John Ferguson Ambition Asia Pacific 2

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

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

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

 

Growth rates in Asia Pacific countries

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

Irish companies banking United States

How to manage US banking, employees and legal fees

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Two challenges that Irish companies sometimes experience when preparing to export to the United States for the first time involve banking and employment. The following pointers will help you to prepare.

Download the full Going Global USA: Learn your Legals guide now.

All US banks require an Employer Identification Number (EIN) confirmation letter, also known as Form SS4, before opening a business account in your company’s name.

 

How to apply for an Employer Identification Number

You can apply for an EIN online on the Internal Revenue Services website, if you already have a US social security number (SSN), or an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN).

If you don’t have an SSN, you can apply for an EIN from the IRS by fax or have a lawyer act as a ‘third-party designee’ to prepare and process an EIN application on your behalf.

 

If you have an EIN

Some banks will accept a copy of a fax from the IRS assigning your business entity with an EIN. Others will need to see the EIN verification letter sent by the IRS, which can take weeks to arrive.

Most banks will also require a copy of the company’s formation documents – US business address and annual statement of officers and directors.

To comply with mandatory anti-money laundering legislation, US banks need to verify the identity of those opening business accounts under Know Your Customer (KYC) rules. There are several ways the requirement can be met:

  • Get a visitor visa to travel to the US and personally open an account at your bank of choice
  • Use third-party services to help you set up an account
  • Some banks will set up an account without the relevant corporate officer being in the United States. If acting on a referral from a legal representative, the process can be completed via email.

 

Employment considerations

Irish companies should carefully plan their approach to hiring personnel in the US as there are a number of potential pitfalls to be aware of. For example, if you hire someone as a consultant or independent contractor, it could later be determined that they are actually an employee under US law. Improper classification risks exposing a company to penalties and liabilities, including the withholding of taxes, benefits, and the possibility of being sued by the employee.

Laws governing US employment and benefits are complicated, which makes it vital for potential exporters to seek the advice of legal professionals.

As US benefits packages vary widely and differ significantly from those in Ireland, companies should seek advice on what employees in specific roles are likely to expect when considering a job offer.

 

Legal costs

For small companies using a lawyer or legal service provider for help with company formation and setting up, fixed fee packages in the range US$3,000 to US$5,000 are available. Packages usually include general counsel, registration fees, and the creation of incorporation, confidentiality agreements and stock issuance.

In general, you can expect to pay additional fees for operating and shareholder agreements, as they can be highly complex. While legal assistance with IP transfers can also be costly due to complexity, many Irish companies keep IP rights within the Irish parent, with the US entity established as a servicing company.

 

Access more insights on doing business in the US.

Czech Republic

Central Europe: Old town, new export opportunities

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Ladislav Müller, manager for central and southeast Europe at Enterprise Ireland, describes new opportunities that are proving attractive to Irish exporters.

From Dublin, it only takes two hours on a packed plane to land in Prague. The city is a popular tourist destination and capital of the Czech Republic, one of the fastest growing economies in Central Europe. As thousands of tourists rushed to the cobbled streets of its old town, Czech Gross Domestic Product increased by 4.5% in the first quarter of 2018. Neighbouring Slovakia has shown 3.6% growth, with Hungary at 4.7%, and Romania at 4.2%.

According to EY’S Attractiveness Survey 2017, Central Europe attracted nearly half of Europe’s industrial investment projects in the period. Its strengths are its geographical links, good infrastructure, the quality of its human capital, and its productivity. The provision of EU funds is another key driver, particularly for Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. The Financial Times projected an improved economic picture for the region, based on stronger-than-expected global demand, tighter labour markets, government stimulus measures, and easy financing conditions.

Irish exports to the region have also grown for the last ten years, even during the recession.

 

Irish exporting success in Central Europe

Many Irish exporters are growing sales by supplying large multinational corporations with a base in the region. Ventac, vehicle and industrial noise control specialists from county Wicklow, set up a regional sales office in the Czech Republic, while Waterford’s PPI Adhesive Products, a leading manufacturer of technical adhesive tapes, run their regional sales operations from Slovakia. Portwest, the Mayo-based designer and manufacturer of high-quality workwear, have a CEE sales headquarters in Hungary.

But Irish companies are not only targeting large multinational companies. Central European agriculture has experienced remarkable growth over the past number of years, supported by an expanding food industry, domestic investments, and EU farm subsidies. Between 2014 and 2020, CAP and EARDF subsidies will reach €26 billion in Romania, €8.3 billion in Hungary, and €7 billion in the Czech Republic. Spending is driven by pressures on efficiency and food safety, environmental and animal welfare regulations, and requirements for farm machinery upgrade or replacement.

In 2017 MooCall, producers of unique calving sensors, were awarded a Gold Medal for innovation at AnimalTech trade fair in the Czech Republic, followed by Dairymaster, who won the Grand Prix at Czech TechAgro 2018 for smart technology for their MooMonitor health and fertility monitoring system.

