Giant butterfly kites take to the skies above Dún Laoghaire encouraging small businesses to ‘Fly Higher’ as details of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Enterprise Week are announced.

Small businesses can “still fly higher, even during an economic storm”. That’s the message from the organisers behind the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (DLR) Enterprise Week, which includes NovaUCD, as they announced the full schedule of events for the week in Dún Laoghaire this morning (February 27th).

At the annoucement of details of the Enterprise Week were Brody Sweeney, O'Briens' Irish Sandwich Bars and Claire Byrne, Newstalk, with UCD Engineering Students, Greg Duggan and Christina Connolly, also memebrs of UCD's Kite Club

Running from Monday, March 23rd to Thursday, March 26th, the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Enterprise Week will host twelve individual events which are all open to the public and are aimed at those who want to set up a business or even grow their business this year.

“Despite the economic storms, there are still business opportunities to be grasped by existing businesses and new businesses, they just have to be prepared,” according to Michael Johnson, CEO with the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board. “The full schedule of events for the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Enterprise Week has literally something for every entrepreneur. Whether you’re thinking of taking the first step of setting up your own business or whether you’re already in business, and looking for ideas, direction or advice, you’ll find an event to help you and your business ‘fly higher’.”

Finn McGuirk, Southside Partnership; Bernadette Dempsey, Bank of Ireland Business Banking; Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD; Claire Byrne, Newstalk; Brody Sweeney, O'Briens Irish Sandwich Bars; Therese Moylan, IADT; Michael Hayden; DLR County Enterprise Board; Michael Sanfey, DLR Chamber and Paddy Beare, DLR County Enterprise Board

The strong line-up for the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Enterprise Week includes the official opening lunch on March 23rd, hosted by the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Chamber, with contributions from John McGuinness TD, Minister for Trade and Commerce, and Brody Sweeney, founder of O’Briens Irish Sandwich Bars. On that afternoon, the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) will host the launch of a new enterprise DVD, whilst the Dún Laoghaire Enterprise Centre will host an Open Day.

The following day, on March 24th, the NovaUCD Open Day, in Belfield, UCD, includes a NovaUCD ‘Entrepreneurs Live!’ seminar by Sean Gallagher, co-founder, Smarthomes and a star of RTE’s 'Dragons’ Den' TV programme.

On Wednesday, March 25th in the Stillorgan Park Hotel, Enterprise Ireland's ‘Environmental Forum’ and the Irish Internet Association's 'Winning e-Business Strategies for Micro-Enterprises' takes place. From 4pm at the same venue, the ‘Business Advice Show’ takes centre stage, featuring the 'Bright Ideas Challenge' with Bank of Ireland Business Banking. Over twenty-five exhibitors from state support agencies will also have information stands at the show.

Meanwhile, the ‘Business Idea Generation Workshop for Job Seekers’, hosted by the Southside Partnership, the 'Student  Enterprise Awards County Final' for secondary schools and the 'Thinking of Starting a Business' seminar, are all scheduled to take place on the final day of DLR Enterprise Week, Thursday March 26th. Full details, including times and venues, are available at www.dlrenterpriseweek.ie.

In all, ten organisations have been working collaboratively since November to jointly host the DLR Enterprise Week, including the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Enterprise Ireland, FÁS, Bank of Ireland Business Banking, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Chamber, IADT, NovaUCD, the Southside Partnership and the Irish Internet Association.

Organisers are expecting 2,000 business people from all over the county to attend this year’s events.

ENDS

27 February 2009

For further information contact Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD, e-mail: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, tel: (01) 716 3712 .

Editors Notes

NovaUCD is University College Dublin’s €11 million Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre.  NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with industry and business. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx.