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NEW START-UPS: SEPTEMBER

Irish Entrepreneur gives the lowdown on some innovative start ups! See our fundamentals of entrepreneurship section on developing leadership skills

TAKING THE WEIGHT OFF YOUR FEET

Aoife O’Driscoll

Business Graduate launches new global product taking leg and foot care to a new level

Aoife O’Driscoll, a 22 year old DCU Business and Enterprise graduate will soon be launching ElevEase, a product that many industry observers believe to be a highly innovative product with global appeal.

ElevEase is a shower foot rest, which easily fits into the corner of any shower unit at knee height and eliminates the need for awkward bending and stretching while carrying out functions such as leg-shaving, leg and foot washing, exfoliating and applying tanning lotion. ElevEase also has a built in space to fit most razor sizes. This simple but highly innovative product is held in place with strong adhesive so there is no need to get the drills out!

O’Driscoll came up with the concept while in her second year in college and discussed her plans while interviewing Dave Brennan, a successful entrepreneur as part of a college assignment. Brennan instantly recognized that the idea had huge potential and since then, design engineer Andrew Middleton has come on board. The trio have been busy developing the product over the past two years.

Although ElevEase is being launched in October 2007, the product has already received a lot of interest from retail chains, hotels and fitness centers. "The interest in ElevEase has been phenomenal and we have substantially increased the unit quantity of our initial order,” O’Driscoll says.

The website www.elevease.com has been launched and the product will be available to buy in shops at an estimated price of €25, a small price to pay for an easier life!

A CUT ABOVE THE COMPETITION

Charley Stoney, Managing Director, Field Management Ireland, launches Style Media

Style Media Highlights a Unique advertising opportunity

Ireland’s hairdressers and barbershops have become the latest medium for the advertising industry. Field Management Ireland Ltd. (FMI) has just launched Style Media an innovative way of cashing in on a captive audience of men and women as they have their wash, cut and blow-dry. While sitting in the salon, the surrounding mirror areas are literally all that the customer can focus on during their styling experience and it is this that Style Media has capitalised on.

PRODUCT RECALL

The average time that the salon client spends in front of these advertising sites is a lengthy 54 minutes which FMI say ensures a product recall of 75%. Glanbia and Gilbeys have already signed up to this latest mode of advertising, as well as 200 outlets with eight poster sites each. The Style Media sites can be found in the well lit area around hair stylist’s mirrors and will feature attractively framed A4 poster sites.

REFLECTION RECOLLECTION

There are so many options when choosing an advertising medium nowadays, that its effect on the consumer is becoming more diluted. “Up to four brands may advertise at any one time with the opportunity to reach over 100,000 adults during a two week campaign cycle. Advertising costs range from €12,000 to €20,000, dependent on the number of sites,” according to Style Media.

BROWSING FOR A BARGAIN

Going Once, Going Twice… Sold to the Lowest Bidder

Ulf Oberdieck, Managing Director,
Bidtobargain.ie

This newly launched website is an innovative reverse bidding site where, for a change, the lowest bidder wins out. The user-friendly site asks members of the public to post their request so that contractors, suppliers, businesses and owners can then place the best quote for the job or item. This instigates the auctioning process as other suppliers are invited to offer lower quotes for the same service.

Lots of Bargains

The aim is to achieve the best price possible with the best contractor in their category. In the interest of the client, the qualifications of the contractor are vetted; they have to register their details with the website before offering their services to the customer.

There are a range of services on offer, from all kinds of home improvements, catering, transport and even beauty treatments and there are lots of bargains on offer. Ulf Oberdieck, Managing Director of Bidtobargain.ie says, “after seeing the success of many similar reverse auction sites in my native Germany, Australia, New Zealand and the US, I saw that there was a niche for this kind of service in Ireland.”

Money savings

Bidtobargain can save you thousands and Oberdieck has seen quotes for jobs like window installation begin at €20,000 and end at €12,000 on similar German sites, saving the customer €8,000. As he explains, “the object of this website is to save customers money and get them to place a request for a bargain!”

Published in the September 2007 Issue of Irish Entrepreneur

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Ireland's Top Distributed Magazine
ABC Audited Circulation - 14,276 January to June 2005
Estimated Readership - Over 90,000 business owners & decision makers