Irish fintech disruption in AsiaPac

Irish fintech disruption in AsiaPac

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Attendees at Routes to Growth Asia Pacific, a major conference which took place in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, heard that the region offers growing opportunities for Irish fintechs.

Payments company Fexco, one of Ireland’s oldest fintechs, began selling into the region in 2006, on the back of existing clients such as Jetstar, Australian carrier Qantas’s low-cost subsidiary.

Subsequently opening an office in Hong Kong, Fexco currently employs 20 people in what has become one of its fastest-growing divisions.

“In the beginning, we went out there with a kitbag bringing our services,” said Barry O’Sullivan, Fexco general manager.

“Now we have learned so much from the likes of companies like Tencent and Alipay that we are bringing more back in our kitbag from the region, that we can sell to Europe and the rest of the world. It has been a tremendous success for us.”

Fintechs interested in following suit need to be adequately resourced. “You have to invest. You have to take a long-term view and you have to put people on the ground and hire locally,” he said.

It’s a particularly opportune time to sell into Japan, delegates heard.

Japan wide open for Irish fintech

“Japan is wide open for Irish fintech. It has a huge financial services sector but a very small entrepreneurial sector. They simply cannot meet the demand for the fintech solutions that they require internally,” said Richard Okuno, a consultant with NMG Consulting.

The advent of Australia’s New Payments Platform, NPP, increases the country’s appeal for Irish fintechs too.

The recently launched platform enables customers with accounts at different banks, building societies, and credit unions to make payments to each other more easily, as well as providing real-time settlement via the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Fast Settlement Service.

It has proven transformational. “I can send money using an email address or mobile phone number,” said Paul Lahiff, NPP’s chairperson, pointing out that the new infrastructure is just that: “It’s not a product factory”.

Australian banks have spent the past three years connecting legacy systems to the new platform, and are only now investigating its potential to add value.

“While some applications can be done internally, we are also looking to partner with others outside, and we’re agnostic. So the best advice is for fintechs here to go there and talk because, having launched the railroad in February, the timing is right,” he said.

Because of the time it takes to generate business in Asia Pacific, which extends from Australia and New Zealand to India, China and South Korea, align stakeholder expectations before you go, advised Barry O’Sullivan.

“We followed our airline customers into the region and yet it still took three years before we saw any payback. But people in the region like to see that you have invested there, that you are going to stay around, and that you are setting down roots.” Use Enterprise Ireland’s assistance and tap into the Irish diaspora, he recommended.

Get market research help from Enterprise Ireland

Enterprise Ireland can also help with market research, which is important, given that there isn’t just one India but many regional variations, pointed out Deepak Sharma, chief digital officer at Kotak Mahindra Bank. A respect for local business culture is vital in each.

Part of what makes India unique in fintech terms has been the government’s move to take nearly 90% of its cash out of circulation in 2017. “That was a defining movement that accelerated the pace of change in the consumer mindset,” said Sharma. It left consumers with no option but to consider a move from cash to alternative payment methods.

The country also has an open payments infrastructure in place that allows for real-time gross settlement and national electronic funds transfer. “So, unlike other countries in which a payments company has to build the railroad and then figure out how to monetise it, the railroads are already there in India, irrespective of the customer market you are targeting.”

India has 400 million smart phone users, providing huge opportunities for mobile-first solutions. There is an appetite for innovative solutions, such as payment ecosystems which use biometric fingerprints, or QR codes too.

For fintechs to succeed in India four cs are required, he said. “The most important is the content. Do you have the right use case and the know-how to get into this market? Second, context: do you have an understanding that what works in one market won’t work in another, especially when you have quite different railroad and infrastructure which is already there.”

Third is commitment. “Once you get to the market, you need to look long term. India is huge. The price points are very different. Success does not come early. You are looking at large volume, low value, so you need to stick to long-term horizons. Finally, connect – at the end of the day, India is not one country. Just like the EU and Africa, it is distinctly different, so you need to think about how you will start building the kind of interfaces required.”

Collaboration and co-creation between banks and fintechs are key too, as is the importance of understanding the regulatory environment. “Pick up a partner or a sponsor bank who can help you navigate,” he said. “India is a very big market, it’s open for business, and a lot of fintechs from around the world are heading there.”

Seed supply causing concern for fintech start-ups

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A shortage of seed funding, and a concomitant need for larger Series A deals, are twin challenges facing Irish fintech start-ups.

Ireland: A Fintech Factory took place as part of MoneyConf 2018 at the RDS in Dublin, attracting more than 100 representatives from the global venture capital and financial services sectors.

Supporting the fintech sector is a national priority

“Enterprise Ireland’s focus on financial services is in line with the Irish government’s focus on it as a strategic sector,” said Leo McAdams, divisional manager financial services and business process outsourcing at Enterprise Ireland, introducing the event.

Ireland’s fintech sector is exciting and disruptive, he told delegates, and includes specialist subsectors such as payments, international compliance, regtech, and deeptech.

Recent years have seen a considerable increase in the number of fintech start-ups, many of which are supported by Enterprise Ireland.

PitchBook identified Enterprise Ireland as the third-largest seed investor in start-ups in the world. “That is quite an extraordinary effort from the organisation but is because we have such an excellent set of entrepreneurs here,” said McAdams.

Ireland’s world-class environment for fintech start-ups

Ireland offers a world-class environment for fintech start-ups too, a central part of which is the partnership engagement Enterprise Ireland offers, providing access to its portfolio of 200 fintech companies. As well as supporting innovation through its technology centres, Enterprise Ireland cofunds in partnership with VCs and banks.

A need to improve funding supply is becoming evident, delegates heard. While Ireland has benefited from significant amounts of capital inflows in recent years, it “hasn’t hit all points equally,” said Donnchadh Cullinan, manager, banking relations and growth capital at Enterprise Ireland. 

In particular, a gap at seed stage is emerging. This is having a knock-on effect on the later stages of a fintech start up’s funding journey, pointed out Nicola McClafferty an investor with Draper Esprit. The venture capital firm is based in London and Dublin and invests in early-stage and high-growth technology companies, from Series A upwards.

She, too, identified supply constraints in private capital for early stage investments as a challenge, pointing out too that, as a result, deal sizes in Ireland are increasingly anomalous in European terms.

“Enterprise Ireland is unique in a European context and that brings a significant advantage to Irish companies, but that gap is very real for broad scale, private capital at the seed stage,” she said.

