Irish business is to come face to face with Ireland’s new consumers through a special Expo to be held in the RDS on 20th and 21st October. The 2006 census revealed that there are now over 420,000 migrants living and working in Ireland, representing 9.5 percent of the consuming population with valuable spending power in this country. The New Communities Expo is being organised by vaveeva.com, the new multi lingual web site for migrants.
The Expo was organised to assist Ireland’s New Communities further prosper in Ireland.
Those attending will can apply for jobs, get financial and business advice, take part in interesting seminars and enjoy a full cultural and entertainment programme. This Expo will present Irish business with a unique opportunity to meet Ireland’s new consumers face to face over a weekend expo designed to help them better understand this viable target market. The New Communities Expo is being opened by Conor Lenihan TD, Minister for Integration.
Christine Donaghy, Managing Director, Vaveeva.com, comments at the announcement of the Expo, “The diverse range of companies exhibiting at this first New Communities Expo is in itself a testimony to how Irish businesses have broadened their markets by looking to these new consumers. Companies have become highly aware that including these new communities offer a wealth of opportunity to target new customers. Close to 10% of consumers in Ireland are now migrant workers and Irish businesses are taking the opportunity to expand their market – inclusion of these valuable consumers by Irish business can only contribute towards better social inclusion and integration”.
Bank of Ireland has been particularly proactive in meeting the requirements of this new market and in particular they have offered huge support to Polish immigrants looking to start up new businesses through the development of specific products to cater for budding Polish entrepreneurs living in Ireland – and its working for them. Bank of Ireland had been monitoring this market for a long time and their research confirmed the growing trend of Polish nationals establishing their own start up businesses here in Ireland. Damian Young, Head of the Small Business Segment, Bank of Ireland “We’ve done very significant business with the Polish community in Ireland. There were over 10,000 new business starts up listed for the first six months of 2007 and up to 10% of these are by non-nationals with many of these Poles. We’ve been monitoring this market since 2004 – now the Poles have settled, gained experience and are very much ready to do business. Recent research told us that over 17% of Polish respondents expressed their intension to start a business – this is huge considering we have an estimated 150/200,000 now living here. Our business research indicated that Polish nationals will establish a business quicker after the initial decision to set up than their European counterparts – they get down to business.”
Damian continues, “Bank of Ireland has eased the way for Poles by developing support packages which makes business start up a whole lot easier including access to Polish speaking bank staff, special start up packages including 2 years free banking, online access in Polish, availability of an expert panel of accountants and solicitors to advise free of charge and developed practical and supportive business planning guides all in Polish. Our programme has been an overwhelming business success”.
Commenting, Anita Butler, Business Marketing Manager, Vodafone Ireland, said, “Vodafone is committed to delivering solutions that match the needs of our customers. “MyHome Country” launched in July for business customers in response to a growing demand from Ireland’s new communities. The offer delivers great value calls and texts to over 28 countries. Within two months of the launch the number of business customers calling these 28 countries increased by 30%. This demonstrates that the offer has had one of the fastest uptakes of any Vodafone offer ever, and this year we are predicting that number of minutes our customers will generate calling these countries will increase by 65 percent.
“Vodafone considers these new communities as an integral and valuable part of our customer base and since May 2006 we have translated ads and sales materials into a number of languages and have also recently launched phones with Polish, Chinese, Lithuanian and other key language functionality. We have also made an effort to recruit customer service and retail staff with language skills to ensure that customers from the new communities receive not only great value but also great service.”
The New Communities Expo has already attracted huge interest from a diverse range of businesses including the financial, insurance, banking, telecommunications, recruitment, retail and public sectors, which have all proactively embraced these communities by making them part of their plans. Included amongst the exhibitors are Bank of Ireland, O2 and Vodafone, Irish Broadband, Manpower, RecruitIreland.com, Jobs.ie, Western Union, Ulster Bank, Classic Mortgages. The public sector is represented by representatives of the Financial Regulator, H.S.E., Road Safety Authority, National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, National Employment Rights Authority and Foras na Gaeilge.
For further information, pictures or interview:
Tracy Kelly, touchstone communications
T: 01 293 7956 or email tracy@tstone.ie
Classic Mortgages
Classic Mortgages is a small to medium sized mortgage brokerage employing over 30 people in Munster which has included foreign workers as part of its business growth plans. The mortgage company pinpointed market potential in providing mortgages for foreign workers who want to purchase homes both in Ireland and at home in their native countries. Mark Douglas, General Manager, Classic Mortgages, comments, “We see huge potential in this market not just for foreign workers in a position to buy here in Ireland, but for those looking to capitalise on their time in Ireland by buying a property in their native country. This market has really taken our company forward – we’ve employed foreign nationals to help us with the language barriers to give these communities a better service. Irish business needs to realise that our new communities have as many needs as Irish citizens”.
Oaktree Press On Establishing a Business
During the exhibition Brian O’Kane Managing Director of Oaktree press will be on hand to give workers advice on setting up their own business. Brian comments “Having been involved for the past decade, through books, websites, courses and mentoring Irish entrepreneurs in setting up businesses, it’s interesting now to see how many newcomers to Ireland see opportunities here and are keen to start their own businesses. Often, they come with experience of business in their home countries, though sometimes not – in all cases, they look for guidance in adapting to the Irish business environment and this is where we can help them”.