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NEW START-UPS: SEPTEMBER

Irish Entrepreneur gives the low down on some innovative start ups!
See our fundamentals of entrepreneurship section on second round funding

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

Annie Corriveau and Simon FitzGerald, Directors, Brio Creative

Creative Story Tellers Offer Inventive Media Solutions

Brio Creative specialises in the art of connecting businesses with their audiences. From a design studio and audio-visual production facility based in Dublin’s Temple Bar, the company’s team of creative professionals engineer tailor-made media solutions for companies, government departments and broadcasters. Their products range from television ads to interactive web experiences. “We are story-tellers, we tell stories about our client’s products, services and achievements in print, on video, and over the internet,” says Creative Director Annie Corriveau.

TAILOR MADE

A sound producer and former marketing specialist for multi-media performance giants Cirque du Soleil, Corriveau founded Brio Creative earlier this year with BBC television producer and journalist Simon FitzGerald. “We enjoy working with businesses that want to stand out from the crowd by daring to be different. We live in a world of over-supply. We know that getting attention for what our clients do is crucial for their success,” says FitzGerald.

EXPERIENCED

With a team that has many years of industry experience across a wide range of disciplines, including marketing, graphic design, editorial and audio-visual production, Brio Creative is able to tailor a range of services to suit the needs of their clients. The company can offer the creative tools necessary to help a business fulfill its marketing strategy or provide a full service including all media planning and buying. “But most importantly, we offer a damn fine cup of tea to anyone who cares to drop by,” concludes Corriveau. Discussing business with a hot tea in your hand is sure to create a stir in the media world. To view Brio Creative’s range of media services visit their website www.brio.ie.

ENJOY THE GOOD LIFE

Colette & Ian Cleary, Founders, Easy Living with the iRobot and Robomow range

Living is easy with household jobs a thing of the past

Making life easier is the plan of action for Easy Living’s founders, Ian and Colette Cleary. Having found that high salaries and a high mortgage did not equal ultimate happiness the Clearys knew that spending more time with family and friends was a priority not often achieved by a lot of people. Household jobs like mowing the grass or hoovering, all too often eat up precious time at home.

FUTURISTIC

Providing products that would eradicate chore time was the inspiration behind the setting up of Easy Living earlier this year. The partnership decided to launch their own business offering a range of niche products. The first of these was the Robomow, a touch of the button garden mower. The aptly named Bigmow range are suitable for chopping several acres of grounds from pitches to golf courses. Grass clippings are mulched, which eliminates the need to collect cuttings. With no need for petrol, therefore no emissions these robotic mowers are all the rage. The iRobot Roomba, a robotic vacuum cleaner is designed to automatically hoover your home, over any surface and even under beds and couches.

BRAND DEVELOPMENT

Customers range from large houses and apartments to B&Bs and offices. Future plans include supply of Easy Living products to retail outlets, and further development of the brand name. All items are available to order via the website www.easyliving.ie The Cleary's stand are at the Ideal Homes exhibition in the RDS from the 25th to the 29th of October.

TRULY IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

An appreciation of nature led one woman to launch her own brand of Totally natural skin care products

Nadur Organics is the first Irish organic beauty and life style brand. After a bad reaction to a supposedly natural product, Carol O’Hanlon decided to research the scientific names in the ingredient list. She found to her surprise that the ingredient components were used for such industrial purposes as softening plastics and stabilising pesticides. While investigating these synthetic ingredients O’Hanlon also found they were associated with serious health risks; irritating the skin, birth defects and being toxic to the liver were some of the side effects. O’Hanlon proceeded to try and source purely organic products for her own use which proved rather difficult as there was no organic skincare available in Ireland. This helped inspire O’Hanlon to set up her own natural line of products.

Nadur Organics qualified for a feasibility study grant and later a web development grant, through the Dublin City Enterprise Board, enabling O’Hanlon the time to further examine the market. Over a year and a half of research, business liaising and product testing later, Nadur Organics was launched in November 2006. By the looks of it Nadur Organics have got every angle covered.

HUB OF OPPORTUNITY

Drumshanbo is home to a World Class food facility

Leitrim is the location for a new state of the art food production facility called The Food Hub. The premises are a state of the art food specific enterprise centre of 14 individual food business units offering world class food production facility, the only one of its kind in Ireland.

The Food Hub units are designed to work independently of each other providing a one stop shop for several producers to occupy the facility simultaneously. On site expertise is available to ensure a smooth transition for start-ups and potential clients including the services of a specialised food technologist.

Funding for the project was achieved through the International Fund for Ireland, Arigna Leader, Clár, Enterprise Ireland, Interreg IIIA, Leitrim County Enterprise Board and the Leitrim County Council Peace II funding.

Published in the October 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