This is despite the fact that, across Europe, there has never been so much private capital available at seed and growth stage level for companies. Its availability has caused European funding rounds to grow to a point where a previously typical €5 million Series A round is now more likely to be €10 million. Series B has gone from €10 million to €20 million, she said. 

This has not happened in Ireland, however, a fact which is not without consequence: “If you are looking at an Irish Series A company, against a UK or a French Series A company, the challenge is that there’s a lot more institutional seed funding available in the UK or France, to get companies further along to support a larger A raise. I often see Irish companies coming in to raise their €4 million A round, and you just don’t typically see that in the UK now,” she said.

Supporting Irish companies to compete globally

“What we need to do is to get companies to be able to compete at that level. It will open up even more external capital.”

Not getting to that point puts Irish start-ups hoping to raise seed funding in the UK at a disadvantage.

“Unfortunately there is a mindset of ‘You should be able to raise your seed capital locally and then go to international investors’,” said McClafferty. “If you haven’t managed to raise your seed locally, the feeling is that it says something about your company, rather than the local eco system.”

It’s a conversation she has had with seed investors in the UK. “Why can’t they raise in Ireland? is their question,” she said.

“Seed investment has shrunk in Ireland in the last year and it’s something we need to look at. Enterprise Ireland plays an amazing role but we need to see that matched from private capital to get these companies to a point where they can compete at an international level for funding.”

 

Enjoyed this article? Learn more on fintech opportunities here: Irish fintechs primed to shine with post-Brexit opportunity

 

Channel sales

Channelling Success with Channel Strategy

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Máire P. Walsh, SVP Digital Technologies at Enterprise Ireland’s Silicon Valley office, explains how an effective channel sales strategy can give Irish companies a wide international reach.

The business plans of start-up companies often focus on direct sales, aiming to sell as many products and solutions to as many consumers and end users as possible. The right channel sales strategy can, however, give Irish companies of all sizes and stages of maturity a wider reach, helping them to grow more quickly than a business plan that relies on direct sales alone. A successful channel strategy enables Irish exporters with unique technologies to harness sales opportunities at scale, driving business results in the US market and beyond.

Enterprise Ireland recently held a Sales and Channel Strategy Seminar in Dublin, which featured US industry thought leaders and senior executives, and was designed to advise and guide high performing Irish start-ups to expand into the US through the channel ecosystem. World-class experts on sales planning and channel strategy shared tips and success stories, while the event showcased a number of Irish companies that are already capitalising on the potential of the channel ecosystem to drive rapid growth.

Irish companies can apply insights shared by the event’s global speakers to use a smart channel sales strategy to quickly grow their business.

A “Best Practices in Channel” panel featured Kevin Morata, Global Channel Strategy at Dell EMC, Gerard Sheridan, Global OEM Sales Director at DataStax, and Kurt Hoppe, Global Head of Innovation at GM. The panel discussed how true collaboration is key to building successful relationships with channel partners. Companies should be aware that not all channel partners are created equal. With 20% of partners driving 80% of sales, Irish companies should allocate more time and resources to partners that will help to maximize business results. One tip for building trust is to feed leads to new channel partners at the beginning. That will allow them to gain experience in selling your product while developing a strong understanding of your value proposition.

Tiffany Wagner, Global Head of Sales Planning at SAP, described how a successful strategy must focus on your value proposition, rather than on the features and functions of your solution. At SAP, design thinking is key to well-orchestrated enterprise sales planning programs. All enterprise sales require a “3 x 3” influence model – three decision makers and three influencers must contribute to the process.

Insights were shared by Irish companies, including AltoCloud, Channel Mechanics and PlanNet21 Communications, that have scaled by partnering with the channel ecosystem. Kenneth Fox, Channel Mechanics CEO, described the three points of the channel triangle:  vendors, distributors and partners. The Channel Mechanics solution sits at the centre of the triangle, providing automation that runs the entire ecosystem.

Barry O’Sullivan, AltoCloud CEO, described how his company was formed with the channel in mind. Leveraging the business and personal relationships of partners has allowed AltoCloud to build a strong partner channel. One tip for Irish exporters is to have a ‘corporate vendor resources’ presence in the US and not attempt to drive it from Ireland.

When launching as an ambitious company almost 20 years ago, PlanNet21 Communications convinced partners to accept them into their channel program. The strategy has delivered revenues close to €50m, with the company on a mission to hit €100m within the next two years. Denise Tormey, co-founder of PlanNet21 Communications, described the strategy that drove their success, “Trust is hard won. We manage communication face-to-face, over the phone and by mail, to build those interpersonal relationships. We listen. We respond in a timely manner. We ask ‘Why?’ We care. We are true partners.”

The insight echoed the guidance of many of the day’s Irish and US speakers. A foundation of trust must be established to build effective relationships. Otherwise channel partner alliances are destined to fall flat and fail to deliver the growth promised. For channel strategy support, contact Enterprise Ireland’s Strategic Marketing Review program, which acts as a mechanism to review and develop your market development strategy overseas.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

Smart sourcing fintech talent

Smart sourcing pays dividends for fintech talent

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Irish companies must be flexible and innovative, in order to make the most of the talent pool here, delegates heard at Ireland: A Fintech Factory, an event hosted by Enterprise Ireland as part of MoneyConf 2018.

“In terms of accessing talent, we as recruiters need to start looking at moving away from demographics and the traditional boxes we put people in, and start looking at them in terms of values,” said Karl Aherne, director of strategic business development at Fexco.

“It’s about understanding your company’s values and then finding the right people based on values for those roles, irrespective of age or gender.”

A great country for homegrown and international talent

Not alone has Ireland got great homegrown talent, “it’s a great country to attract talent to as well,” said Paul Smith, co founder of Top Tier Recruitment, an agency that specialises in fintech and financial services recruitment.

As a recruiter, the uncertainty around Brexit is an opportunity to secure specialist skills from EU workers unsure about their future in the UK, he said.

Don O’Leary, head of EU operations and Ireland country lead at payments company Stripe, has been hiring significantly recently. “The talent has been extremely strong and, as a company that is trying to attract talent from all over Europe, it has been fantastic,” he said.

Untapped talent pools

And there are still large pools of talent as yet untapped, according to Vanessa Tierney, co-founder of Abodoo, a new career platform that connects employer with ‘smart workers’ – agile knowledge workers who want the flexibility to work from home, from local co-working hubs or on a hybrid model basis.

“Since launch, we’ve had thousands of really talented people register with us because people want choice. They don’t want to be commuting every day. There are a lot of skilled unemployed people out there – globally there are 200 million skilled professionals estimated to be not currently working,” she said.

Any start-up or scaling business has to make a strategic decision about how they recruit. Don O’Leary of Stripe said, “When you are looking at building an organisation of 200 to 300 people you can go in two directions. You can get people in on the ground by hiring a team of junior people and starting off the operations that you want to start. Or you can go for senior people who have the experience and the willingness to roll up their sleeves and get the job done themselves.”

If possible, go the latter route. “These people can do the initial work but can actually span as the organisation grows and have that strategic leadership and direction. They’re difficult to find but if you can find that type of hire early on in your organisation then you’ll really get control of the growth of your organisation as you scale out,” said O’Leary.

Stripe was able to do that successfully in Dublin, not despite the competing presence of Google, Twitter and Microsoft et al, but because of it, he said. “There was that 10 or 20 years of experience of building up these teams. There was that management bench strength that we were able to tap into, of people who wanted to come and join a small start-up at the time. That was a huge advantage for us starting out.”

Ireland’s key fintech strengths

It’s one of Ireland’s key strengths for fintech start-ups. “When you start looking at those initial contributor-type roles, Ireland still has that ability to attract talent. It still has that brand awareness across Europe as being a tech hub. And then for us, as a financial services company, we were able to tap into the bench strength of the financial services sector. Initially we were looking at more technical-type roles but as soon as we started building out the functions into risk and compliance we were able to tap into a wealth of experienced individuals that were already in the country.”

Locating in a rural area can help attract people who are looking for a different pace of life outside work, said Karl Aherne of Fexco, which employs 1000 people in Killorglin, Co. Kerry.

Ireland’s diaspora can also be better leveraged. “We have a massive pool of expats out there around the world, who are really looking for the right opportunity to come back to work,” said Paul Smith of Top Tier Recruitment.

Supporting smart working

Smart working can help, and Ireland has over 200 privately and publically owned co-working spaces, pointed out Vanessa Tierney of Abodoo. She estimates that many of those who left the country in the past five or six years would return home “if we could offer them careers, maybe in rural Ireland.”

A number of skilled parents and people with disabilities would like to work too, if they could do so in a flexible manner.  “We also have an aging population, many of whom don’t want to stop work completely when they get to 65, so the opportunity is huge.”

The biggest challenge is often one of company “mindset” – a reluctance to trust that the worker will work, and a perhaps outdated attachment to having an office. The traditional view is that the office is a requirement to ensure a company’s culture is maintained.

Not so, said Tierney, pointing out how successfully Canadian ecommerce enabler Shopify is employing hundreds of workers along Ireland’s western seaboard, without an office, as well as Apple’s rolling out of remote working teams.

This enables them to tap into “an unlimited talent pipeline”, she said. “I really think Ireland could become the smart working economy of the world. We could really set the pace globally.”

The Enterprise Ireland event was attended by more than 100 representatives from the venture capital and international financial services sectors in Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the US.

 

Liked this article? Read more about Talent Management in our Exporter Stories

Local Enterprise heroes

Following in the footsteps of Local Enterprise heroes

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For many companies, becoming an Enterprise Ireland client is a significant step on a journey that started at a regional level. Local Enterprise Offices throughout Ireland provide supports, advice and training to start-up companies and existing micro-enterprises of up to ten employees. It is in this environment that experience is gained and vital lessons are learned which allow companies to prepare for growth and to take their ambition global.

A recipe for successful growth to €21 million annual turnover

It was in 1993 that a young man from Clonakilty got in touch with his Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in West Cork to ask if they could help him turn his business idea into a reality. Diarmuid O’Sullivan wanted to produce traditional churn-made yogurts. He knew how to make yogurts but he didn’t have enough funding to get the venture off the ground.

“I had the idea but not enough money,” Diarmuid recalls. “I heard there was funding available from the Local Enterprise Office, so I contacted them and put in an application. The maximum support they could provide at the time was £50,000 and the LEO in Clonakilty was able to help me put my ideas into a business plan to help secure funding.

“I also received quite a lot of mentoring and coaching. That was all done at concept stage – I hadn’t even identified a production site – but the support meant that I was able to get Irish Yogurts up and running by March 1994.”

Diarmuid’s yogurt-making idea was a recipe for success. His company grew quickly and its products were soon on the shelves of Irish food shops and supermarkets.

“In one of those early years, we grew by about 78.5%. That brought its own challenges, with regard to working capital. The Local Enterprise Office suggested that I move onto Enterprise Ireland, where there were financial supports for fast-growing companies which were creating jobs.

“We hadn’t really focused on exports, not at that stage. That came after we started working with Enterprise Ireland. Our first export customer in the UK was Tesco.”

This progress was recognised in 1998, when Irish Yogurts was named winner of Ireland’s first ever National Enterprise Award. In just a few years, it had gone from being a bright idea with insufficient funding to becoming an award-winning food producer.

Today, Irish Yogurts employs 160 people at its Clonakilty base and sells to every major supermarket chain in the UK and Ireland. Its annual turnover has grown from €300,000 to €21 million, with exports accounting for 30% of their business.

“We appreciate the input of the Local Enterprise Office and Enterprise Ireland, who supported us and our staff every step of the way,” Diarmuid says. “We still work with them and avail of supports and advice. Enterprise Ireland is very much a part of our team.”

A roll of honour

Irish Yogurts is one of hundreds of companies from every corner of Ireland that have transferred from Local Enterprise Office support to become Enterprise Ireland clients. Last year, 80 companies made the move. In 2016, the figure was 40. The roll of honour includes 10 other former winners of the National Enterprise Awards:

It is a track record that the Local Enterprise Offices are proud of. Oisín Geoghegan, chair of the network of Local Enterprise Offices, said, “It’s one of our targets to transfer companies to Enterprise Ireland – it’s progression. Companies which transfer into Enterprise Ireland are companies with growth ambitions to be exporting and creating jobs, which is incredibly important, particularly for the regions. So we would see it as an indicator of success when a company moves on to Enterprise Ireland.”