Enterprise Ireland runs a long-term programme called Opportunities in Agriculture in Central and Eastern Europe that helps Irish farming machinery and technology producers to enter local markets.

Many Irish companies perceive Central Europe as a source of competitive advantage on the continent. Kingspan, producer of insulation panels, celebrated twenty years for its plant in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic in May 2018. PM Group, international providers of services in engineering, architecture, project management and construction management opened offices in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2010. Grafton Recruitment and CPL Jobs are market leaders in human resources management across the region, while many Irish technology companies set up in Romania to service customers.

 

A hub for business process outsourcing

Central Europe is also one of the fastest growing locations for business process outsourcing (BPO) centres and service companies in Europe. According to Outsourcing Advisors, a third of major outsourcing companies now come from Central and Eastern Europe. Ireland has a very strong offer for BPO operators, who are in turn always seeking solutions that drive efficiencies or offer cost savings.

 

Untapped opportunities in Central Europe

As Brexit uncertainties continue, Central Europe offers significant export market potential, thanks to its closeness to Ireland, strong Irish presence, and concentration of multinationals and local buyers.

To support further growth, Minister of State Pat Breen led an Enterprise Ireland trade mission to Warsaw and Prague last June, targeting opportunities across the engineering, electronics, enterprise software, and medical devices sectors. Irish companies signed contracts in excess of €7.5 million during the mission.

Enterprise Ireland’s office in the Czech Republic is ready to facilitate market research visits, introductions to buyers, and searches for distributors, to help companies we support to win new opportunities in an exciting region.

Learn more on how Enterprise Ireland supports businesses to diversify at Markets & Opportunities.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

US visas

US visas: Organising troops on the ground for your business

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The skills and experience of senior personnel are crucial to the success of a new operation in the United States. But before you start deploying manpower stateside, you will need to get your immigration visas in order.

US immigration laws are highly complex and change regularly, so specialised legal advice is an absolute necessity. What follows is a sketch of the various visa options available and the requirements each entails.

No visa

The Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) allows you to travel to the US without a visa for ‘limited business purposes’ but does not allow you to take up employment. The VWP is intended for short, infrequent trips, of no more than 90 days duration, and is good for visiting trade shows, attending conferences, and for preliminary market research and pre-investment activity.

If you cumulatively spend more than 50% of your time in the United States in one year, you will almost certainly be denied further entry under the VWP. If you are denied an Electronic System Travel Authorisation (ESTA) at any time for whatever reason, you will require a visa for all future travel to the United States.

To travel to the US under the VWP, you must apply online for an ESTA in advance. To obtain an ESTA authorisation, you must possess a return, or onward, travel ticket indicating that you are not planning on staying permanently.

B for basic

If you cannot avail of the VW programme, you will need a visitor visa. The B-1 visa is for temporary visitors on business and the B-2 visa is for tourists. B-1 visas for Irish citizens are usually valid for 10 years but only allow holders entry into the US for a maximum of six months. The same restrictions on business activity apply to B-1 holders as to those on the VW programme: you are not allowed to take up employment in the US.

A B-1 visa application will probably require an interview with an American embassy official, during which you will be asked to provide evidence of the purpose of your planned visit and of the ties you have in Ireland – economic, family and social – to ensure that you won’t ‘overstay’.

L for longer

If you are setting up a US operation, you will need to be in the United States for a substantial period of time, so one possible option is an L-visa.

An L-1A visa is for managers and executives who previously worked with a foreign company and are transferring to the United States to work, for at least one year, with a new subsidiary company, or an affiliate company, or an American parent company. L-1A visas can be extended for up to a maximum of seven years.

An L-1B visa is for employees with specialised knowledge (SK) of a foreign company’s business systems and processes. An L-1B visa allows a maximum stay, including extensions, of five years. Generally, L-1B visas are more suitable for established US companies than for foreign start-ups trying to get a foothold in the American market.

Before applying for an L visa at the US embassy in Dublin, you must first gain petition approval from the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).

E for easier

An E visa is for employees of foreign businesses in which the employee is a citizen of a country with which the US has a significant trade treaty. The employee must be entering the US to engage in ‘substantial international trade’ or to ‘develop and direct the operations of an enterprise that has, or is, investing in the United States’.

E visas are issued for a maximum of five years but, typically, for those employed by smaller organisations, they are usually granted for an initial two-year period, with renewals up to a maximum of five years at the discretion of the US Consulate.

The E-1 visa is for those who come from countries in which 50% or more of national trade is with the US, so it is not suitable for Irish citizens.

The E-2 visa is the closest thing to a ‘US start up visa’ for Irish entrepreneurs. E-2 applicants must be of the same nationality as the foreign entity that employs them and they must be engaged in an executive or supervisory capacity or have special qualifications essential to the enterprise.

