Small and medium enterprises in Donegal have been called upon to turn their passion into action and ‘Dare to be amazing.’
The call was made by Head of Enterprise in Donegal, Michael Tunney, at the end of Local Enterprise Week 2019, who said that the backbone of the economy of the county is small and micro enterprises – but they don’t get the importance they deserve.
“I’d say to our businesses – you need to have more confidence in yourselves – you need to tell your story, because if you don’t, how will people know?”
The theme for the week was ‘Peak Performance’ and the Head of Enterprise urged Donegal businesses to be ambitious.
“Know what you want to achieve and then match that with the ambition. If you are going to have peak performance, then you need to have the ambition to perform at that level.
At the end of the day, you have to have some sort of goal – but you shouldn’t set those goals too low and make them easy to achieve. Be ambitious, aim high,” Mr. Tunney said.
Tommy Bowe, Adrian Logan, Anna Gearey and Michael Murphy stop for a selfie ahead of the ‘Peak Performance – Lessons for Business in Sport’ event in the Villa Rose, Hotel, Ballybofey during Local Enterprise Week.
Joe and Brenda O’Hora of Benny & Co and Joe Doherty of Simply Inish pictured with Michael Tunney Head of Enterprise and Eve Anne McCarron and Maggie Campbell at the ‘receipe for Success – Starting a Food Business’ event during Local Enterprise Week.
His comments came as another busy Local Enterprise Week came to an end with 25 events at locations right across the county, thanks to support from other agencies and partners.
The Local Enterprise organised events included a number of high-profile speakers, but many local businesses also featured on the podium over the course of the week to share their stories.
Seamus McMenamin of McMenamin Enginnering, Larissa Feeney of Accountant Online and David Gildea of Cloud Ranger pictured on stage with Anton Savage at the launch of Local Enterprise Week.
Participants in the ‘The Ingredients for your food story using video’ event at Castlegrove House, one of the many events across the county as part of Local Enterprise Week.
Pictured at the Digital Marketing Expo in Rockhill House during Local Enterprise Week were Greg Fry, Anna Good, Richard Finney, Marie Shields, Andrew Clarke, Emmett Rushe and Grace Korbel from the Local Enterprise Office.
“It was great as always, to have some excellent speakers come in to give brilliant advice, information and inspiration over the course of the week, but one of the highlights of the week certainly was the fact that we were able to include so many local businesses who could share success stories that hopefully will inspire other businesses to follow in their footsteps,” the Head of Enterprise said.
Those stories this year ranged from the opening event and continued right through the week until the final event, the launch of ‘Donegal – We Create’ charting the stories of 8 creative businesses in the county.
Businesses featured in ‘Donegal – We Create’ get their first look at the finished at the final event of Local Enterprise Week. Included with Chief Executive of Donegal County Council, Seamus Neely, Head of Enterprise Michael Tunney, Assistant Head of Enterprise, Brenda Hegarty and Liam Porter who wrote the stories are- Paul McMahon, The Rusted Pixel, Sharon McDaid, Silver Birch Gallery, Lynn Costello Erskine, The Pear in Paper, Caitlín NicGabhann of Caitlín.ie, Thomas McLaughlin, Tádaiás, Karen O’Kane, Koko Designs, Elaine, Lyndsey and Zara McGonigle of McGonigle Glass
Thomas McLaughlin, Caitlín NicGabhann, Karen O’Kane and Lynn Costello Erskine pictured in conversation with host Marie Louise Muir at the launch of ‘Donegal – We Create’ in Rockhill House, Letterkenny, the final event of Local Enterprise Week 2019.
Local businesses also featured in many of the partner events and the Head of Enterprise paid tribute to all those who had made last week’s series of events a huge success.
“It was great to have such co-operation from other agencies and partners in the county and I’d like to thank them, all our speakers and all our venue hosts for their contribution towards a great week for Donegal businesses.
I’d also urge the businesses who attended and indeed those thinking of starting a business, to continue to engage with the Local Enterprise Office and we will do everything possible to help them,” he concluded.
Chief Executive of Donegal County Council, Seamus Neely in conversation with Tony Forrester of Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce and Eve Anne McCarron from the Local Enterprise Office at the launch of Local Enterprise Week
Visitors to Inishowen Engineering enjoying a tour as part of the ‘Up close and personal’ event organised as part of Local Enterprise Week.
Visitors to Inishowen Engineering pictured before their visit to the work floor. The visit was one of two ‘Up close and personal’ events with engineering firms in the county organised as part of Local Enterprise Week.
Local Enterprise Office Donegal is supported through co-funding from the Irish Government and the European Regional Development Fund 2014 – 2020. To contact the Local Enterprise Office in Donegal, log on to www.localenterprise.ie/donegal or phone 0749160735.
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