E49 That Great Business Show - Neil Hughes, Baker Tilly, - Shane Kiernan, IAMUS robots, - Jeud Ennis, Signworks.ie

That Great Business Show

3.00" Neil Hughes, Managing Partner of Baker Tilly Ireland explains SCARP, the newly enacted examinership system for smaller businesses. H says that this fundamental change in company law is a 'once in a lifetime' event. He says there are tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of businesses who have been brought to their knees during Covid. The process takes less than 70 days - but a scheme could be in place within 42 days (compared to up to 150 days, plus hefty legal fees, in examinership). He calls it a 'short, sharp, SCARP. Neil explains where the name came from (strange!) but he says that SCARP is here to stay. He talks about the Retail Excellence Ireland survey of members and their rental arrears and what that means for SMEs. He reckons that the initial up-front costs should be much, much lower and also that the process is far more private than the open court Examinership system. This more discrete system means that predatory Interlopers won't be able to know that businesses they might want to scoop up are going through the process. Dept of Jobs still has to allow enabling legislation, so we won't see SCARP really kick in until 2022. The process is EU driven to give business owners a second chance. The legislation is similar to Australian law where it works very well. He says that Ireland is now a leader in restructuring law worldwide - a big turnaround from some years back.

Neil's hire in a heartbeat? (He gives a very circuitous answer, but eventually plumps for rowing gold medallist Paul O'Donovan

29.30" Shane Kiernan, founder of IAMUS Technologies, says that his company will be a €1 billion business in the next six years! He was a posh City banker but now gets his hands dirty (literally) working occasionally in chicken coops that are the size of football pitches and house 50,000 broiler chickens. Shane started his entrepreneur journey in school, running an unofficial (and not sanctioned!) tuck shop. He delivered goods from Northern Ireland, during which time he was interviewed by broadcaster Gerry Ryan, an chat that led to 5,000 emails in his inbox the following morning. He worked with the Bill Clinton Foundation and has met the US President twice. This brought him to Kenya but that's another story...He established a business in the Philippines employing 220 people. He tells us that 2,000 chickens are eaten every SECOND around the world and this has led to producers looking for ways to produce more, better. He has had help from poultry entrepreneur Vincent Carton who showed him a major gap in the market. He says that his robots are gender neutral! IAMUS are funding at the moment and want to talk to TeamGBS about investing in his business. There are 350,000 chicken sheds around the world so he says it's a massive investment opportunity, so he's trying to raise $2 million to kick off his international business. He talks about Cargill's massive recent investment in the US chicken industry. His business is not selling individual robots, but he sells his robotic solutions, what he calls Robotics as a Service. He talks about his involvement with the Techstars accelerators. He aims to have 3,300 robots manufactured by 2025. He's using IFAC to help raise funds.

And Shane's 'hire in a heartbeat'? Oxford don, Dr Marian Dawkins.

54.00" Jeud Ennis of Signworks.ie. Her dad got her into the business of painting grass, or more correctly painting logos on grass on pitches. A logo is painted by her team in two days, She started with Croke Park and then, by chance, met a South African at a UK tradeshow who introduced her to 3D painting of brand logos. Her first 3D logo was for Royal Liver. She explains that stadium managers don't always appreciate her painting her grass. She gives a shout out to her brothers who run a company called Sportsworks.ie that is involved in pitch maintenance and more. She can turn around 3 logos in a couple of days with a crew of 4. Rain can destroy logos and she explains how she handles marketing managers about distorted logo colours. She loved to pick up business across Europe and Dubai (she's been on holidays there and loves the place). She'd like the FA and the RFU to tender 'her way'...

She wants TeamGBS to put people in the touch with her who wants branding, for example golf clubs (she says it's highly affordable) and would love to meet with international turf laying company SIS in Sligo.

And, who would she 'hire in a heartbeat'. Robbie Keane and Paul O'Connell (she wants to play golf with him!).

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