Local expertise supporting global ambition

Engineering services provider Obelisk engaged with their Local Enterprise Office in Cavan, even before they set up the company in 1996. Four years later, Obelisk won the National Enterprise Award.

Founder director Colm Murphy said, “We were looking to capitalise on the growth of mobile phone usage by offering installation services for operators. The people in our LEO understood the idea that opportunity was coming down the track. That gave us the confidence that our idea was good and could to grow into something big.

“They had an incubator office which we were able to rent and provided grant aid for early employees. They also provided us with advice about how to set up a company, and other supports such as training and mentoring – there was a lot more to it than financial support.”

The support has been paying off ever since, Colm says. “Last year we turned over €27 million. Employee numbers are between 250 and 300 people. We’ve expanded to include infrastructure solutions for fixed telecoms and the energy sector in Ireland, the UK, and South Africa.

“We want to continue growing. We’re looking for further investment. Over the next two to three years, we’re looking to hit the €100 million mark in sales. Exports are currently a third of our turnover but we expect that to become a 50/50 split.”

So what part did being able to access business expertise and support at a local level play in the company’s success? “Back in 1996-97, we would have found it difficult to kick-off from a zero base,” Colm explains. “We were just a couple of guys with an idea, and sometimes going for funding and that kind of stuff can be daunting. But when you get the kind of support that we did from the Local Enterprise Office, that’s a massive kick start.

“I would recommend that any company should be in touch with their Local Enterprise Office. They’ve always been good at describing the product set they have and how they support you. If you don’t ask, you don’t get and if you’re not engaging with them then you won’t necessarily be aware of new supports that are on offer.”

Reassurance and support

The view that “if you don’t ask then you won’t get” is shared by John Lynch, Chief Technology Officer of Acutrace. The Dublin tech company provides software and hardware which allows companies to control and monitor their energy usage. They count the likes of Google, Twitter and IBM among their customers.

Founded in 2015, Acutrace wasted no time in contacting their Local Enterprise Office in South Dublin. John says, “We reached out to the Local Enterprise Office immediately and they were brilliant. They gave us an employment grants and we managed to employ two engineers under that scheme. Within the first three months, we were exporting to London.

The company was growing quickly and the Local Enterprise Office was instrumental in steering Acutrace towards Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Start-up (HPSU) programme.

John says, “Once we learned the criteria for the HPSU, we used that as our yardstick to reach for. We knew we had to have significant exports, we knew we had to have a scalable product that would generate employment and we needed to have the magic number of a turnover of €1 million, so it was a good objective to hit and we exceeded the target that year.

“By the end of 2016, we had turned over more than €1.5 million and we were exporting 40% of a product that was created in Ireland to the UK.”

The advice, professional support and reassurance they received has left a lasting impression on John and Acutrace.

He says, “I’m coming off the back of 20 years in the industry and so is my business partner Aidan, but it’s a little bit different when it’s your own enterprise – the risks are higher and there’s an isolation you feel, it can be profound. Then you engage with your Local Enterprise Office and you feel part of something, that you’re being protected or mentored.

“There’s funding and that’s important, but it’s also having that extra bit of confidence that there’s someone else behind you who has your back, that if you are going to create employment, well there’s someone there who’s grateful for that and they’re helping you, and they’re encouraging you.”

“You might be destined for Enterprise Ireland but until you hit that criteria the LEOs will mentor you and steer you in the right direction.”

Working hand in hand

That direction involves advice and supports, which evolve and change to meet the needs of encouraging start-up companies and other micro enterprises of ten or fewer employees, says Oisín Geoghegan.

“We provide a very broad range of supports – initial business advice, information and guidance, training and mentoring, and financial supports such as feasibility, priming or expansion grants. It can include money to employ people or towards marketing costs, business development, and so on.

“We also point entrepreneurs and companies in the direction of other supports that are available, such as the New Frontiers incubation programme and Innovation Vouchers from other agencies such as Failte Ireland, Intreo, Bord Bia and Microfinance Ireland.”

“For companies with strong growth ambitions, we work hand in hand with Enterprise Ireland on their journey and ensure that they make that contact at an appropriate stage so their development continues to be supported.”

Frankfurt’s opportunity for Irish fintech

Frankfurt’s opportunity for Irish fintech

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Jane Greene, senior market advisor for software and services based at Enterprise Ireland’s office in Dusseldorf, explains why Ireland and Frankfurt make for ideal fintech partners in a post-Brexit climate.

The result of the Brexit vote launched a conversation about the possible relocation of international banking services from London to other European cities. While Paris and Luxembourg have featured prominently, a leading narrative has positioned Dublin versus Frankfurt as location of choice.

It should not be a case of one city or the other, however. Regardless of the impact of Brexit, Frankfurt is too important a financial services hub for Irish fintech companies to overlook.

Frankfurt is the financial capital of the Eurozone, home to the European Central Bank, German Central Bank, and over 200 domestic and foreign banks.

The greater Rhein-Main region surrounding Frankfurt is home to one quarter of Germany’s fintech companies alone. As well as being the location for household software names such as SAP and Software AG, Frankfurt has seen international banks including UBS and Goldman Sachs announce the relocation of European operations to the city in the wake of Brexit.

Ireland is a globally-recognised centre for International Financial Services (IFS), with a 40-year track record in the fintech space. Fexco, which established in 1981, is now operational around the world. Newer success stories include financial services software company Fenergo and cross-border payments platform TransferMate.

The post-Brexit banking debate has shone valuable light on the strength of Ireland’s financial services sector and, particularly, its cohort of innovative fintech companies. As the debate has raised Ireland’s profile, it is now time to capitalise on that.

The biggest opportunity facing fintech companies is not Brexit but PSD2. The EU’s new Payment Services Directive is forcing traditional banks to digitise operations and open up to third parties, providing access to everything from customer data to payment infrastructure, to enable them to build innovative new services.

While initially fintech was viewed as a disruptor by banks, out to shake up “their” market, that view has changed dramatically. Today, legacy banks are in a race to source the best fintech innovators to help them improve services, not least in the face of challenger banks, such as N26.

The fact that this highly innovative, mobile-first bank is German speaks to the strength of the country’s financial services sector.

Niall Hogan, co-founder of Irish payments fintech Touchtech, comments, “While many older Germans are still quite conservative and use cash, the younger generation are like their Scandinavian and British counterparts and expect slick digital experiences. Our Germany headquartered client N26 has over 850,000 customers across Europe and is doing very well in Ireland. Our experience working with German financial institutions is that they take time to come to a decision, but once that decision is made follow-through is guaranteed.”