There is a minimum investment requirement, usually at least US$100,000. E visa applications are more straightforward than L visa applications, with the process conducted at your local US consulate.

H for highly-skilled

H visas are for people who belong to speciality occupations. Applications must be approved by the US Department of Labour and petitioning companies must prove that the foreign employee will be paid a fair wage and will not displace US workers.

The H-1B visa is for highly-skilled workers who have a university degree or equivalent. A H-2B visa is for technical workers, such as employees posted to the US to install new machinery and teach Americans how to operate it. A H-3 is a training visa for employees availing of upskilling courses unavailable in their home country.

O for OMG

The O-1 visa is for individuals with extraordinary ability and/or achievement in the sciences, education, business, athletics, or the arts. The visa is initially granted for up to three years and can subsequently be extended for one year at a time, with no upper limit on the number of extensions that may be granted.

Another visa that applies to a small minority of applicants is the EB-5, which is for those who make substantial investments in the US economy, generally in excess of US$1 million.

Green for Go

Foreign nationals can be granted permanent residence, known as having a Green Card, based on continued employment in the US, or by showing you have a job offer.

Once you are granted a Green Card you are subject to US income tax assessment. Additionally, Green Card residents must maintain their status, for example, showing that they intend to be long-term residents of the US, although they may be temporarily resident elsewhere.

Employers may ‘sponsor’ a Green Card applicant by presenting evidence of a job offer. Often, applicants must already hold a temporary, unexpired visa, such as a B-1.

More information about the visa application process is available here.

The Irish-American law firm O’Brien & Associates runs regular updates on US visa requirements here.

Speak the language of European customers

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Enterprise Ireland’s GradStart programme helps companies to break through the language barrier.

The single market has given Irish companies free and unfettered access to markets across Europe, and the euro has eliminated currency risk in the majority of them, but a significant trade barrier remains – language. When compared with other EU member states, particularly those in the west of the continent, Ireland lags behind when it comes to language proficiency.

This lack of skills can present real difficulties for Irish companies seeking to break into European markets. “You have to be proficient if you want to be taken seriously,” explains Helen McMahon, senior executive for Client Skills with Enterprise Ireland. “Cultural understanding is also very important when entering a new market, and the ability to speak to potential customers in their own language is vital in that respect.”

 

Overcome the language barrier with GradStart

Help is at hand for companies who wish to overcome the language barrier in the form of the Enterprise Ireland GradStart programme, a new initiative aimed at supporting Enterprise Ireland client companies with the recruitment of graduates to help develop and expand their businesses.

“The programme has been designed to support companies to attract talent and recruit graduates,” says McMahon. “It will help them create a talent pipeline to support and grow their business.”

GradStart provides financial support for the recruitment of up to three graduates in a company. Fifty per cent of the graduate’s yearly salary, subject to a maximum of €15,000 per annum in grant aid, is available for two years, depending on certain conditions.

“The graduate has to be allocated to a specific role and project in the business,” McMahon points out. “The company has to show that it will benefit from having additional expertise in that role and that it will contribute to the growth plan for the business. There also has to be potential for the graduates to learn and acquire new skills. We want the graduates to develop and gain from it as well.”

Very importantly, additional support is on offer for graduates with proficiency in a language relevant to this business; for this cohort, grants of up to 70% of salary subject to a maximum of €21,000 per annum for two years is available. Language proficiency is defined as the graduate being a native speaker; and/or holding a diploma in a required language from a recognised language institute; and/or has lived in a country for at least six months where the required language is the first language of that country; and/or holds a minimum level 6 qualification from a course wholly or partly dedicated to language studies.

“This will help address the lack of language skills in companies,” says McMahon “and help companies attract graduates with language ability. Although graduates cannot be assigned to direct sales and marketing roles, they will add enormous value to a company in areas crucial to successful market entry and growth such as market analysis, research on market needs and competitors, and marketplace profiling or roles in other key aspects of the business. Having a direct knowledge of the local language is essential for all of these things.” Over time, these graduates may have the opportunity to become permanent members of staff.

 

Importance of languages in the Eurozone

Looking to the Eurozone, she points out that language is vitally important regardless of the market concerned. “Even in the Netherlands, where English is so widely spoken, company websites and technical documentation will be in Dutch, and you need to fully understand these in order to compete successfully.”

IMS Labels hired graduate Marcella Mendes, who speaks Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and English, with the support of the GradStart programme. “The Enterprise Ireland GradStart Programme has not only enabled IMS Labels to rapidly develop our expertise through highly skilled graduates, it gave us an instant advantage in our international target markets through multilanguage capability,” says Commercial Director, Steven Burke.

Contract manufacturer Keltech has benefited through hiring a German-speaking graduate: “English is the universal business language,” says Business Development Manager, Seamus Lawlor. “However, we felt that certain opportunities were not being realised by not speaking our clients’ mother tongue. The introduction of our native German-speaking graduate in 2018 bridged this gap. Our clients are genuinely impressed that we have taken the time and effort to recruit a multilingual employee who can dive deeper into their requirements through their native language.”

