Want to do business in Canada? Learn how on the 26th Jan. Focus on Financial Services

Posted by Marguerite Bourke on 19 January, 2012 in Canada | Finance | Finance Sector - (Be the first to comment)

Despite a tough economic climate the Canadian financial services market has weathered the storm better than most, and ranks amongst the most stable and highly regulated countries in the world.  Canada’s financial services industry is world-class and globally oriented, with over $60 billion in acquisitions outside Canada since 2000. Canadian financial institutions continue to invest in new technologies and software.

Being based in EI’s Toronto Office , I’m delighted that we’ll be able to showcase some of these opportunities in Dublin at the ‘Doing Business with Canadian Financial Services‘ event in EI Eastpoint on the 26th January at 11am (more details below, signup link here, places are limited). The seminar is aimed at  for Irish companies who are interested in doing business with the Canadian financial services sector and will offer you strategic advice on tendering, partnering and advice on selling into the various institutions.

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The event will be moderated by Chuck Wilson, a Senior Financial Services Executive based in Toronto. Bank of Montreal (BMO), one of the top tier Canadian banks will also be represented on the panel. The session will be an interactive discussion on the Canadian financial services landscape, challenges facing the banks and institutions in Canada and address potential opportunities for technology companies in 2012 onwards.

People that you can learn from at the session;

  •  Chuck Wilson, Senior Financial Services Executive With almost thirty years of senior level financial services experience, Chuck brings extensive knowledge in the banking and insurance sectors. With a background as an executive at RBC Royal Bank; Country Manager for a retail banking consultancy and technology provider; Independent Consultant; Insurance company CEO; and most recently as a senior executive with Aon Corporation; his perspectives will help participants understand the unique nuances of the Canadian financial services landscape.
  • Philip McAuliffe, Technology Head, Institutional Equity Products and Financial Products, Bank of Montreal Philip heads up a Technology unit at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto, with responsibility for Equity and Financial Products. Prior to joining BMO in 2010 Philip worked with Davy Stockbrokers for 11 years. From 1992 – 1999 he worked for Bank of Ireland in their Technology division

If you’re interested in learning more, click on this link to register, or contact Amy.doyle@enterprise-ireland.com Date: Thursday, 26 January 2012 Time: 11am – 1.30pm

  • Location: Enterprise Ireland, The Plaza, Eastpoint Business Park Enterprise Ireland,
  • 10.30am – Registration / Refreshments
  • 11am – Introduction by Chuck Wilson
  • 11.30pm – 1.00pm – Presentations by panellists and subsequent Q and A
  • 1pm – Lunch .
  • Participation Fee: The participation fee for the workshop is €100 per company.

Succession Planning – Events Shannon and Dublin 24/25th November

Posted by Tom Early on 22 November, 2011 in Event | Finance - (Be the first to comment)

It’s always good to get something of value for (almost) nothing, which is why the next free workshop/networking session in Enterprise Ireland’s Finance 4 Growth series is something we’d all need to be mindful of. Taking place on two separate half-days (November 24th/25th) in two different locations (Dublin and Shannon), the participants will, ideally, be Finance Directors/CFOs/CEOs of established SMEs. HPSUs that have been generating sales revenue for at least twelve months are also invited to attend.

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The topic is Succession Planning, which focuses on how to approach a business succession event by formulating a well structured plan that incorporates a comprehensive financial model of your current position, income requirements and business worth, thereby ensuring the long term future of your organisation. The event’s primary speaker is Niall Glynn, a partner in the Private Business tax division, a specialist in wealth management and asset protection, capital taxes, domestic corporate reorganisations and shareholder issues, and the author of ‘Planning for Family Business Succession’. Within the sessions is a CFO Forum, which provides everyone an opportunity to discuss any current issues facing their company. If there is a particular topic that you would like discussed at the sessions please inform us when completing the registration form.

The session in Shannon takes place on Thursday November 24th in the Atlantic Suite, Westpark Business Park; the session in Dublin takes place on Friday November 25th in Conference Rooms 1& 2, Eastpoint Business Park, Clontarf.  Click here to register your attendance at either event . Both days commencesat 8am. The workshops start at 8.30am and conclude at 12.45pm. Be advised that places for each session are limited, and are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

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Ireland@Oracle OpenWorld – EI Clients and why they came to San Francisco

Posted by Paul Browne on 3 October, 2011 in Cloud Computing | Event | Finance | Oracle | US - (Be the first to comment)

12 Irish Companies are Exhibiting on the Enterprise Ireland Stand@ Oracle OpenWorld 2011 in San Francisco. Watch the video to see why LookupPoint, CampusIT, Qumas,  Structure 101,  Vordel,  Ocuco,  iQuate, Mapflow,  Rockall, FeedHenry, Openet and WhiteHouse are investing their time in coming to the event.

