significantly in the next decade. The government’s IFS2020 strategy aims to showcase fintech providers and increase market awareness of the domestic financial services offering. At the end of 2015, Enterprise Ireland counted 8,800 people specifically employed in fintech, up 40% from 2008, with over 100 client companies active in the area.

Showcasing fintech innovation

To capitalise on these growth prospects, Enterprise Ireland expanded the team that supports fintech and launched a sector-specific fintech Competitive Start Fund. The agency fosters fintech innovation through world-class acceleration programs organised with partners including the NDRC and Accenture. The Fintech Innovation Showcase held in Dublin gave ambitious Irish businesses, including Vistatec, Kyckr and Solgari, the chance to explore partnership opportunities with top players from Denmark including Nordea Bank, Danske Bank, Saxo Bank, Nets, SDC, Financial Services Union, Copenhagen Fintech, BEC and Festina Finance. Visitors learned about the capabilities of Enterprise Ireland clients in rapidly developing areas like artificial intelligence, data analytics, payments, cybersecurity, and regulation and compliance.

The opportunity for Irish companies in the Nordics is significant, an attendee explains, “We’re primarily interested in solutions that we can bring to our 10 million retail customers and 700,000 SME and corporate customers. We would like to partner with Irish start-ups that have banks as customers. Potential areas include open banking, solutions leveraging opportunities created by PSD2, like financial aggregators, and AI and machine learning. Inputs on the fintech initiatives of tech giants residing in Ireland are also of interest.”

 

Researching new markets

One challenge clients experience when expanding overseas is to understand the market’s business culture and customers. Attending events like the Fintech Showcase gives Irish companies an opportunity to learn about practical aspects of doing business in the target market. In the Nordics itself, the Copenhagen Fintech hub connects leading companies in the space in Denmark and can be a great starting point for Irish companies keen to see what Denmark can offer.

Before committing to expansion, Irish companies should be aware that the Nordic market is extremely advanced and has many indigenous global players, making competition fierce. Unless your company has a unique solution, it can be difficult to succeed. Fintech businesses in the region want a reliable, trusted, and secure supplier. An attendee describes their ideal Irish partner, “We like to collaborate with global fintech accelerators that provide a consistent pipeline, are highly verticalised within payments and adjacent services, and agnostic to geography. We are particularly interested in connecting with fintechs with IoT-knowledge, especially Internet of Payments. Value-added services connected to retail are of major interest if the technology can be exported to the Nordic context, for example start-ups that collaborate with a merchant to demonstrate a practical solution in the Irish market that can be easily exported overseas.”

In addition to attending events like the Fintech Innovation Showcase, there are a range of supports you can access to realise plans in the Nordics. Enterprise Ireland offers R&D, Innovation and Competitiveness funding to help companies identify and fill knowledge gaps. Local offices can connect you to specialist Market Advisors in the region. Taking time to learn about the realities of the Nordic market will give your plans for growth every chance of success.

How research helped Ventac to identify opportunities that drive innovation

“For our customers innovation is crucial. They win contracts based on performance and fuel efficiency, but noise is also a key criteria. That is where we come in.”

– Darren Fortune, Managing Director, Ventac

Key Takeouts:

  • Constant innovation in-line with legislation drove export success.
  • Enterprise Ireland’s RD&I funding enabled new product development.
  • Specialist test laboratory and manufacturing facility a major draw for European clients.

Case Study: Ventac

Ventac, a recipient of Enterprise Ireland’s RD&I funding, was named overall winner and Manufacturer of the Year at the National Small Business Awards 2017. The company supplies noise control solutions for commercial vehicles such as bus and coach, agricultural and industrial machinery and specialist machinery including truck-mounted refrigeration units and forklifts.

Ventac has overseas offices in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Turkey, and plans to open an office in the United States next spring. 70 percent of Ventac’s products are exported, mostly to original equipment manufacturers in Europe. Customers include Combilift, Terex (construction vehicles), Hyster-Yale (forklifts), Zetor Tractors and Alexander Dennis (bus manufacturer). “In Europe our market is driven by noise legislation,” says Fortune, “but new legislation is coming out in the US and our existing European customers see North America as a target market.”

“For our customers innovation is crucial,” he adds, “they win contracts based on performance and fuel efficiency, but noise is also a key criteria. That is where we come in. ”Ventac needs to generate new materials and products to reduce noise in vehicles, adapting the solutions for specific noise frequencies. For example, it redesigned the wheel arch insulation in tractors from a Czech manufacturer and reduced noise by 50 percent inside the vehicle. While a traditional solution might be to fit a quilt to the wheel arch, Ventac is now looking to go one step further: “We are asking why the wheel arch can’t be better acoustically. We are developing that type of product.”

Ventac sees a big future for electric vehicles, not just cars but also buses, coaches, forklifts and other commercial vehicles. Electric motors generate higher frequency noises than those of internal combustion engines and therefore require new materials. “You need different materials to treat that noise source,” Fortune explains, and Ventac has put its expertise on the case.

In 2012, the company received RD&I funding from Enterprise Ireland to develop a brush cover for road-sweeping vehicles with reduced noise, and a new floor for buses and trucks that sandwiched acoustic polymer material between thin layers of plywood. This floor was 40 percent lighter than current bus floors; for ease of manufacturing, Ventac is working to substitute the wood component.

“We are now looking to make a composite plastic that would reduce noise for passengers and reduce vehicle weight,” Fortune explains. Due to the product’s potential, Enterprise Ireland supported an Innovation Partnership between Ventac and the Irish Centre for Composites Research (iComp) at the University of Limerick.

“R&D funding has been fundamental in helping Ventac develop new products for different customers in European markets,” says Fortune. “This focus on R&D and innovation at Ventac has enhanced our reputation in our target market as an innovative solution provider.”

Ventac boasts a special acoustic laboratory where it can test mock-ups of materials and parts, and create tailored solutions. Customers can hear and measure the resulting noise reduction at their own sites or at the Blessington testing facility.

“It is a real show stopper,” says Fortune, “when we bring clients from Europe and show them our manufacturing facility and then our acoustic laboratory.” Ventac has grown from around 30 employees in 2013 to 50 today. Exports for 2017 were just under €3 million. Next spring, Ventac will open an office in South Carolina to take advantage of an automotive cluster around South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.

Dawn Farms Meeting Customer Expectations Through Innovation

“We have had a long-standing positive and proactive relationship with Enterprise Ireland and currently avail of its R&D support programme”

– John McGrath, Head of Business Development

 

Case Study: Dawn Farms

Established in 1985, Dawn Farms is a family-owned company and the largest specialist supplier of cooked and fermented meat protein ingredients outside of the USA. The company currently supplies world-leading food brands across more than 40 markets, including the UK, the wider EU, the Middle East and Africa, offering a “one-stop shop” to customers in the pizza, sandwich, snacking and ready meal categories.

Named Irish Food and Drink Exporter of the Year in 2016, the company employs over 1,000 staff based in state-of-the-art facilities in Naas, County Kildare, and Northampton, England.

According to Head of Business Development John McGrath, a holistic relationship-based service that puts the customer’s brand first – with product, process and service innovation playing a central role in its total value proposition – is at the heart of the company’s success.

“We have identified a number of key trends, based on consumer insights, that drive our product development pipeline”, he explains. These include the “quest for health and wellness” and “sustainable lives”.

In line with these trends, all Dawn Farms products are free from artificial colours, hydrogenated fats and MSG, while also meeting the latest standards on salt.

The company’s new Streetfood Collection, born out of its extensive investment in consumer insights, combines a bespoke cook and sear process to produce a range of Mexican, American and Korean-inspired street food cooked meat products to allow their customers meet growing demand in the hand-held snack and food to go markets across Europe. Cooked “low and slow”, this new range brings all the flavours of street food alive and comes in vacuum-sealed pouches for better and more consistent recipe and flavour delivery in store.

“Today’s consumers are seeking out authentic and better tasting food experiences”, says McGrath. “The Street Food Collection delivers on that need for Dawn Farms customers.”

 

 

The company’s Texan BBQ Beef Burnt Ends sandwich filling is another example of this consumer-led innovation in action. “Consumers today are becoming more discerning about barbecue food and this is evident in the different types of regional barbecue sauces offered in burger chains as well as the broad choice of restaurants seeking to deliver authentic American barbecue experience and tastes”, McGrath points out. “It also taps into the ‘back to basics’ food trend – a return to primeval cooking methods such as grilling, barbecuing and fermentation. The burnt ends’ concept also fits the sensorial trend towards charring, blackened and burnt textures in ingredients from meat to ice cream.”

