The Owner Manager Magazine Issue 17
Interview with Adam Weatherley Attracting Top Talent to your Business ISME Member News
The magazine for Irish SME Owner Managers
A Message from ISME’s CEO 8 Tips to Improve your HR function in 2018 Feature Interview Adam Weatherley, ISME’s Learning & Development Manager ISME Member News How to Attract Top Talent to Your Business ISME, giving Voice to Irish SMEs ISME’s ADVANTAGE Pension Scheme, Making Pensions easier for SMEs ISME Events Diary
MESSAGE FROM ISME’S CEO Hello Owner Managers, ISME will be very active on the insurance lobbying front in Q1 of 2018. We are going to ask all owner managers for their help in delivering key messages to the politicians, and others who count. If the cost of insurance is something affecting your business, you need to help us with this in 2018. You will have seen our commentary on the first report of the Personal Injuries Commission (PIC) before Christmas. We weren’t impressed. The heavy lifting will have to be done in their second and third reports, due out this year. The second report is already delayed, due to the slow release of information from the insurance industry. However, the noises made by the Chairman Justice Nicholas Kearns on the Today with Sean O'Rourke program suggest he already has a good grasp of the issues causing his insurance costs, including the Book of Quantum. However, it will be up to the politicians to make good on the recommendations made by the Commission. In the last Owner Manager magazine, we promised you a law on perjury. Since then, we’ve written a Bill, and it is being looked at by a number of independent members in the Oireachtas. Key to our Perjury Bill would be the requirement for a claimant to swear an affidavit of verification BEFORE they initiate their PIAB claim. This would make it very difficult to later change their claim, as regularly happens at present. I hope to have good news for you in the next magazine! Paschal O’Donohoe has announced plans to reform Local Property Tax in Budget 2019. We have suggested it would also be a good time to reform rates, which suffer the same problem with being calculated based on current open-market valuations; a very volatile system. If you have any views on a replacement for the ARV system, get in touch with me.
We had a great reaction to a press release we made on behalf of a member in Emly Co. Tipperary just before Christmas. They had their broadband completely cut off (accidently) by Eir who were carrying out local works. They endured two weeks of non-connection by the time we issued the press release. They were reconnected in less than three hours after the PR went out! We may try that again! Thank you for your great support of our Annual Conference 2017. It went down so well with delegates and sponsors that we’ve already had bookings for slots next November. We couldn’t have done it without you, so I take this chance to thank all of you who attended and supported. We’re looking at ways to reduce our footprint in the world (and spending less on posting dead trees to you). So from the 1st of February all ISME invoices and statements will be issued by soft copy only. We know that there always will be exceptions, so if you really need to continue to receive hard copies after this date please e-mail info@isme.ie as soon as possible. From all the staff in Kildare Street, I wish you the best. Neil McDonnell, Chief Executive
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HR HINTS TO GET AHEAD IN 2018 In an ever-changing, unpredictable business climate such as the one in which we currently operate the last thing any business needs is to face time-consuming, costly and unnecessary legal action, or industrial relations disputes. Protecting your business from the above should be one of your top priorities in 2018. So what steps should you be taking?
issues that exist for either party and to focus on work priorities and goals for the months/year ahead. Appraisals have often been shown to improve employee productivity and engagement. Tackle issues early: Where issues (performance, disciplinary or otherwise) arise, don’t let them linger or fester. Deal with them as early and adequately as possible.
Review your Recruitment process: Recruiting the right person for the right role is an important starting point for ensuring the smooth-running of your business. Take some time on the Job specification and advert to make sure they adequately outline what your business requirements are and what skills you need and ensure the requirements of the role are clear for all applicants. Ensuring the employee is aware from the start what is required from them should prevent issues developing at a later time. Ensure all staff have a contract of employment: This one is as simple as it sounds. Providing all employees with written terms and conditions of employment is not just a legal requirement, but also guarantees that everyone in the organisation is on the same page in relation to internal procedures.
Prioritise a review of your Data Protection Processes: However, if you do nothing else in 2018, ensure you review your current Data Protection Processes to confirm that they meet the standards required under the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) that are due to come into effect on 25th May 2018.