Enterprise Ireland tells Ireland’s strong fintech story in Germany, building relationships with innovation managers at some of the world’s best-known banks, and introducing them to innovative Irish companies that can partner with them to offer solutions in the areas of payments, security, compliance and data analytics.

The Irish Advantage website helps Enterprise Ireland to tell that story, encouraging international financial services buyers to source fintech partners established here.

With both banks and fintechs recognising that neither the “fin” nor the “tech” can succeed alone, Irish fintech companies that are serious about capturing global opportunities must consider Frankfurt.

However great your technology, building a strong value proposition and articulating the business problem you solve is key to securing time with buyers in the region. While using social business networks can open doors, Irish fintech professionals should be clear about the nature and purpose of their request or enquiry. While the fintech sector is international in nature, exceptional preparation for meetings is always a must in Germany.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

Our friends in the north offer opportunities for Irish companies

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Marina Donohoe, Director UK & Northern Europe at Enterprise Ireland, describes how the UK’s Northern Powerhouse project is creating opportunities for Irish companies.

The north of England is engaged in a historic transformation from an industrial past to a bright future that connects vibrant cities and globally competitive commercial activities. The scale of those activities should not be underestimated.

Growing faster than anywhere else in the UK, if the north of England was a country, it would be the 10th largest economy in Europe, exporting €56.4 billion worth of goods each year and accounting for nearly 20% of the UK’s overall gross value add (GVA).

 

The UK potential

The opportunities set out in Enterprise Ireland’s recent Northern Powerhouse report play to the strengths of Irish companies, particularly in the construction, life sciences, and digital sectors.

Northern Powerhouse is a government initiative that aims to rebalance the UK’s economy, by maximising the combined potential of the north of England’s cities and regions, including Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield and Tees Valley, an area of approximately 14,400 square miles with a population of 14.9 million people. The goal is to create a collection of modern cities sufficiently close to each other that ‘combined they can take on the world’.

The initiative, first launched in 2016, is delivering substantial public investment, with a focus on improving transport infrastructure between cities in the north of England and supporting economic activities around emerging capabilities. As a result, Northern Powerhouse is creating a wide range of business opportunities suited to the strengths of Irish exporters.

 

Trading Partnerships

Theresa Grant, CEO of Trafford Council, comments, “Irish companies are long-standing trading partners to the north of England, contributing to its robust economy and reaffirming Ireland’s successful relationship to this part of the UK. With rail links like HS2 and HS3 and improved worldwide air connectivity opening up, enabling the cities in the Northern Powerhouse to grow and prosper, we anticipate the Anglo/Irish partnership will grow even stronger, as major opportunities to continue to work together and collaborate present themselves.”

The most significant opportunities are likely to arise from new economic activities and clusters, which are largely based on science and innovation. With the European Commission’s 2017 Innovation Scorecard ranking Irish SMEs first for innovation, Irish companies have a leading position internationally.

 

Significant growth for Irish companies

Brian Crowley, CEO of TTM Healthcare, says, “Since 2012, the TTM Group has been working with NHS trusts, private hospitals and charitable organisations across the north of England, supporting more than twenty clients and employing 110 permanent and temporary staff. We see this region as of one of the fastest in growth terms for TTM, as we work with amazingly innovative and progressive healthcare organisations. Through the support of Enterprise Ireland and Northern Powerhouse, Irish Small and Medium Enterprises can provide modern, innovative and high-quality services across several industries which enhance the growth of the economy in the north of England.”

Ardmac, a construction specialist that works with leading companies across the pharma and technology sectors, has an office in Manchester and a portfolio of clients across the north of England. Ronan Quinn, CEO of Ardmac, comments, “Our business has seen considerable growth in the region in recent years. A significant amount of that business has come from building a shared vision of what our clients want to achieve. The ease of travel between the north of England and our offices mean that we can be face to face with a client within an hour – a key benefit for those working across multiple territories.”

Notwithstanding the threat of Brexit, the UK’s economy is in growth mode and remains Ireland’s most significant export market. Enterprise Ireland is focused on supporting Irish companies to consolidate and grow exports to the UK market, while also supporting them to diversify their export markets across the globe.

Companies interested in exploring opportunities should begin by downloading the Northern Powerhouse report.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

Irish fintechs post-Brexit opportunity

Irish fintechs primed to shine with post-Brexit opportunity

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Giles O’Neill, Head of Fintech at Enterprise Ireland, explains why the sector’s thought leaders see a post-Brexit opportunity for young innovative Irish companies.

Chris Skinner, fintech and financial services expert, in Dublin to deliver the keynote speech for Enterprise Ireland’s Future of Fintech conference, said, “I talk about fintech being like a parent and a child, with the bank being the parent and fintech the child. Five years ago, everyone was talking about fintech being disruptive, out to get rid of banks. But five years later, the banks are still here.”

Skinner’s view of growing collaborations between disruptive start-ups and established banks was echoed by panellists, which included Elly Hardwick, head of innovation at Deutsche Bank, Kamlesh Thakur, chairman of Mumbai-based Prime Investrade and Stephen Moran, head of research and development at Bank of Ireland, at the conference attended by more than 100 leaders, disruptors and collaborators from international banking and fintech hubs including New York, Singapore and Sydney. Attendees of the event held at Dogpatch Labs in January also met Enterprise Ireland-backed companies to discuss partnership opportunities.

With opportunities emerging as attitudes towards the sector mature, a combination of established global leaders with significant Irish operations and innovative Irish companies positions the industry well for international growth. Ireland has become a globally-recognised centre for specialist International Financial Services, with 200 Enterprise Ireland-backed companies employing nearly 10,000 people across the sector at the end of 2017. Irish companies, from start-ups to scaling and large multinational companies, have achieved significant impact in international markets, exporting to 100 countries.

Companies offer innovative solutions and services across payments, regulatory technologies and broader fintech applications, an achievement supported by astute investments and an understanding of the market that allows them to meet the requirements of the toughest professional procurement, business teams and institutions in the world. For many Irish-based companies, disruption involves delivering a better, more convenient customer experience.

