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“Go out, connect with people and share” said Evert Bopp the guest speaker at the Link! Network meeting.
The April Link! Network meeting began with round-table introductions which were facilitated in each group by an experienced LINK! member. The facilitators then introduced their table to the rest of the audience and business leads and needs were shared, swopped and solved as appropriate.
The LINK! network has introduced a Recession Buster initiative to help and support its members in these challenging times. Participating members are offering products and services to their network colleagues at a discount, or indeed in some cases, free-of-charge. These discounts and offers, which were offered verbally during the round-table introductions at this event, will be included in a special members’ directory which will be circulated in the coming week.
Resource Table: Reserved by Econatural.ie
Ann Kelsey, Managing Director of Econatural.ie, took the resource table at this network meeting. Ann began by telling the attendees about her business, her products (in particular her Eczema Clothing) and a bit about how her business came about. The network members were then invited to visit Anne’s exhibition table to examine her goods for themselves.
Econatural.ie is simply a one-stop eco shop on-line! It sells everything you could possibly need to live a more environmentally-friendly and natural lifestyle. It’s product range includes Eco Cleaning and Laundry products, Natural Skincare and other Personal Care products, Eco Nappies and Organic Baby Food, Fairtrade and Organic Chocolates, Teas and Coffees, and a range of Eczema Clothing for both children and adults with eczema that brings welcome, natural relief from night-time itching.
Econatural.ie delivers directly to your door within 24-48 hours of you placing your order. They also offer free delivery throughout Ireland for all orders over €100.
Orders can be placed either on-line via their website – www.econatural.ie – or by telephone at 01 4927774.
Topic: Early Stage Ventures; Support Structures and How to Exploit Them
Guest Speaker ,Evert Bopp began his talk by discussing the tangible support structures available to early-stage businesses in Ireland. He outlined the services and advice available both from Enterprise Ireland www.enterprise-ireland.com and from local city and county enterprise boards www.enterpriseboards.ie. He also explored the assistance and encouragement provided by business incubators, many of which are state-run or owned by institutes of technology.
Among his many business interests, Evert is himself currently occupied with the establishment of an innovative private-sector solution in Limerick. The Greenhouse Incubator www.greenhouse.com will offer top of the range office facilities, IT services & support, meeting rooms, canteen facilities, web hosting & development services, 24-hour access, postage & courier pick-up and delivery, central reception services and more. Evert anticipates that increasing numbers of such private-sector solutions to the growing demands of start-up entrepreneurs will develop throughout the country’s major cities.
Having outlined the range of ‘concrete’ supports available to start-up companies, Evert proceeded to evaluate the range of ‘virtual’ support that is also available to entrepreneurs by means of social media.
“Go out, connect with people and share” he strongly advised when questioned on the merits of face-to-face and online business networking. The ensuing discussion led to some lively, insightful and humorous debate on the virtues of LinkedIn vs. Twitter vs. Facebook.
Evert pointed out that the newcomer entrepreneur is often faced by the challenges presented by (a) initial social isolation; (b) lack of a business network; (c) money. He explained that whereas social networking (via aforementioned LinkedIn etc.) is unlikely to solve any financial problems, it will certainly help you to overcome the first two.
The participants were told how useful a LinkedIn profile is when you are starting up in business and were shown how using LinkedIn and Twitter in conjunction with each-other can help you to connect to all sorts of people to whom you would not otherwise have access. Another useful platform which Evert mentioned was IGOpeople www.igopeople.com This is an Irish on-line network for individuals, groups and organisations.
A show of hands in the room indicated that around one third of LINK! members present already had a Twitter profile although several people expressed doubts about how that platform might be leveraged to support their businesses. This prompted the more experienced users in the audience to offer some canny examples of how they were already developing their businesses either directly from Twitter itself or through new contacts that they had made through that medium.
Evert warned us that the old economic structure was gone and the only way forward is to find new and innovative ways of doing business. He left the captivated network members with many new ideas on how they can build the support structures for their own businesses to get them through these recessionary times.
Miriam Ahern, the LINK! Network manager, reminded everyone that a private LinkedIn Group is available to the network members. She also offered to compile a list of members’ Twitter ID’s and circulate it so that those who have not already done so can connect with each-other.
LINK! network-member Fred Caballero captured Evert on video. You can view an extract here of this interview here: www.dceb.ie/online-videos/link!-network
The next LINK! network meeting will take place on Tuesday 26th May.
Join the Link! Network today for only €80 for the remainder of 2009.