Review your policies: With employment law developing rapidly, and new issues consistently emerging (Social As well as introducing some new requirements from a Media being a prime example), it is so important to Data Protection perspective, the GDPR introduce ensure your documents are suitable for purpose in an significant sanctions for non-compliance. GDPR is likely ever-changing climate. to pose one of the greatest challenges for business in 2018 so ensure you start work on this as early as Listen to your employees: Giving your staff the possible to avoid being caught out. opportunity to make suggestions for workplace improvements is a cost-effective and simple way to Perform a HR audit: Finally, use the ISME HR audit improve employee engagement, and by extension, checklist to audit your HR function, discover what’s employee retention in your workplace. Don’t missing and what could be improved. Remember, underestimate the knowledge and experience of your preventing problems is much easier than trying to fix own staff! them! Undertake Employee Reviews/Appraisals: Employee Appraisals offers a valuable opportunity for a manager and employee to meet 1:1 to address, and remedy any
For further advice on improving your HR function in 2018 please call 01-6622755 or contact info@isme.ie. 6
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MEET ADAM WEATHERLEY, ISME’S NEW LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Tell us a bit about yourself I’m originally from Sussex, England but have lived in Dublin for the last 9 years. I met my Irish wife Ruth in 1997 whilst she was at UCD and I was working in London. We moved to Sydney, Australia where we stayed for many years. Our three sons were born there and are all proudly Australian, which makes for an interesting atmosphere when watching Ireland or England play against them! My background is HR, business consulting and international executive search. What I really do enjoy is developing meaningful relationships and seeking solutions for business. In this case, training and development for our member community! Welcome to ISME. How are you getting on? Thank you! I’m only here briefly at this stage but I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone and getting an understanding of the Association’s ambitions. I arrived from Skillnets’ Head Office where I spent 18 months working on projects, so I have a thorough understanding of the Skillnets’ model and I can’t wait to get stuck in to growing the ISME Skillnet and the other ISME training offerings we have.
I’m a huge fan of the Skillnets model and I am delighted that we have secured grant funding for 2018. We were given a small increase this year so there’s an emphasis to do more and we intend to do just that. Without these funds we wouldn’t be able to bring training to our members at such reduced rates. It’s subsidised even more if you are a member of ISME! How does the Skillnets Model work? Skillnets operates under a joint investment model whereby learning networks can apply to receive up to 50 percent of the cost of training from Skillnets, and the remainder of costs are funded in matching contributions from participating businesses in the learning network. The approach has received international recognition as a model of best practice from the OECD, amongst others. The beauty of the model is that training becomes affordable to everyone, no matter what size the business is. What excited you about the role? SME’s are the lifeblood of the Irish economy. For Ireland to stay competitive in Europe internationally, training and continuous learning is vital. The ISME Training and L & D service to its member companies is a fabulous offering. On meeting the team, it was obvious that there was passion to further enhance what we can do here. There’s a great opportunity to do something very strategic and that is what excites me. We are also involved in some European projects such as the Erasmus initiative. We are partners in four projects working with universities around Europe delivering exciting future products for business. What are you going to do first? A new year, a new dollar as the saying goes. No sales for the Irish SMEs means no business! We have therefore organised a
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number of sales courses starting 25th January, running through to March. They start with Sales Planning and Lead Generation, Cold Calling – always a tough gig – through to closing the deal. We are also doing a number of Digital Marketing and Project Management courses, running this first quarter. You can view the upcoming courses here. There is also the issue of GDPR. Our recent survey on GDPR to members generated a huge response and clearly told us that there is concern about how to address this to be compliant by the 25th May when the legislation comes into force. We have three GDPR events coming up during February, specifically designed for SMEs. They will take place initially in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. Full details about the events will be on isme.ie in the coming week. Why do think training is so important for SMEs? I believe training encourages employee retention and provides continuous learning, vital for growing organisations. It is a wellknown fact that upskilling and developing your employees lessens the chance of them jumping ship, and in this tricky recruitment market, training can be a catalyst to keeping them and for SMEs in particular, this is key. Training can benefit in other ways too – bringing new thinking and skills into the business. The subsidies we can offer on training can be as much as 40%. What’s not to like? What is your long-term plan? I’m just at the start of the journey! The first half of this year there will be a lot of looking at what we have done in the past, what has worked well and what can we improve on. Moving forward I see us being engaged with the business owner / manager community and focusing on management development programmes. A government survey has recently outlined that these programmes must be a focus for Irish SMEs. We have met with a private college that has developed
Masters in Work and Organisational Behaviour with a particular emphasis on the psychology of management. This is very exciting as there are very few affordable programmes available that focuses on this subject area. Another strand we will be looking at is the Future Skills requirements from our members by utilising Skillnets’ Future Skills Needs Programme (FSNP). I would love to hear from our members on their thoughts on what is important to them as we move towards 2020 and beyond. This feedback will allow us to provide tailored solutions for them. We will be running a continuous Training Needs Analysis (TNA) throughout the year and I urge businesses to get in contact with me. This way we can provide wellstructured, highly effective and meaningful training. What do you do outside of work? Rugby! Rugby is a huge part of our lives. I’m a youth coach at De La Salle Palmerston FC and our three sons play at U10, 13 and 16s levels. Back in the day I played for Harlequins, initially as part of their development squad before moving in to the seniors. An incredible experience which was cut short by injury unfortunately. I still occasionally trot out for the local 3rd XV but they have to be very short on players! Contact Adam for any training and development queries on adam@isme.ie or tel. 01 662 2755.