Other Oracle BestConnected Stories are here; We expect to have several major announcements from EI client companies during this week.

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Australia: Economic Port in a Global Storm

Posted by Barry Murphy on 8 August, 2011 in Australia | Finance | Finance Sector | Telecom - (Be the first to comment)

As the world heads into another period of uncertainty, Australia’s economic fundamentals remain healthy, if not immune to the winds of change affecting the Northern Hemisphere. Low Government debt, unemployment at around 5%, legislative initiatives that continues to drive a signficantly healthy spend on IT – all this means that in the words of one local commentator “If you choose where to be in the developed world, it is here”.

Enterprise Ireland’s Software mission in September may be an opportunity for you to avail of EI’s extensive network across the ICT sector and develop a new business strategy to support growth of your business Down Under.

Full Schedule of the Software and Services event (Link)

Why Australia?

  • Australia has proven to be one of the economies most resilient to the worldwide economic downturn. GDP growth from June 2009 to June 2010 was measured at 3.3% according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The strong growth in recent years is underpinned by strong commodity exports and a very healthy financial services sector. (more…)

Post Budget 2011, Is your business ready for Irelands new commercial era?

Posted by Eoghan O'Mahony on 11 July, 2011 in Finance | Investment | Investor | Ireland - (Be the first to comment)

This is a guest post by Brendan Binchy of ROCG, who spoke on corporate structure and strategy at two recent EI events. Here , Brendan talks about the impact of the recent Irish budget will have on the structure of your business.

The last budget heralded in a new business environment that will evolve and crystallise over the next few years.  Like most significant change events many will only become aware of the changes when their own enterprise is impacted (or even compromised!) in some way by what has become a new or different business norm.

In my view a real  point of strategic inflection occurred when the gap between personal taxes and corporate taxes widened, in that budget, to such a significant extent that when married to the more punitive restrictions imposed on corporate cash extraction through pension funding, it has heralded in an era where the incorporated entity has become ‘king’. Putting the low corporate taxation rate to one side, the Ireland of the past was dominated by tax breaks and reliefs which were largely focused on benefitting the individual rather than the incorporated entities right across the continuum that ranged from pensions to property reliefs.

In a period when credit was freely available this often meant that many investments and arrangement were made personally by individuals but were interwoven in some way with the incorporated business. Just fine when the economy and business is booming but not so good when both constrict – many a corporate nest is now looking for some of the golden eggs to be returned to the laying hen only to find they are too tarnished to be of any use!

So how will the new era of Corporate emphasis manifest ?  Well watch out for some of the following indicators:

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Need Money?

Posted by John Magill on 15 June, 2011 in Finance - (Be the first to comment)

At some point in their life entrepreneurs need money.  Many would say at all points in their life.   And when they need it they could use lots of it.   They talk about what they could achieve if they had millions at their disposal.   This inevitably leads to them to consider Venture Capitalists.   We all know the stories about entrepreneurs who raise €5m and sell their company a few short years later for a €100m.  What it is about these select few entrepreneurs that makes them successful in raising venture capital?

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Product Innovation and Project Appraisal Workshop (Finance for Growth Series)

Posted by Tom Early on 13 May, 2011 in Dublin | Event | Finance | Links | Shannon - (Be the first to comment)

As part of its Finance for Growth Workshop series, Enterprise Ireland will host free half day workshops in two locations (Shannon and Dublin) on Wednesday May 18th and Thursday May 19th. Target participants are, ideally, the Finance Director/CFO of established SMEs, or where there is no internal finance function, then the CEO. HPSUs, which have been generating sales revenue for at least one year, are also welcome.

The event in Shannon will take place at Westpark, Shannon, while the Dublin event takes place in Eastpoint Business Park, Clontarf. Registration on both days starts at 8am, the workshops will commence at 8.30am, and the event will conclude at 12.45pm.


