When budding entrepreneur Gráinne Mullins launched her artisanal chocolates business in Galway in 2020, batch No. 1 sold out within 8 minutes. The France-trained pastry chef realized she didn’t have the business acumen to keep up with demand. So, she turned to her Local Enterprise Office which provides entrepreneurial training, mentorship and financial support to small businesses. In the three years since, Mullins has sold more than 1 million hand-painted chocolates direct-to-consumer, in pop-up shops and in Ireland’s chain of Brown Thomas department stores.
Such entrepreneurial supports in place in Ireland and the success stories of innovative Irish founders were the focus of the Forbes Under 30 Forum which took place in Limerick on Monday June 26. The event gathered about 125 young entrepreneurs, Forbes 30 Under 30 list honorees, government officials, venture capitalists, and members of the local business community for a day of local exploration and panel conversations led by industry leaders of tomorrow.
“We are beginning to see the entrepreneurial passion explode in Limerick,” said Pat Daly, chief executive of City and County Council of Limerick.
Added Mayor Francis Foley: “Limerick has a rich heritage, a vibrant city and a rich pool of talented young people.”
Forbes chose to host such an event in Limerick in order to learn about the city and the region’s entrepreneurial landscape and to tell that narrative to global audiences, together rewriting the ending of a dialogue dating back to 2020 when Limerick officials decried a digital article for its misrepresentation of the city. Titled “How Two Brothers Escaped ‘Stab City’ And Made $11 Billion” and incorporating the story of John and Patrick Collison—who founded Dublin-based payment processor Stripe in 2010—the article was later removed from Forbes.com for failure to meet editorial standards.
By convening a day-long business-focused event in Limerick this week, Forbes and Limerick City and County Council together reached a net gain: taking action as partners and as individuals to learn about, elevate and celebrate the business innovation, future readiness and investment potential of the region.
Fostering The Next Generation Of Sustainability-Smart Entrepreneurs
To begin the day, a subset of Forbes Under 30 Forum attendees convened for a breakfast hosted by John and Helen Hartnett at the Limerick Strand Hotel. The two Ireland natives now reside in California and lead SVG Ventures as founder/CEO and COO, respectively, and have invested in more than 100 companies focused on farming innovation. In their remarks, the Hartnett couple detailed programs offered at the Hartnett Enterprise Acceleration Centre (HEAC) on the nearby campus of the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).
John said that Ireland’s entrepreneurial environment is well positioned for the future, particularly at the intersection of innovation in energy and agriculture. He urged the audience to support initiatives relating to mentorship and developing the leaders of tomorrow.
To that end, TUS alum Jack Cotter with Nick Cotter joined John on-stage to speak about the three companies which the twentysomething brothers have developed in the past decade. The two—who described farmers as the ultimate problem-solvers and entrepreneurs—have created product lines for biomass supply, production of organic lamb and an automated system for detecting parasites in livestock.
Surveying The Landscape Of Entrepreneurial Ireland—And What’s Coming Next
During two hours of on-stage conversations at Strand Hotel, featured speakers included three honorees of the 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list, published in March: Ruth Williams who is based in Dublin as a principal in the Digital Assets Business at investment bank BNY Mellon, which recently announced an $8.5 million plan to open a digital R&D hub in the Irish capital to develop AI, machine learning and data analytics for global clients; Gráinne Mullins, who founded and runs Grá Chocolates made in Galway and who is currently awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enter the U.S. market; and Dan Hobbs, cofounder and CEO of Dublin startup Protex AI. Hobbs explained how the business has partnered with the likes of Tesla and Amazon to install its software in manufacturing facilities, warehouses and ports, detecting and helping prevent risks to employee safety. With cofounder and Limerick native Ciarán O’Mara, Hobbs has raised $18 million from U.S.-based Flexport logistics, Y Combinator and London-based funds including Notion Capital.
Delivering Limerick-based perspectives, Tracworx cofounder and CEO Chris Kelly explained his journey building a tracking platform for reusable logistics containers, bringing a sustainability- and cost-conscious vision to industries’ high volume of boxes, pallets, kegs and more. Alongside Kelly, Stephen Kinsella offered a high-level view of local founders’ access to funding, consequences brought by Brexit and available skills development programs. Kinsella heads the Department of Economics at the University of Limerick Kemmy School of Business and co-directs the university’s Immersive Software Engineering program.
Pat Daly, chief executive of Limerick City and County Council, explained the city’s tagline “Atlantic Edge, European Embrace” as not just a slogan or a philosophy but a way of life. The city’s westward position facing the Atlantic Ocean means a strong shipping, travel and talent corridor to and from North America, while the same exists eastward given Limerick’s geographic proximity to mainland Europe.
Considering the cross-continental benefits of Ireland’s location, Karen Brosnahan and Patrice O’Mahony closed the half-day programming with information about hosting conferences, corporate retreats, business meetings or other events in the country. The two work within the government’s tourism bureau, called Fáilte Ireland, as general manager of the Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau and as business development officer for Meet In Ireland, respectively. (These organizations served as Supporting Sponsors of the Forbes Under 30 Forum.) O’Mahony noted that Ireland welcomes 10 million visitors annually—of which 15% visit for business purposes and those business tourists bring three times benefit compared to a leisure guest.
Meeting Entrepreneurs And Local Business Owners Across The Host City
During the afternoon, two groups of event participants fanned across Limerick’s city center for lunch and tours at four locations, hearing from founders and executives about their work operating in the heart of Limerick and attracting talent into office buildings in the era of remote work.
STATS Perform—a sports media, technology and data company—established its Limerick office in 2018 as its EMEA headquarters. The company provides a customizable digital data platform to some 500 sports teams including Bayern Munich, the Golden State Warriors and the New England Patriots for analyzing player performance, recruitment and strategy, plus tools for clients to manage sports betting and drive fan engagement.
International Rugby Experience opened in May 2023 as an immersive, interactive museum spanning six floors and guiding visitors to understand the sport from a community grassroots to professional level, plus allowing guests to compete with peers in simulations of the game’s requisite skills: kicking, passing, running and tackling.
Innovate Limerick at ENGINE Collaboration Center is a coworking and innovation space opened in 2018 by Limerick City and County Council. The facility is designed to foster entrepreneurial projects and private/public collaboration toward developing businesses and establishing the city as an ever more attractive location to launch.
Transact Campus officed in Innovate Limerick before moving in 2022 to its home in the nearby six-floor, LEED Gold Gardens International building. Transact has created a smartphone-based payment and mobile-credential solution for connected campuses. It is used by 12 million students who complete $45 billion in payments annually on transactions such as tuition, room and board, meal plans and printing.
Cementing Connections To Last Beyond Limerick
The day concluded with a bbq and cocktail reception hosted by House Limerick restaurant in the city center facing the River Shannon. Event attendees tasted custom mixed drinks crafted by local entrepreneur Tony Foote, cofounder of Foxes Bow Whiskey, and discussed plans to convene again this coming October for the 10th-annual Forbes Under 30 Summit which is expected to gather a crowd of some 4,000 young entrepreneurs and rising leaders from around the world in Cleveland, Ohio.
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