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2018 Training Schedule
ISME Skillnet Training Courses – BOOK NOW! Course
Date
Venue
Fees
Sales Planning & Lead Generation
25/01/2018
ISME, Dublin.
€230 ISME Member €315 Non Member
Cold Calling for Telesales
01/02/2018
ISME, Dublin.
€230 ISME Member €315 Non Member
Supervisory Skills
08/02/2018
ISME, Dublin.
€230 ISME Member €315 Non Member
Customer Service & Complaints Handling
22/02/2018
ISME, Dublin.
€230 ISME Member €315 Non Member
Practical Project management
27/02/18 & 28/02/18
ISME, Dublin.
€395 ISME Members €495 Non Members
Digital Marketing Strategy (Half day)
01/03/2018
ISME, Dublin.
€120 ISME Members €180 Non Members
Email Marketing Strategy (Half Day)
01/03/2018
ISME, Dublin.
€120 ISME Members €180 Non Members
Handling Inbound Sales Enquiries
06/03/2018
ISME, Dublin.
€230 ISME Member €315 Non Member
Supervisory Skills
15/03/2018
ISME, Dublin.
€230 ISME Member €315 Non Member
Business Writing & Email Etiquette
27/03/2018
ISME, Dublin.
€230 ISME Member €315 Non Member
For more information, contact us: By email: skillnets@isme.ie By phone: (01)6622755 10
The ISME Skillnet is funded by member companies and the Training Networks Programme, an initiative of Skillnets Ltd. funded from the National Training Fund through the Department of Education and Skills.
ISME MEMBER NEWS Codex Office Solutions Win BOSS Award! The BOSS (British Office Supplies and Services) Federation is the authoritative body for the UK office products industry. Every year they hold an awards ceremony for nominees of the BOSS Industry Awards. The awards recognise organisations who set the standards for incredible industry achievements. Codex was nominated for 2 BOSS industry awards; The Dealer Excellence Award and the Sustainable Leadership Award for office supplies and services. Siobhan O’ Connor, Managing Director said, ‘We were honoured to have won the BOSS Dealer Excellence Award for UK & Ireland, it was a great vindication for all of the team’s tremendous hard work in 2017’. See more news from Codex Office Solutions here.
Careers For Mums Announce Opening of CFM Agency Since Careers For Mums launched in 2016, they continually received requests from users to personally assist them in finding suitable roles. Unfortunately, they had to direct them back to their website to look at the roles there, a customer experience which didn’t sit at all well with them or their users. As such, they started exploring the possibility of adding a recruitment agency division to the business and are delighted to announce that CFM Agency is now live. It will work as a traditional agency in the sense that they will work closely with both candidates and clients to fill roles, whilst not restricting the roles to just those of a flexible nature. With the skills and experience of their current consultants, they specialise in Marketing, Sales, Insurance, Financial Services, Customer Experience, Customer Service and Telcos. They are looking to add further staff to the agency over the coming months and so will potentially add further to their areas of expertise. Find out more about the CFM Agency here.
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HouseMyDog wins Country Final of IBYE Competition James McElroy, co-founder of housemydog.com, was selected as the overall winner at November's Dublin County Final of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition. HouseMyDog is the leading platform for booking pet service online. Since 2015 the company has grown from a small community in Dublin to over 30 cities throughout Europe. “We’re delighted to have been selected as the overall winner at the IBYE Dublin County Finals. We’re looking forward to the next phase of the competition and growing HouseMyDog to Europe’s largest booking platform for pet sitters and dog walkers” said James. Read more about housemydog.com here.
Western Hygiene Celebrates 30 Years Western Hygiene Supplies Ltd. marks 30 years in business in January 2018. As the years have passed, lots has changed, but one thing remains constant in Western Hygiene: their primary aim is to exceed their customers’ expectations with innovative and effective hygiene solutions along with perfect delivery and service. See what Western Hygiene have to offer here.