Irish fintechs to watch

“Legacy banks use the SWIFT network, which is slow and opaque, charges hefty ForEx fees, and fees both to send and receive money. We believe that is not fit for purpose,” said Gary Conroy, chief commercial officer of the Irish-headquartered international payments business, TransferMate.

Irish start-up Plynk targets millennials with a service that enables them “text” one another money. “For us, payments are social,” said Charles Dowd, Plynk’s CEO and co-founder. “With the phone, you phoned places. With a mobile, you call people. You don’t think about the systems. Mobile money will be the same. It’s not about payments, it’s about people.”

The point was echoed by Conroy of TransferMate in relation crypto currencies, “Cards, banks, the blockchain are just rails. How quickly I can get the payment from A to B is all people care about.”

In the regulatory space, the cost of governance, risk and compliance is estimated at 15% of the total cost of running a financial services firm. Technology can help deliver a better customer experience there too.

“RegTech is about the intelligent use of technology to get better outcomes for clients. It’s also about stopping regulations getting in the way of the user experience,” said John Byrne, CEO of regulatory risk intelligence firm Corlytics.

Brexit may be viewed nervously by some sectors but, for fintech, it promises to bring real opportunity, according to expert Chris Skinner, “US banks are actively relocating core European services to Ireland, I’m not just hearing that, I’m seeing it,” he said. “London is still seen as a global financial centre, but for access to Europe, with the assumption that London no longer has that access to Europe, the next best place for US banks is Ireland, and not just Dublin but along the West coast too.”

This confluence of favourable market circumstances internationally and a strong ecosystem at home, makes the future of fintech bright for Irish companies, particularly in the UK and North American markets, with Europe and Asia Pacific, also featuring strongly in last year’s export figures.

 

Enjoyed this article? Read more insightful fintech articles here.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

growth opportunities Asia Pacific region

Tap into growth opportunities in Asia Pacific region

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Delegates attending Routes to Growth Asia Pacific, a major conference organised by Enterprise Ireland in Dublin, were advised that to succeed they should make good use of two vital pieces of technology – their ears.

“Always listen,” said Dicky Yip, non-executive director of Chinese insurance giant PingAn and a former chief executive of HSBC China.

“It takes time to understand the cultural differences, even in terms of how to attend a meeting. Always try to think of the other party’s circumstances.”

It’s a fact former Aer Lingus CEO Dermot Mannion could relate to, thanks to his time as deputy chairman of Royal Brunei Airlines. “The biggest mistake I made was just 30 days in,” he told attendees.

“I took it on myself to make a presentation to the board with my initial impressions of what was wrong with the airline that we needed to put right. Frankly, there were some pretty harsh conclusions.”

When his twenty-minute presentation was complete, the room was silent. “There were no questions, no comments. So I walked away thinking, this is going to be easy, everybody is agreed about the harsh medicine we need to take.”

Not so. “The very next day I had an appointment with one of the directors and quizzed him a little bit about the reaction. It became clear that they didn’t like what they heard in the first five minutes and so shut down. Nobody listened to the points I made after that.”

Mannion had yet to deal with the cultural aspects of doing business in Asia Pacific. “I didn’t deal with the relational side. I hadn’t socialised the ideas in advance and I didn’t anticipate the cultural significance of the fact that people don’t like to say no. It’s viewed as disrespectful in meetings to do so. But worst of all, I didn’t go in there saying ‘Is this the right answer?’ I hadn’t even asked if it was the right question.”

The experience became an important lesson. “Surviving that, I went on to build the relationships, respect traditions and culture, and to ask the right questions. It was an early lesson and very valuable.”

Relationships are the foundation of business across the Asia Pacific region

Relationships are the foundation on which business is transacted across Asia Pacific. Taking the time to build them pays dividends.

“The hardest thing for Irish people to do is meet Japanese standards, which are very high,” said Martin Murray, executive director of the Asia Matters think tank.

“Japan works for high-end, high-service, high-tech products if you can meet Japanese standards but it is hard to do. It is very demanding. Every time you answer a question it provokes another nine questions. But if you can do that, business people in Japan will trust you, and if they trust you good things happen, and they introduce you to their networks. If you can satisfy a Japanese customer, you can satisfy anyone.”

Be prepared for the time it takes to get to that point, he cautioned, referring to the Japanese adage that “you sit on a cold stone for three years and eventually it becomes warm”.

“The Japanese don’t like people being pushy or engaging in a hard sell at the beginning. They have another saying too, ‘if a nail stands up you hammer it down’. But if they really trust you, you become friends for life. They are very loyal, very honest, and there are no issues with finance. But you have to have that personal relationship. It’s not just transactional.”

The Asia Pacific region offers particularly striking opportunities in aviation, delegates heard. “Ireland has emerged as one of the greatest global aviation hubs in recent times, with a significant development of aviation talent,” said Dermot Mannion.

Asia Pacific fastest-growing region for aviation

“All this is happening at a time when Asia Pacific is far and away the fastest-growing region for aviation. Over the next twenty years, the number of aircraft going into the Asia Pacific region will be equal to the combination of North America and Europe combined. We are very well-positioned to take advantage of that.”

Demand for ICT is growing too. “Countries and governments that invest in ICT are doing it to support economic development,” said David Harmon, vice president Global Public Affairs at Huawei Technologies in China. “Their plans have as their premise the need to develop technologies to modernise sectors across the length and breadth of their countries.” These sectors include health, education, agriculture, food, aviation, and travel.

Insurer PingAn is already on a path towards becoming a technology company, for example. “It’s not going to open branches but will use AI and technology to reach customers,” said Yip, pointing out that, as 99.99% of PingAn’s business is in China, SMEs that can work with PingAn overseas are “most welcome” at the insurer.

Equally, “State banks, which have massive market share, only started to think about technology ten years ago. Most Chinese banks are looking outwards for technical assistance,” he said.

China’s One Belt One Road infrastructure initiative is giving rise to opportunities in construction and engineering, he said, suggesting Hong Kong as a good route in. It both understands Chinese business culture and has been China’s conduit to the outside world for more than half a century, he said, making it “a good stepping stone for Irish business”.

The advent of new direct flights from Dublin to Hong Kong and Beijing will help. “Don’t underestimate the impact of having ‘Dublin’ on departure boards in Hong Kong is going to have,” said Mannion. “It will create a dynamic where companies in that part of the world will be interested, because it will be easier to do business here.”