Developing in-company capability for Eurozone languages is increasingly important, particularly in light of Brexit. “Even if there was no Brexit, there is a need to build Irish exports in the Eurozone,” McMahon notes. “And we must not let language be a barrier to that. The GradStart programme can help companies overcome that barrier while also bringing in new skills to help them meet their growth ambitions.”

The benefits aren’t limited to Eurozone markets of course. “Language proficiency can be even more important in Asia, where English is not so widely spoken, and cultural sensitivity can be crucial to success. GradStart can help companies recruit overseas graduates who were studying here and are now looking for an opportunity to stay on,” McMahon adds.

Companies wishing to avail of support under the GradStart programme should contact their Enterprise Ireland development advisor in the first instance. “They will guide the company through the process and assess if they are eligible for support to employ one, two or three graduates. We can help companies find the graduates, but we also encourage companies to source graduates directly. We recommend that companies build relationships with third-level institutions to support them to build talent pipelines for the future. We have set up the gradhub.ie website to help companies find the right graduates and they can also use the gradireland.ie website.”

Talent Management

Global brands recruit Irish suppliers to win the war for talent

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David Corcoran, global talent management advisor based in Enterprise Ireland’s London office, explains how innovative Irish companies are helping global brands to win the war for talent.

In the war for talent, having an innovative Irish company on your side is a major advantage. It’s a fact some of the world’s top brands know firsthand.

Global names, such as Nestle, Microsoft, Pepsi, and Qatar Airways, have all turned to Irish talent management solutions for help in attracting, managing, and developing their biggest asset – their people.

The war for talent is about more than recruitment, and Ireland’s talent management sector is recognised globally as being unparalleled in its breadth. It encompasses solutions for talent acquisition, workforce management, professional learning, performance management, and workplace recognition.

 

Irish partners are proving a global ally in the war for talent

As Johnny Campbell, founder and CEO of Social Talent, put it at the World Employment Conference, held in Dublin recently, it’s not really so much a war for talent, as a war for skills.

Technology has an increasing role to play in building those skills, developing talent from within. And the world’s most progressive employers are arming themselves with Irish solutions.

There are several reasons why talent management is an area that Ireland excels in.

As the world of work undergoes seismic shifts in terms of skills shortages, diversity, millennial talent, and the gig economy, innovative Irish solution providers are at the forefront of partnering with progressive human resources and recruitment departments around the world to discover, retain, engage, and reward exceptional talent.

Ireland has succeeded in establishing itself as a strategic hub for leading multinational employers, working across sectors as diverse as technology, biopharma, and financial services with Staffing Industry Analysts, the industry’s highly regarded research group, ranking Ireland as the world’s most attractive staffing market in 2017.

The result is that we have earned our reputation by providing solutions to some of the world’s best employers and, in the process, established Ireland as an internationally recognised centre of excellence for talent management.

 

Competing internationally

While it is true that working with world leading multinational companies based in Ireland has helped the talent sector to hone its skills to the highest level, it would be wrong to think Irish companies have grown their exports and reputation solely as a result of those links.

Rather, Irish companies have gone out and won new international customers, often in highly competitive, supplier-rich markets, in which those organisations are not short of choices.

International organisations are increasingly choosing from a growing number of world-class, homegrown Irish success stories, such as TTM Healthcare, who is quickly becoming a healthcare recruitment leader, providing staffing solutions around the world. One in five nurses recruited to the NHS from overseas now arrives via TTM.

Leading organisations are choosing technology company Social Talent, enabling it to become the world’s largest provider of on-demand training and development for the recruitment industry, a niche it pioneered.

They are choosing Globoforce, helping it to become a world leader in employee recognition. Its innovative solutions successfully drive employee engagement and retention in multinational companies in more than 135 countries.

They are choosing software innovator Sonru, developer of the world’s first asynchronous video interviewing solution for candidate selection. Sonru’s product doesn’t just boost efficiencies for client companies, it enables them to tap into previously inaccessible talent pools, wherever they are in the world.

Enterprise Ireland supports 120 Irish providers in this sector to meet their global ambition by exporting to 100 countries. Although these companies are active in different parts of the talent management landscape, the common thread they share is that they work to develop disruptive technologies that provide the kind of innovative and flexible talent management solutions that organisations need, now more than ever.

Irish companies are taking advantage of the fact that there are no boundaries in technology. Good companies are going to the ends of the earth to find good people, and increasingly it is Irish talent management solutions that are helping them to get there.

And once they find that top talent, Irish companies are also helping international brands to retain, engage, and develop them.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

Female entrepreneurs show leadership credentials as they take it global

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Increasing numbers of women are making the decision to turn great ideas into great businesses.