Close Brothers Are ‘UK SME Champion of the Year!’ The Leasing Life Awards 2017 resulted in success for Close Brothers Asset Finance as they were awarded with the prestigious title of ‘UK SME Champion of the Year’. Adrian Madden, Head of Sales in Ireland, said 'It is with thanks to our dedicated team that we were presented with an award that recognises our commitment to the SME market, demonstrating our interests beyond the provision of finance in supporting the growth and demands of the SME market.' Find out more about Close Brothers Asset Finance on their website.
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FIVE TIPS TO HELP YOU FIND THE BEST TALENT FOR BUSINESS IN 2018 Chris Paye is General Manager of Jobs.ie, Ireland’s most popular recruitment website. He reveals what you need to do to attract top talent to your business in 2018. With 1.8 million monthly visits from jobseekers and an average of 34 applications per job, at Jobs.ie, we know a thing or two about how to advertise jobs, attract candidates and deliver applications. The job market has never been more vibrant so the competition for great people is intense. So, if you want to find the talent to take your business to the next level in 2018 then here are five tips to help make your recruitment a success.
tell jobseekers why they should work for you and show them the very best of your business. People want to work somewhere where they feel valued and supported, so it can make a real difference to the numbers of applications you receive. Which is why each company that advertises on Jobs.ie has their own unique company profile. We encourage them to add as much information as possible to promote their work culture, benefits, training, and perks. If they have video and great photos then all the better! 3. A Good Job Description It’s obvious but a well written and detailed job description and person specification is essential. Not surprisingly jobseekers like to have a good idea about the skills and qualities required for the job, as well as what the job is likely to entail and the responsibilities they may take on if they are successful. It’s worth crafting a good job description, in the long run, it will save you time by improving the quality of the applications you receive.
1. Make it Easy to Apply How straightforward are you making it for people to apply for your jobs? More people than ever job hunt on their mobile. So, ditch application forms and choose CVs instead. It's easier and quicker for candidates to apply using a CV. 2. Why Should They Work for You? With so many jobs available, this is a candidate’s market. So, it is more important than ever that you
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4. Think Digital Whatever you write has to work online, so when you are writing a job description, think digital. If your vacancy has a “niche” or company specific title then it’s unlikely that jobseekers will use it in their searches so choose a job title that most people will recognise and use. Also, what are the terms and words commonly associated with the role? Remember to include these keywords in your job description so your job will rank higher for the right jobseekers. Not a digital expert? Don’t worry! The account managers at Jobs.ie work closely with companies to make sure that their job content is optimised for online.
5. Be Nice Think about how you communicate with jobseekers. Do you get back to them quickly; are you friendly? Do you keep them informed throughout the hiring process? Do you treat them with respect? The impression you make can make a difference to a candidate’s decision to proceed with their application or accept your job offer. Don’t forget people share their experiences and can influence other potential candidates for future jobs. ISME members who are new customers to Jobs.ie will receive 10% discount. Find out more here.
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ISME, GIVING VOICE TO IRISH SMES ISME, the Irish SME Association is the only Association representing small and medium sized enterprises that is independent of Government, Banks and Big Business. This independence gives the Association the tools it needs to give an honest and candid account of the SME sector to policy makers. As a membership based organisation the concerns, issues and challenges faced by the SME sector matter greatly to ISME.
The influence of ISME with its presence at local, national and European level can be found in the many forums the Association sits on. As the only independent voice for SMEs on advisory groups including the ‘Brexit Global Challenges Forum’, ‘the Advisory Group of Small Businesses’, the National Retail Theft Forum’, ‘Town Centre Revitalisation Group’ and ‘the Hidden Economy Monitoring Group’ et al, ISME brings a unique position to the table. Membership of these groups allows ISME to directly influence and guide government policy on the issues impacting SMEs.
Figure 1 ISME National Council Member Eoin Fitzpatrick (L), Minister Pat Breen (C) & Michael O'Flanagan ISME (R) at the relaunch of the Prompt Payments Portal
An important part of the Associations work is to communicate and connect regularly with members through various surveys. The data received from respondents is vital to our lobbying and representation at local, national and European level. Over the next couple of weeks, the Association will be initiating a campaign to its members and directly speak with them, asking them, what are the current issues impacting their business. The results of this will drive our lobbying agenda for the year ahead.
Figure 2 ISME CEO Neil McDonnell speaking on Cost competiveness
Our representation and lobbying is not solely confined to Ireland. As members of UEAPME (the umbrella body for SMEs in Europe) our influences and research publications reaches the highest echelons of European affairs. Our data taken from our survey feeds into biannual reports from UEAMPE which in turn our presented to various bodies in the European Union. Along with this, the Association sits on several steering committees at a European level.
