5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
Listen and learn: Enterprise Ireland hits the road for Irish start-ups in ‘Founders Listening Tour'
Their experience, resilience, and ambition form the backbone of Ireland's innovation economy.
That's why Enterprise Ireland is currently hosting a Founders Listening Tour – a nationwide initiative designed to connect directly with entrepreneurs in every region. The goal is simple; to listen, learn, and ensure the right supports are in place to help Irish start-ups thrive globally.
Enterprise Ireland's purpose is to 'Accelerate Sustainable Irish Business', and its ambition is to support Irish-owned exporting companies to make an even greater contribution to the Irish economy through international growth and by creating thousands of jobs in towns and communities around the country.
Enterprise Ireland's recently published new strategy, 'Delivering for Ireland, Leading Globally (2025-2029)', sets out our four strategic objectives for the Irish enterprise base; Start, Compete, Scale and Connect.
Over the course of this five-year strategy, Enterprise Ireland will continue to enhance the pipeline of innovative and scalable start-ups and support their long-term, sustainable growth ambitions, with a goal of helping 1,000 new start-ups between now and 2029.
Irish-owned companies supported by Enterprise Ireland are economic cornerstones in communities around the country, these businesses currently employ 234,454 people, and almost two-thirds of these roles are located outside of Dublin.
The Founders Listening Tour takes in a number of locations around the country, and at these events we're hosting panel discussions and roundtable consultations with a cross-section of founders from companies of all sizes in multiple sectors. These conversations aim to identify challenges, evaluate existing supports and shape a stronger start-up ecosystem in this country.
It kicked off in TU Dublin in early May, where companies from the capital got together to share thoughts on the entrepreneurship journey. Those presenting at the event included JustTip, a fully automated contactless tipping and gratuities system, and which has developed an artificial intelligence solution for market research companies.
Since then, we've organised two more events. The first was held at Galway's Portershed, bringing together companies from the local innovation cluster. The panel featured local founders Emma Meehan of KinetikIQ (formerly Precision Sports Technology), which leverages AI to enhance training accuracy and reduce injury risk, and Brandon Blacoe of ByoWave, a company dedicated to making gaming more inclusive. Both speakers shared valuable insights and participated in one-on-one consultations.
What we've learned from entrepreneurs so far is that funding and revenue generation continue to be key areas of focus
Our most recent event took place at GreenTech HQ in Wexford, attracting participants from across the southeast region. The panel included Max Shannon from and Yvonne Jonson of Brand Builders.
Upcoming events are slated for Axis BIC in Cork, AlphaInnovation in Donegal, and IMR Mullingar in Westmeath, with the series concluding at a stakeholder event in Dublin later this month.
What we've learned from entrepreneurs so far is that funding and revenue generation continue to be key areas of focus for them, and they're always keen to have more ways to connect with investors and international customers.
Along with getting the right contacts, it can also be a challenge for companies to know which support programmes and initiatives are right for them, and where to apply for them. Clarity and accessibility around these types of support is a critical priority for founders.
Once complete, we intend to develop a roadmap of initiatives, focused on addressing the priorities shared by founders
Founders are also keen to access mentorship opportunities with successful entrepreneurs, and to find the right talent and encourage people to join start-ups. Once complete, we intend to develop a roadmap of initiatives, focused on addressing the priorities shared by founders. By harnessing this real-world insight, we can better support our new startup strategy, through our network of 42 offices in Ireland and around the world.
As the EU seeks to harmonise the European market as a great place to scale a business, we're also working with our colleagues in Brussels and elsewhere to ensure our programme of supports ties in with the European Start-Up and Scale-up Strategy.
If you're an existing or aspiring founder with ideas for supports or other feedback to share, drop a line to StartupIreland@ or complete the Founders Listening Tour survey.
Conor O'Donovan is Head of Start-ups and Entrepreneurship at Enterprise Ireland