As aspiring female entrepreneurs find the pathway to success, they are also supporting and inspiring each other along the way, through mentoring and knowledge sharing initiatives such as Going for Growth and ACORNS. This support plays a vital role in fostering entrepreneurship for women in business, from the initial idea through to becoming an internationally trading company.

 

A sprinkling of fairy magic

It was as Ireland was emerging from the depths of the economic crash that Niamh Sherwin Barry turned what had been mostly a bit of fun into one of Ireland’s most iconic and successful toy exporting companies.

The Irish Fairy Door Company has sold more than 750,000 products worldwide but it started as a chat between friends at the kitchen table one evening in 2013.

Co-founder, Niamh says: “We had these little shapes that looked like doors, and we called them fairy doors, myself and my friend Aoife. We were just discussing what our fairies were doing and laughing about it and that got us and our husbands thinking that we could definitely make money out of this.

“Our Local Enterprise Office in South Dublin was just incredible. We got €78,000 in funding and it was totally business changing. We used it for developing the product, the website, and for marketing on social media. We had been sitting around the kitchen table making the doors ourselves but now we were able to take on carpenters to make the doors.

“The LEO also gave us lots of mentoring and support getting us ready to export, they were absolutely brilliant – and it continued when we transitioned to Enterprise Ireland.

“We’ve received €450,00 in funding so far – a third from Enterprise Ireland, a third from the bank and a third from a private investor – but there has also been mentoring and support for trade shows, particularly in the US and Canada, which are big markets for us.”

The Irish Fairy Door Company recently signed a “game-changing” global animation deal to bring the characters from its fairy stories to Wild Brain, a digital network with 50 million subscribers and a portfolio that includes brands such as Fireman Sam, Curious George, Shopkins and Ben 10.

Niamh says: “This product, this little piece of wood takes the child into their own imagination and has the potential and the capacity to stay in that child’s memory forever – and I don’t think there’s that much out there that would have that power.”

Niamh’s journey with the Irish Fairy Door Company has instilled in Niamh a belief that other aspiring female entrepreneurs can also turn their great ideas into great businesses.

“There is nothing stronger than one woman helping another – I really do feel that. The networks for women run by the LEOs and Enterprise Ireland are tremendous for providing support and belief that you can achieve your goals.”

 

Female entrepreneurs build confidence and support

Anne Reilly was a full-time mother and a part-time lecturer in Irish payroll and employment law when, in 2005, she founded her own company providing payroll services and information to local companies in Co Louth.

Going global wasn’t on Anne’s radar until she received a phone call from an Australian company asking if Paycheck Plus could process payroll for their employees in Ireland.

Anne realised that her company had the makings of something much bigger. She says: “I knew that if a company in Australia could find us and trust us to run their payroll here in Ireland, then other companies could too. But I didn’t really know how to go about getting into an international market or even a parochial market at that stage and I didn’t have a whole lot of business acumen in terms of entrepreneurship.

“I was dropping the kids to school one morning and heard that Louth Local Enterprise Office was having an open day and I decided that I would go there. That was a big deal for me, I was very nervous about going in to meet people in an entity like that because I wasn’t sure whether I’d be judged.

“They gave me five sessions with their business mentor, who explained to me how to go about setting and achieving objectives for myself and the business. That had a huge impact on me and gave me a lot of confidence.”

Today, Paycheck Plus has 17 full-time employees providing payroll services in Ireland and the UK for companies from 18 different countries. Last year, the company was named In-Country Payroll Provider of the Year at the Global Payroll Awards.

“I really do believe that without the help of Louth LEO in giving me that confidence and making me feel less alone, that would never have happened. It was a huge gateway into where we ended up going,” Anne says

Anne is now very involved in supporting female entrepreneurship through Going for Growth, an initiative for female entrepreneurs based on shared learning through roundtable sessions hosted by a female lead who has developed a large business. She is also a voluntary leader and special adviser with ACORNS, which promotes female entrepreneurship and job creation in rural Ireland.

“I think many women find it easier to ask other women for help than men do to ask other men for help,” she says. “I also find women very willing to share and that’s hugely instrumental in professional and personal development because the synergy of shared knowledge is so strong.”

 

Going global from Gorey

Vanessa Tierney leveraged 15 years of experience in recruitment for tech companies when she founded the smart-working matching platform Abodoo. It connects companies with remote working professionals globally through an intuitive technology system that also reduces unconscious bias in the hiring process.

Based in the Wexford LEO-supported Hatch Lab in Gorey, Abodoo received a priming grant in October 2017 but moved quickly into Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Start-up Unit. The company already counts Shopify, Vodafone, and Apple as clients.

Vanessa says: “Abodoo is like a dating website for remote workers. Our system will feed companies and recruitment agencies with great matches but it’s all automated – there’s no human element to Abodoo.