Similarly, the company’s Italian-Style Porchetta product was inspired by traditional Italian street food. “The rationale behind this ingredient is to give food-to-go consumers an authentic Italian food experience. This fits in with the Borrowed Nostalgia food trend, where people are looking for traditional food experiences from other countries. Porchetta is a traditional Italian roasted pork delicacy, typically sold from a cart or a truck, sliced to order and served in a sandwich as a quick treat at the market or at a fair.”

“We have had a long-standing positive and proactive relationship with Enterprise Ireland and currently avail of its R&D support programme”, he adds. “This has allowed us develop a range of product and process improvements across the business that underpin our commercial strategy and foster new growth opportunities in a very demanding marketplace.”

A view from the Ireland-Estonia tech bridge

If your company is interested in expanding to eastern Europe, there are good reasons to consider Estonia. Business people in Ireland and Estonia share a positive attitude, making both tech scenes fun and collaborative. At home, Techireland gathers the community. Estonia has a similar catch-up with the cheeky hashtag #estonianmafia. While Irish companies are particularly strong at sales and networking, Estonians rank very well in mathematical and engineering skills.

Enterprise Ireland organised the Ireland-Estonia Tech Bridge event to encourage collaboration between businesses in both markets. Estonian companies, including Cybernetica, Paytailor, Estate Guru and Guardtime, travelled to the two-day event in Dublin to explore joint opportunities in fintech, e-government and cybersecurity – areas of strength in both economies.

Tech Bridge arrived at an opportune moment, with business between Ireland and Estonia already on the rise. In 2016, Irish CSO data showed a 65% increase in exports to Estonia, when compared with 2015. Enterprise Ireland clients generated over €8 million of exports to Estonia in 2016, with food representing 48%. It’s encouraging that companies like MalwareBytes, Arvato Financial Services and TransferWise are already active in both countries. It’s also great to see the first example of a UK/Estonian startup, Travatar, establishing its head office in Galway. One of the goals of the Tech Bridge visit was to encourage more Estonian companies to consider Ireland as a leading alternative to other European locations.

The economic profile of Ireland and Estonia is also similar in ways. Both are small markets, making it essential for home-grown businesses to be export-focused. Tech Bridge is one example of Enterprise Ireland’s Eurozone strategy in action. The plan offers clients multiple supports with the goal of increasing exports to the Eurozone by 50%, to €6.15bn, by 2020. Many companies in eastern Europe look at the supports clients receive from Enterprise Ireland with envy. From both a Polish and Estonian perspective, it is very impressive that a government agency is so active as an investor and that its processes are so efficient and client-friendly. Companies like Combilift and Novareus are examples of companies Enterprise Ireland successfully supported to grow internationally, particularly in EMEA. Combined with a record of attracting overseas start-ups and entrepreneurs, Ireland is in the top league in the competition for tech talent. I see a hunger to emulate that success in many eastern European countries.

There are also great reasons for Irish companies to look eastwards to Estonia. Most obviously, there are opportunities in cybersecurity – NATO has its Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallin. Estonia’s state of the art eGovernment infrastructure is a clear example of strategic, long-term planning combined with tech-savvy spirit and a capable talent pool. Estonia also makes a great base for Baltic and Nordic export activity in general. At Tech Bridge, we connected clients with Estonian counterparts and pointed them towards business opportunities in the Baltics. The outcome of those collaborations will be seen in time.

If your business has an eye on Estonia, there are some practical challenges you should consider. Think about how key staff will travel, for example. Right now, there are only two direct flights weekly between Tallin and Dublin. That’s not very convenient for business travellers. While details like this might seem minor, it’s crucial to make sure they’re built into export plans. There is help available for these challenges big and small. The Irish Estonian Business Network will support any company thinking of moving from one market to the other. Together with Enterprise Ireland and The Embassy of Ireland, IEBN is forging new business relationships at a local level. Overcome the hurdles, and these supports could help your business to thrive in the east.