With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, The Blacknight SME Awards carried out a survey this week of the spouses and partners of SME owners. The results confirm that entrepreneurship can be challenging for couples, while family support is seen as an essential resources for SMEs. “If the people at home don’t believe in the project, they may as well call it […]
Blacknight CEO Michele Neylon and I got together in his office on Friday for our first podcast chat of 2016 – and it’s been a busy year so far. Michele brings us up to date on his recent trips to Las Vegas and Turkey and talked about a recent spate of phishing attacks which are specifically targeting […]
The Cake Café in Dublin is a business built around a story: a message of sustainability and environmental responsibility which underpins everything they do, and gives them lots to talk about on social media, as well as in books, TV and other media. It also helped them to win the Best Environmentally Minded Business Award at The […]
Mr Crumb won the B2B SME Growth Award at The Blacknight SME Awards. It’s a family business which began supplying breadcrumbs and then progressed into stuffing and other value-added products. Growth has been driven by exports and now they employ up to 120 people in their home village of Finea, Co Westmeath. Technology.ie – like the SME Awards […]
There were lots of family businesses at The Blacknight SME Awards, and we were reminded that families are part of communities, which they contribute to and benefit from. The winner of the Community Minded Business category was Fernhill House Hotel in Clonakility. Community involvement is a family affair, explained manager Michael O’Neill. They sponsor more than 50 local organisations and help to […]
“That’s the thing about an SME: you work with people; you don’t work for people”, says Colin Hession of L Mulligan Grocer. First things first: it’s not a grocer; more of a craft beer and gastropub dining experience. And it won the Best Retailer (Offline) Award at the Blacknight SME Awards. Technology.ie – like the SME Awards – […]
Christian Schinkoethe is co-founder and CTO at Rocket Rainbow Studios, a games development company. At The Blacknight SME Awards they took the prize for the Best Under-30s Business. Moments like these make it all worth it, says Christian. Technology.ie – like the SME Awards – is brought to you by Blacknight. Ireland’s premier provider of web hosting and […]
“I’ve run businesses out of school; I’ve never worked for anybody else full-time” explains Adam Ewart, when asked why he loves SMEs. His current venture, SendMyBag.com, is a door-to-door luggage service to help airline travellers avoid check-in, baggage fees and potential penalties. Passed over on UK Dragons’ Den in 2012, the company has since expanded rapidly in international markets and picked up the […]
“I love these awards – they’re fantastic” says Shawna Scott at the Blacknight SME Awards. She has reason to be pleased, having just won the award for Best Online Retailer (Irish Market) for her business SexSiopa.ie. What is her advice to online SMEs? “Learn as much as you can; try to do as much as […]
We had a great time at The SME Awards on Saturday, which Blacknight sponsored. It was a great chance to meet friends old and new and celebrate Irish SMEs. Thanks to Rick O’Shea and to Damien Mulley and his team for putting on a great show! We’ve got lots of video from the event; here’s the first with […]