“We’re matching on skills. You don’t know whether the person is male or a female and you don’t know how old they are – just if they have the right soft skills, hard skills, experience, salary expectations, and connectivity. Only after you invite the match into the recruitment process do employers find out if they’re a man or a woman, if they’re 50 or 25.”

Between angel investment and Enterprise Ireland and LEO support, Abodoo has raised more than €800,000 in funding and is currently conducting a first round of venture capital funding to raise between $6 million and $10 million before launching in the US early next year.

Vanessa says, “We’ve had more than 20,000 people and a hundred companies register on Abodoo and we’ve had hundreds of matches. The majority have been in Ireland with about 20% in England. However, there are 212 million skilled people unemployed globally for whom the traditional workplace doesn’t fit their needs. The VC funding is going to allow us to reach those people, get our matchings to a really superior level, and really grow internationally.”

Eliminating bias is a key element of Abodoo’s mission and Vanessa is conscious that there is still some way to go to level the playing field for female entrepreneurs.

“There’s been such an upward trend in support by Enterprise Ireland to female entrepreneurs but if you look at the space that I’m in – tech – representation remains low. I’m not meeting many women, and just 3% of venture capital money globally goes to female entrepreneurs.”

Enterprise Ireland is working with the LEOs to develop a new strategy for female entrepreneurship, which will address some of these issues. Sheelagh Daly, Entrepreneurship Manager (Regions) for Enterprise Ireland, believes that the strong links between the two organisations and an understanding of the vital role both play will be key to doing so successfully.

“There are still areas which pose more challenges for women who are setting up businesses,” says Daly, who is a former chair of the Network of Local Enterprise Offices and was the driving force behind the inaugural National Women’s Enterprise Day in 2007. “The new strategy will be focusing on confidence building, capability building, networking, and access to finance.”

For Vanessa, it is vital that women continue to support, learn, and drive each other forward.

“Women thrive when we can connect with another woman who’s been there done it,” she says. “I proactively reached out to successful Irish women who have gone global, and they have been phenomenally supportive and that is what has given me the confidence to go for it.”

Languages Connect logo

The importance of multilingualism

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The drive for new markets shines a light on the importance of multilingualism. Julie Sinnamon, CEO Enterprise Ireland outlines why language matters.

Ireland’s small, open economy depends heavily on being able to trade internationally. The global dominance of the English language has worked to our advantage but with Irish companies looking to export into even more diverse markets, the need to acquire more languages has never been more important.

Recognising the cultural value of communicating in the buyer’s local language and developing a workforce with foreign language expertise can improve relationships and increase efficiency when entering new markets.

Learn how Enterprise Ireland can support your business with the Market Discovery Fund

 

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

Setting up shop stateside: How to establish a US business entity

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If you are an Irish company setting up in the United States, taking time to organise operations properly is essential.

Going Global USA: Learn your Legals is a concise and yet comprehensive guide to the most important elements you should consider, covering how to manage taxation, visas and immigration, and trade and customs. In this deep dive, learn how best to approach establishing a US business entity.

How to establish a US business entity

Setting up in the US without adequate research and planning exposes your company to the risks of litigation and state and federal taxation penalties.

To qualify to do business in the United States, you must, at the very least, have a registered branch office in the country. Choosing the branch office option can, however, make the parent company in Ireland a more visible target for lawsuits and legal claims, and liable for US federal, state, and local income taxes.

Form a distinct US legal entity

It is more prudent, and in the long run more cost-effective, to form a distinct US legal entity, be it either a US business corporation, known as a C-Corp, or a US limited liability company (LLC).

A C-Corp is similar in structure to an Irish limited company and is usually a better option than an LLC for overseas businesses. While there are tax advantages to forming an LLC, they apply to individual shareholders rather than shareholding parent companies. As C-Corp shareholders are perceived to be more ‘separate’ from the everyday activities of the company, C-Corp owners tend to be less exposed to litigation, and to have more limited liability.

Remember, however, that C-Corp profits can be taxed twice, under the US ‘double taxation’ system.  Firstly, at federal and at state level, a C-Corp is assessed for corporate income tax on profits. Then, if the company chooses to distribute earnings, shareholders will pay capital gains tax on dividend income.

On the plus side, C-Corps are familiar entities to both customers and institutional investors, are scalable, and can be made public. And as most early stage companies reinvest profits to fund growth, when dividends are not issued, double taxation is not a major concern.

US location, location, location

Wherever you plan to do business in the United States, it is probably best to set up in the State of Delaware, where legislature deservedly enjoys a reputation for having America’s most business-friendly laws.

Delaware is one of only five US states with a separate non-jury Court of Chancery, with judges focused solely on business law. The Chancery Court is also unlikely to interfere in arrangements where signed corporate agreements are already in place.

Unlike in other states, shareholders and directors of Delaware-registered corporations do not have to be Delaware residents. In addition, Delaware corporate law applies to Delaware corporations no matter where they actually operate, or where their physical headquarters are located.