The main speaker at both events will be Dr. Frank Devitt, Head of the Department of Design and Innovation at NUI Maynooth’s School of Business. He will speak about how to critically assess new product innovation projects, and how to evaluate and prioritise multiple projects in a company’s product innovation portfolio. The emphasis of his presentation will be on identifying and managing acceptable risk for a new product development in a medium sized business.

Other speakers will include (at Shannon) Colm Leen, from Carbery Ltd, who will share his experience on Product Innovation from a financial perspective, and (at Dublin) Damien  Flanagan, Manager at KPMG, who will discuss R&D Tax Credits and the implications for cashflow. EI speaker at both events will be Rowena Elliott, who will highlight various EI supports available to support innovation in client companies.

To register your attendance at this event, which has limited places, click here. Please point out what date/location you will be attending.

DCU Ryan Academy Propeller Accelerator Joins TechStars Network

Posted by Alan Hobbs on 22 February, 2011 in entrepreneur | Finance | Investment | Links | startup | VC - (Be the first to comment)

This is a guest post from Gordon McConnell, Deputy CEO and Director of the Propeller Accelerator’ at DCU.

In what is seen to be one of the most important developments in Dublin’s status as a major game player in the area of web and technology start-ups, the DCU Ryan Academy Propeller Accelerator (a mentor-led seed accelerator that funds very early stage tech companies in areas such as software, hardware, cleantech and internet) has joined TechStars Network (a recently launched White House-sponsored alliance of independently owned and operated start-up accelerator programs from dozens of cities across the US and around the world).

As a member of TechStars Network, the Propeller Accelerator will have access to an abundant range of strategic resources, including professional development and ongoing support that will effectively lead and mentor innovative entrepreneurs in Ireland. The Ryan Academy Propeller Accelerator was only one of three accelerators in Europe, and one of five in the world, chosen to be charter members of TechStars. Based upon the mentorship-driven model pioneered by TechStars, all these programmes provide seed funding and mentorship to innovative entrepreneurs.

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Funds & Alternative Investment Sector – could you be the person to drive export growth?

Posted by Sinead Buckley on 18 February, 2011 in Finance | Ireland | Jobs | Links - (1 Comments)

Enterprise Ireland are looking for a Senior Development Adviser for the Funds & Alternative Investment Sector, based in Dublin. Could you play a key part in developing Irish firms in the international financial services industry?

EI Logo

The Senior Development Adviser will work on the development of clients in the Investment Funds Sector, identifying and growing new clients and developing specific initiatives to drive sector growth.

The person appointed will, as key requirements for this role.

  • Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of, and experience in, the International Funds/Investment Management sectors
  • Show the personal attributes required to support and guide entrepreneurial led companies.
  • Be part of strong domestic and international networks.
  • Have knowledge of the regulatory requirements for this sector,
  • Hold a relevant professional qualification.

Visit EI’s official jobs site at www.enterprise-ireland.com/careers for the full job description and to find out more about the details of the application and selection process. Closing date for applications is 25th February 2011. Queries and questions should be directed to, myself,  Sinead Buckley on +353 1 7272028 or emailed to hrconnect@enterprise-ireland.com.

Enterprise Ireland is an equal opportunities employer.

The future of Payments – Dublin Web Summit Founders event

Posted by Paul Browne on 29 October, 2010 in DWS | Finance | Links - (Be the first to comment)

Mark Roden, ezetop
Errol Damelin, Wonga
Xavier Thiran, Ogone Payment Services

  • Most people assume you need banks. But do you? Can you get by with Mobile payment systems (e.g. ezetop using mobile phone airtime as a currency)
  • Regulation often a barrier to innovation; Incumbents and Banks often co-opt regulation and use as a barrier. However, there must be standards to create the market in the first place.
  • Response by regulators to financial crisis has been to encourage consolidation, rather than promote (sustainable) innovation. In decades long cycle of financial institutions rebuilding themselves.
  • Is the credit card dead? No, there will be multiple financial instruments, each addressing certain needs. Problem is more do they meet the needs of certain groups of customers? Mozt payments initiatives fail because they take more time and are not as easy to use.
  • Incredible possibilities e.g. the growth of Facebook in the last 2 years. Facebook now creating it’s own money.
  • Fascinated by rate of adoption of airtime (and other convertible virtual currencies) as a form of money.

More posts from the Dublin Web Summit here.

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