Visit our markets section for insights on Singapore and China and the opportunities for Irish companies.

Irish CEOs Asia Pacific

Stories from the road – Irish CEOs in Asia Pacific

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Winning business in AsiaPac is a marathon, not a sprint, for Irish fintech company Fenergo.

“We’re asking banks for between €30 million and €50 million, so these are big ticket deals. You don’t just walk up and ask for that kind of money. For us, closing deals is the equivalent of running a marathon, in that there are 26 units of work to be done, and it takes us between nine and 12 months to complete,” explained Marc Murphy, CEO of Fenergo.

He was speaking onstage at Routes to Growth Asia Pacific, a major conference organised by Enterprise Ireland at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.

Even in a fast-paced sector like fintech, don’t expect speedy results, he cautioned. “For all we talk of digital revolutions, it’s still a pedestrian pace for big institutions. To get people to put their career on the line to back you is a big, elongated process. It’s about old-fashioned feet on the street. They want to see roots, they want to see you hiring locally, putting investment and commitment in.”

Asia currently represents 35% of Fenergo’s business. “Our beachhead in the region was Australia,” he explained. “We now have five of the largest Australian banks. From there we went after Singapore, we now have three of four local domestic banks there. We also have a presence in Tokyo, and in the next quarter we will have signed three of the large five Japanese banks.”

One of the ways Fenergo made inroads into China was via the overseas branches of banks such as Bank of China and ICBC, “they are giving us the opportunity to go into mainland China,” he said.

Certain steps can help your progress, such as using the Irish embassy for a launch, as Fenergo did in Singapore. Making key industry hires who are known locally is also helpful.

The company currently employs 90 people across AsiaPac, and has invested around €7 million in the region.

“The basics that we do in London and New York, we will do in Singapore and Tokyo too. There might be cultural differences, such as, in Tokyo, the C-Suite will only talk to the C-Suite, so you find out the customs of each society, but the principles of how we do business are no different whether it’s Toronto or Singapore.”

CAE Parc Aviation

CAE Parc Aviation first began doing business in the region almost three decades ago, said chief executive, Frank Collins. Today, 45% of its worldwide business comes from Asian companies. Moreover, 25% of its business is with Irish companies whose own customers are in Asia. All in all, “it’s a massive market for us,” he said. Parc now has seven offices spread across five AsiaPac countries.

Opening its first office in Tokyo, in 2006, proved pivotal, enabling it to develop deeper relationships. It now has three offices in China and employs 15 people in the region in total.

“Our experience was that though we found we could grow really fast – because of the growth in aviation – the hard part would have been to deliver. So we hauled back and decided to concentrate on three or four of the main airlines there and deliver a really satisfying product.”

Expansion can bring constraints for any company. “For us cash flow has not really been an issue. Our experience has been excellent in terms of getting paid,” said Collins.

“For us, it was just the length of time it took, and the regulation involved, in supplying pilots. Between the time you find a pilot and the time you have them fly, it can be months in certain Asian countries, so you’ve got to be prepared to have people on the ground, working through that, before you earn a penny. That’s the real investment, time and resources. But if you are not prepared to put in the time, and the people on the ground, don’t bother, you just won’t win.”

Cubic Telecom

Barry Napier, CEO of Cubic Telecom, first discussed the possibility of entering the region with Enterprise Ireland in 2010. Its initial market was Hong Kong, followed by Australia and New Zealand, Singapore and Japan.

Cubic Telecom also benefited from Irish embassies in the region. “Regulation is very different in every market. A key thing we leveraged from Enterprise Ireland was an introduction to the local ambassadors. They know about the laws and the regulations, and how to work within the community. It’s about networking, use that abroad,” said Napier.

Douglas Proctor is Director of UCD’s International office. The university currently has 5,000 students from the region studying at its campus, plus a further 5,000 studying in partnership arrangements in countries such as China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia. “One of the key things universities can offer is to act as a broker for Irish industry in terms of partnerships and R&D in the region,” he said.

UCD has around 20,000 alumni living and working in the region, which “if you map that across the seven universities in the country, means there are Irish people trained and working and ready to support your export aspirations in the region,” he said.

Thinking of the market in terms of clusters, rather than geographies, helped Fenergo tackled what is a vast region.

“In our market, banks all move together. We have all the Australian banks, for example, and we get them together, which can take two or three years,” said Mark Murphy.

“Divide your market into sub-segments and go after them like they are clusters. Put every resource you can against one of those sub-segments – call it a beachhead in terms of how you tackle them – and overwhelm them with customer service. Overwhelm them with delivery. Make them feel like you are bigger and better than Apple and Microsoft, and all the other big brands out there.”

“That has been our real formula for success as we’ve gone after new markets and it has proven to be our success in Asia too.”

Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific is flying high – time for Irish companies to get on board

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Tom Cusack, regional director for Asia Pacific at Enterprise Ireland, explains what Irish exporters can gain by exploring opportunities in the region.

“Always listen,” advised Dicky Yip, non-executive director of Chinese insurance giant PingAn and former chief executive of HSBC China, during his keynote speech at Enterprise Ireland’s Routes to Growth Asia Pacific, a major conference which brought together more than 400 Irish and international business people to explore export opportunities in the region.

“It takes time to understand each area’s cultural differences”, explained Yip.

The inaugural Routes to Growth Asia Pacific event offered a unique opportunity for networking and peer-learning to current and first-time exporters, with more than 100 potential buyers travelling to attend. Enterprise Ireland’s entire Asia Pacific team assisted companies with export plans and on-the-ground experience. Enterprise Ireland also launched a series of business guides to help companies better prepare for market entry.

Asia Pacific is home to two of the world’s three biggest economies

Stretching from Australia to India and China, Asia Pacific is home to half of the world’s population and two of its three biggest economies. By 2025, it will account for more than half of the world’s economic output. Similar trends are evident with growth rates, which range from 5% to 9%, compared to the 2-3% global average. Australia, in particular, has enjoyed over 25 years of continuous growth.

More than 600 Irish companies are currently doing business in the region, worth €2 billion annually.

Irish exports more than doubled in the last five years since breaking the €1 billion mark in 2012, delivering double-digit growth for Enterprise Ireland-supported companies in 2016, with an impressive 16% year-on year-gain. As the second-fastest growing region for Enterprise Ireland-backed companies, a 50% increase in exports is targeted by 2020. Opportunities for Irish businesses in sectors including aviation, fintech, international education, and construction and engineering are particularly promising.