Delaware also offers favourable taxation laws. The state does not tax royalty payments and non-residents are not liable for personal income tax, including capital gains tax on dividend income.

While it may cost less to register a business in other states, potential short-term savings should be off-set against the long-term legal certainties that the Delaware legislature provides.

As easy as ABC Delaware: How to form a C-Corp or LLC

There are four steps to forming a C-Corp or an LLC in Delaware.

  • Firstly, check online that your preferred choice is available and decide on a business name for your corporation or LLC.
  • Secondly, appoint a registered agent to receive service of process and other correspondence on behalf of your company. If you have a Delaware address (which must be more than a PO box number), you can do it yourself. Otherwise, you can appoint an attorney or an accountant as a registered agent, or you can use a registered agent service company, which will charge you as little as $50 for their services.
  • Thirdly, file a Delaware Certificate of Corporation that includes the name of the corporation, the name and address of its registered agent, the purpose of the corporation, and the total number of shares that the corporation is authorised to issue. The fee for filing this documentation is $89 (at time of writing), if all your information is contained on one page. Otherwise, an extra $9 is charged for each additional page.
  • Lastly, you must remain ‘in good standing’, which requires you to file an annual report and pay a franchise tax. That part is crucial. If a Delaware corporation loses its good standing, it loses its limited liability shield, and the corporation’s creditors can make claims on shareholders’ personal assets.

Franchise tax is not based on income. It is based on overall share value and is assessed using two methods: the authorised share capital method and assumed par value capital method.

It is important to take professional advice to avoid paying more franchise tax than is necessary. If you authorise a large number of shares but only issue a small portion of them, or if the shares have no par value, you could end up with a franchise tax bill for tens of thousands of dollars. A corporation with 5,000 or fewer authorised shares, will pay at least the minimum franchise tax fee of $175 annually.

Foreign qualifications

If your US company is conducting business in any state other than the state in which it is incorporated (for example, outside Delaware), it will most likely also need to register in each additional state, in a process known as ‘foreign qualification’.

As the rules for foreign qualification vary from state to state, consult with a business lawyer or, at the very least, conduct some research on the state’s Department of State website. Foreign qualification involves additional paperwork and expense. A Delaware corporation applying to do business in New York will spend at least $334 to obtain all required certification.

Note that, whether you file a foreign qualification or not, a company deemed to be doing business in a particular state will be subject to state income taxes in that state. However, there are states, such as Texas, where generous tax-free allowances mean that most small businesses pay little or no state income tax.

Talk to your Enterprise Ireland advisor to get advice on setting up your company’s presence in the United States or read more in Going Global USA: Learn your Legals

Retail tech USA

Irish companies shop innovative tech solutions to US retail sector

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Eva Murphy Ryan, market executive for education and technology based in Enterprise Ireland’s New York office, explains how Irish companies are poised to disrupt the fast-moving US retail tech sector.

From the rise of data analysis and personalisation to voice recognition applications, new technologies are continually changing the retail landscape. With brands and retailers feeling an increasing pressure to stay ahead of the competition, the retail technology sector in the US represents a significant and growing opportunity for Irish exporters. The scale of that opportunity is huge, with the US retail industry already estimated to be worth $2.6 trillion. (Source: National Retail Federation)

While the US has long been a hub for digital technology, innovation is now poised to transform the ways in which consumers shop. This month, US retailer Nordstrom acquired two retail tech companies, integrating new tools to further improve customer experience. These acquisitions enable Nordstrom sales associates to communicate with customers outside of the store, offering style advice and personalised product recommendations, while strengthening Nordstrom’s ability to send consumers customised mobile messages.

With US giants such as Nordstrom and Amazon viewing tech integration as the future of retail, we have begun to see Irish companies target growing opportunities in the US. Hannah Webb, Head of Retail Technology for Enterprise Ireland in the USA, comments “Retail technology companies in Ireland understand the challenges that US retailers face. They provide highly advanced platforms and innovative solutions that address issues, such as how to track online to instore purchases, how to manage data analysis, and deliver enhanced customer experiences.” 

Three such companies supported by Enterprise Ireland are VisitorM, Pointy and Voysis.  

Limerick start-up VisitorM bridges the gap between physical and digital customer experiences. Touchscreen stations allow customers to provide feedback on their in-store shopping experience at the point-of-sale. VisitorM’s technology is soon to be used by shoppers in the US under a new deal with established clothing retailer Old Navy.

A second innovative Irish start-up, Pointy, makes it easy for local shops to display their full product range online, enabling them to be found by local consumers on search engines like Google. The solution helps retailers to reach a much wider audience and drive in-store visits. In the US, more than 2,000 retailers across 50 states currently use Pointy, with the company on track for adoption by 1% of all US retailers by the end of 2018.

Irish start-up Voysis helps retailers to respond to Alexa and Amazon’s position in the market. The brand-specific platform that Voysis provides adds voice capabilities to websites and mobile apps, delivering a more conversational experience to consumers, that moves beyond the use of smart speakers. Voysis aimed to replicate the experience of speaking to an in-store associate, allowing their solution to be just as helpful and knowledgeable about the context of what the consumer seeks while shopping. With the prediction that, by 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice searches, solutions like Voysis are shaping the consumer experience now and informing the future of retail. (Source: comScore)

Showcasing Irish innovation and building strong networks with keys buyers are important steps to growing business in the US retail tech sector. With support from Enterprise Ireland, these companies and others from Ireland’s retail tech cluster have the opportunity to present their solutions at major US trade shows, such as NRF Big Show, which attracts 40,000 attendees, and Shoptalk, attracting 8,500 attendees. David Andreasson, Director of Finance and Operations at Voysis, comments, “At Shoptalk, one of the largest retail conferences in the world, brands immediately saw the value of what we provide and the experiences that are brought to life through the Voysis platform.”

With retail evolving rapidly, brands and sellers, from the established to the emerging, will continue to source innovation and technology that will help them compete into the future. As Irish technology companies continue to target the US retail market, they will succeed by promoting strong and highly differentiated value propositions.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

Bright Horizons for Irish Innovators

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Sean Burke of Enterprise Ireland describes the factors that enabled Ireland to achieve one of the highest success rates for the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument in Europe.

There are areas of innovation we excel at in Ireland and results that prove it. At 13%, Ireland has one of the highest success rates for the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument in Europe, compared to the EU average of 6%.

Horizon 2020 is the EU’s €80 billion programme to support research and innovation, which launched in 2014. A 7-year programme, it is due to end in December 2020. Ireland’s overall success rate exceeds the EU average, with €475 million in funding secured to date for more than 1,100 successful applications by 536 higher education researchers and 430 Irish companies.

The SME Instrument funds the programme’s most commercial applications and is designed to support innovative companies to realise global ambitions and turn strong business ideas into market leaders. Its commercial focus helps companies to convert findings from cutting-edge research into a productised offering for international markets. Delivering grant funding in the range of €1-€2.5 million to support 70% of project costs, no repayment or equity dilution is required. Those conditions make the SME Instrument very attractive to companies with ambitions to internationalise.

The programme is highly competitive. Only 6% of the 31,000 European companies that applied were successful. Projects that succeed are truly innovative, with the potential to disrupt the marketplace. Approval has become a mark of pedigree on an international scale. A successful application can be transformative, elevating a company into the position of market leader. Successful companies span sectors, with big winners in areas including biotech, energy, agriculture, food sustainability, health and environment.

Eight Irish companies were among 210 European SMEs that achieved Phase 2 funding of Horizon 2020’s SME Instrument in 2017. Securing €15.45 million between them from a budget of €297 million, they include companies like AltraTech, Axonista, Soapbox Labs, and SwiftComply.

Axonista received €1.7m in funding in 2017 to develop its interactive video technology product, Ediflo, which enables customers to bring multi-platform interactive story-telling experiences to market faster. COO Dee Coakley explains, “Our product originally served large enterprises through direct sales made by the founders. Horizon 2020 allowed us to hire product development specialists and build a team focused on simplifying the enterprise product for a broader market. New verticals include media companies and brands that want to deliver interactive experiences, using existing video content to better engage audiences.”

The Instrument’s application process thoroughly assesses each company’s proposed innovation-led solution and its potential to achieve market penetration. Project support covers every stage of the business acceleration lifecycle, from business definition to planning and execution leading to full commercialisation.

Axonista’s Horizon 2020 proposal was strengthened by Research & Development work they had recently undertaken. Dee explains, “The R&D grant we received from Enterprise Ireland really helped. The application for Phase 2 funding asks if you have undertaken feasibility research. Being able to describe what you learned from an R&D project and how it helped to identify an opportunity or develop a solution delivers a robust proposal.”

Enterprise Ireland leads the Irish Horizon 2020 National Support Network, the expertise of which acts as a resource for new and seasoned applicants. Enterprise Ireland’s team helps companies to determine the best Horizon 2020 programme to meet their needs, prepare for their initial engagement, and provides feedback to improve the draft proposal. The objective is to build on Ireland’s strong track record and provide hands-on assistance to Irish researchers and companies that participate in the programme.

All innovative Irish companies with an eye on international expansion should apply. An award of up to €2.5 million and the mark of pedigree that Horizon 2020 brings changes a company’s prospects. As Dee concludes, “From an investor’s perspective, securing Horizon 2020 is a validation of the business and your ambitions. Investors know that an investment of nearly €2 million has been made to push your offering past the competition. That validation gives you a lot of leverage.”

Enterprise Ireland’s Sean Burke works with Jill Leonard to support the SME Instrument and Fast Track to Innovation actions in the new European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot in Horizon 2020.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.