KEVIN SMYTH - 'WE HAVE A VESTED INTEREST IN WHAT GOES ON IN FINGAL'

YOUR CHAMBER COUNCIL: KEVIN SMITH

KEVIN SMYTH - 'WE HAVE A VESTED INTEREST IN WHAT GOES ON IN FINGAL'

Whether it’s helping identify a course for the Chamber, encouraging young people to study STEM subjects, or simply gazing at the stars, Council member Kevin Smith brings a great energy and focus to the task in hand.

The Deputy Vice President of Fingal Chamber, Kevin Smith, has been an active member of Council for a number of years. He has worked on many subcommittees and, in particular, was a key member of the Strategy Subcommittee which recently reviewed the Chamber’s aims and objectives. He has also brought in graduates from the company for which he works, Fujitsu, to assist the work of the council in various areas.

Kevin grew up in Southern Africa and studied building construction design there before meeting his future wife, who is Irish, when he was on a one year working holiday in Europe. After a brief period back in Africa the couple moved to Ireland and Kevin secured a position with Xerox, which was then setting up a Global Customer Delivery Center in Ballycoolin Business Park.

At this point he enrolled at Blanchardstown Institute of Technology (now TUD) to study software development and project management. Over the next 17 years Kevin had various roles within Xerox, ending up managing a large delivery and account management team along with demanding EMEA and global responsibilities. Five years ago he moved to Fujitsu Ireland in Swords as Director and Head of Pre-Sales, where his team is responsible for bids, proposals and designing ICT Solutions which meeting customer business challenges.

He is enthusiastic about the value of the Chamber to Fujitsu and the opportunity it affords him to give something back to the local community. “Giving back to the societies in which we operate is an important part of the company ethos; it’s embedded in what we know as ‘The Fujitsu Way’ (Purpose, Values, Code of Conduct). We have a vested interest in what goes on in Fingal and it’s good to be knowledgeable about that, and to be able to avail of the many services that Fingal Chamber offers. It also has a lot of initiatives that we’re close to in terms of corporate social responsibility, so as a company we’re very well aligned with the Chamber,” he says.

Kevin is confident about the prospects for Irish businesses. “I think that overall we’re in a good position,” he says. “Take tourism, for example. There are many tourists coming into the country now and that’s before we’ve really tried to kick start it with marketing promotions. In the wake of Brexit we’ve also seen business move away from the UK to the EU, which in some instances has benefited Irish firms. So I think in general we’re seeing a significant level of optimism within Irish business even though we have travelled through uncertain times over the last couple of years.”

He is also impressed by the ability of Irish firms to adapt to change, which was evidenced during the pandemic. “One of the interesting things was discovering just how adaptable humans are. Working from home has created technological security issues, for sure, but in response people have become much more security conscious and in general have completely adapted to different ways of working,” he says.

“I do think that people are open to change, especially around flexible working. Some of that has been driven by Government policy but most organisations are increasingly open anyway to adopting new ways of flexible and hybrid working. In Fujitsu, for example, we’ve received some very good feedback on how we have managed customers remotely. Before the pandemic customers probably wouldn’t have thought it could be done, so there has been a lot of learning for everyone. It’s also true that while some sectors have struggled others have done exceptionally well over the past two years.”

Outside of his busy work schedule Kevin pursues a lifelong interest in astronomy. He is the chairman of an astronomy club and also promotes the study of STEM subjects and astronomy by giving talks and presentations to schools, local clubs, scouts and other groups.

Describing the blossoming of this interest over the past decade, he says: “It went from just looking at the night sky through telescopes to attaching cameras to them, then realising that you can actually do some science with your observations.” It culminated in his building an observatory in his back garden six years ago, just one of 13 officially designated observatories in Ireland. ‘While you’ve got big professional telescopes doing big sky surveys, there’s a lot of really good work being done by amateur astronomers, too,” he points out.

He also helps organise the Skellig Star Party, a weekend of stargazing in the Kerry Dark Sky Reserve that attracts upwards of 100 amateur astronomers each year from as far afield as the US, as well as Ireland and the UK. He is also a good man to have on hand if you are planning a barbecue, as he is the organizer of a big annual BBQ in conjunction with the Skellig Star Party and has hosted many charity barbecues to raise funds for Barnardos Along with the work for Barnardo’s Kevin is also the Executive Sponsor for the current Fujitsu charity partner, ‘The Alzheimer Society of Ireland’, which he says “is doing some great work in Ireland supporting Fingal and other communities across the country”.

Kevin Smyth