“Ireland has emerged as one of the greatest global aviation hubs in recent times,” commented Dermot Mannion, former deputy chairman of Royal Brunei Airlines and former Aer Lingus CEO. “That is happening at a time when Asia Pacific is by far and away the fastest growing region for aviation. Over the next twenty years, the number of aircraft going into Asia Pacific will be equal to North America and Europe combined. We are very well positioned to take advantage of that.”

One example of Irish success in the sector is CAE Parc Aviation, who first began doing business there almost three decades ago, explained chief executive, Frank Collins. Today 45% of its worldwide business comes from Asian companies. CAE Parc has seven offices spread across five AsiaPac countries. In all, “it’s a massive market for us,” Collins said.

Speakers recommended reaching out to Enterprise Ireland for assistance and tapping into the Irish diaspora.

Work with Enterprise Ireland to expand in Asia Pacific

“You need to get out there on the ground, so use Enterprise Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs. There is always someone who can give you introductions,” said Paul Costigan, chief sales and marketing officer at Decawave.

Barry Napier, CEO of Cubic Telecom, first discussed the possibility of entering the region with Enterprise Ireland in 2010 and benefited from Irish embassies in the region. “Regulation is very different in every market. A key thing we leveraged from Enterprise Ireland was about laws and regulations, and how to work within the market,” said Napier.

Ireland’s connectivity to the Asia Pacific region will see a big boost in June 2018 with the launch of a direct flight between Dublin and Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific, the first ever direct flight from Ireland to the Asian mainland.

“Don’t underestimate the impact of having ‘Dublin’ on departure boards in Hong Kong will have,” said Mannion. “It will create a dynamic where companies in that part of the world will be interested, because it will be easier to do business here.”

That the Routes to Growth event was organised in partnership with Cathay Pacific is fitting. There is no doubt that the AsiaPac region is flying high. For Irish companies, it is time to get on board.

Visit our markets section for insights on Singapore and China and the opportunities for Irish companies.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

US flag - exporting to the US

Top 10 Tips for Exporting to The USA

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Ireland enjoys a unique advantage in trading with the US because of our deep historical links. Relations between the two governments are exceptional; and cooperation at an institutional level is excellent including in areas such as research, innovation and education.

There is, without doubt, huge opportunity in the US. Around 700 Enterprise Ireland client companies are exporting there and companies like Aerogen, Fenergo, Cylon Controls, Candidate Manager and Rubicoin have set up offices and accelerated exports in the past 24 months. To date, over 20 clients have won contracts worth over €500,000.

1. Preparation

Before entering the US market, extensive research at home is strongly advised. Make contact with State agencies, relevant support organisations and companies who currently export to the US, if possible. Targeting the US usually requires additional financial and human resources, so to keep costs and operations manageable in such as geographically big country, first-time entrants are advised to segment the market and target a particular region or state. Give careful consideration to the resources needed to serve the selected market, for instance, will the operation use a direct or indirect sales channel. Some companies hire locally and others (often in the early stages) put a C-level member of the team in the market for a short period to get things off the ground.

2. Legal

Corporate – Confirm your corporate structure. Typically setting up a US subsidiary makes sense both for tax and liability reasons. Your US subsidiary also will need to appoint a registered agent, and “qualify to do business” in every state in which you have an office or similar presence.

Intellectual Property – Address US trademark issues defensively (confirming that no one else has prior registered or unregistered rights in respect of name and key brands); and offensively (by filing a US trademark application). Patent issues may need addressed depending on the business.

Contractual Terms and Conditions – These must be converted to the laws of a US state, for legal and commercial reasons.

Employment – Get professional employment advice locally. Most US employees do not have employment contracts but employers are bound by offer-letter terms, employee manuals and other undertakings. Also, ensure confidentiality and IP assignment agreements with all employees are established.

3. Tax Structuring and Compliance

Establish appropriate arm’s-length arrangements between the Irish parent and US subsidiary to separate taxable income. This is particularly important because US corporate tax rates (federal and state), totalling about 40% are typically three times the level in Ireland. Have appropriate compliance procedures in place to address federal and state corporate income tax, as well as other potentially relevant tax regimes (sales tax, personal property tax, etc.), particularly at the state and local level.

4. Trends

US import trends indicate high potential for Irish exporters. Meat imports were valued at €9.4bn which was the second fastest-growing import; while dairy went up over 40% to €2.8 billion. The US also imports pharmaceuticals worth $86.1 billion; medical and technical equipment worth $78.3 billion and organic chemicals worth $52.1 billion. These are all among the top 10 Irish exports by category. It is also a big importer in sectors such as aviation and aerospace, mechanical and electronic equipment, insurance and ICT services – all of which are growing in Ireland.

5. Banking

It can be difficult for a non-US company to set up banking for its US subsidiary. Some banks are particularly focused on banking high-growth companies on a trans-Atlantic basis, which can help ease the process.

6. Immigration

Most Irish companies exporting to the US find it critical to establish a presence in the market. This is particularly true in software and high-tech. An estimated 65% of Irish exporters to the US have a full-time presence, ranging from a single-person sales office to manufacturing operations with thousands of employees. Route-to-market decisions are crucial and the role of agents and distributors cannot be ignored. Buyers rarely purchase directly from manufacturers, particularly those from overseas. So fulfilment centres have become increasingly important in the supply-chain, especially since the growth of e-business. This approach is better suited to non-perishable items and consumer products.

7. Insurance

The US is a high-risk environment. Get an insurance broker with trans-Atlantic experience to advise on types of cover, terms and limits.

8. Recruitment

The most difficult aspect of setting up in the US is finding the right people. Obtaining recommendations from trusted people including investors and advisors is often the best way. Otherwise get professional support (especially with sales people). Consider outsourcing for book-keeping, employee tax withholding, HR and mandatory employee insurance and benefits, and similar matters. Also note that visas permitting Irish personnel deployed in the US to work are needed. Allow three to four months to sort this out.

9. Offices

Get professional advice on office space and other properties such as co-working spaces (like WeWork), accommodation offices (like Regus) or renting an individual premises.

10. Incentives and Supports

US supports should not be overlooked. Federal, state and local development agencies and international chambers of commerce can provide very useful support. State and local incentives for investment and job creation also may be available.