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amongst women. From September 2017, subsidies are being provided to make childcare more affordable for families.
Figure 3 ISME CEO Neil Mc Donnell and National Council members meet UEAPME President Ulrike RabmerKoller
As drivers of SME policy in Ireland, the Association takes great pride in achieving results from the information collected. Some of the results of our 2017 data had a positive impact on our lobbying achievements, feeding into our policy submissions and government consultations.
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ISME was part of a group of stakeholders who introduced the Prompt Payment Code and Portal, which was re-launched in March 2017.
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With the help of National Council member Marcella O’Reilly, organised a series of political meetings which were instrumental in ensuring a meaningful appeals mechanism for commercial rates revaluations.
In 2017, the Association had success in several policy areas as a result of lobbying and representation: •
The Association conducted an extensive grassroots lobbying campaign against the tax discrimination of the self-employed and secured an Earned Income Tax Credit in Budget 2018. The Association is now lobbying to have this increased to the same level as the PAYE tax credit.
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Successfully lobbied Government to reduce the administrative costs on SMEs in the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017
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Lobbied Government to introduce a Shared Based Remuneration Scheme, in Budget 2018 the Government introduced Key Employee Engagement Programme (KEEP).
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Lobbied Government to introduce Selfemployed sick pay for first time from December 2017. Lobbied for support and greater provisions of affordable childcare to assist greater workforce activation
Figure 4 Members of the National Retail Theft Forum at its biannual meeting
Commenting on the importance of surveys and regularly communicating with our members ISME CEO, Neil McDonnell said “The data we receive from our members acts as the catalysts in driving our policy agenda. As an Association we receive many issue from our members in relation to broadband, access to finance, business costs, cost competiveness, insurance and many other concerns. We strive to do our best to bring these concerns to the relevant authorities” “Just before the Christmas break we received a complaint from a member on a particular broadband issue, we acted decisively, and called Eir out to fix the problem. Thankfully the issue was remedied on the same day.” “Our focus as a membership based association is to listen, engage and act”. To find out more about our lobbying activity please click here. 18
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ANNOUNCING THE MARKET LEADING ISME ADVANTAGE PENSION SCHEME Pensions often get bad press. Often the issue of charges, performance, levies and over complication laid down by the pensions industry can be confusing, and can shroud the actual benefits and tax efficiencies, not to mention the importance of planning for your future and the future of your employees. It is fair to say that members of ISME are focused on growing and developing their business. When considering their pension arrangements, all employers are looking for straightforward solutions that offer the very best value, quality of service and advice but don’t always have the time to fully review their existing pension arrangements to see what improvements can be accessed. ISME Advantage Pension Scheme Having observed the challenges faced by many of their members, ISME engaged with one of the country’s leading pension consultants, JLT Corporate Benefits, in order to identify the common obstacles and provide a tangible and transparent solution for employers. By utilising the buying power of the collective membership, we are delighted to introduce the ISME Advantage Pension Scheme. While each employer establishes their own pension plan under this Advantage arrangement, ISME members for the first time have access to discounted pricing terms, advice and member engagement supports which would only traditionally have been limited to large group pension schemes. The ISME Advantage Pension is exclusively available to ISME Members and offers:
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Time saving and easy to use payment facility, which lets employers easily transfer monthly pension contribution data direct to the Zurich system.
Pension Trusteeship The role of the pension scheme trustee is crucial to ensuring a pension scheme is well run. Trustees are responsible for the compliance, administration and investment of the scheme. While these duties are often delegated, ultimately the trustees are responsible for their pension scheme and must monitor their service providers. If the employer acts as trustee for their pension scheme, all the directors of the company must undergo training every two years. We are pleased to confirm that professional trusteeship services are included as a benefit to ISME members, freeing the employer of this responsibility. Only available to ISME Members We believe that the benefit of discounted charges, trusteeship services, quality of advice, transparency and ease of access to up to date information is a pension proposition that is completely focused on what’s important, - a pension with excellent governance to provide for the life you and your employees look forward to in the future.
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Discounted management fees
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No set-up or exit fees
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100% of all contributions invested
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Access to a market leading pension and investment manager: Zurich Life Assurance plc, and expert pension consultancy – JLT Corporate Benefits
For more information on the pension benefits now available to ISME Members please contact: Chris Carlile, Directof, JLT Corporate Benefits, D: +353 1 636 2708,M: +353 86 3840195: e:ccarlile@jlt.ie or click here on isme.ie.
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ISME Connect Portal – this online portal is designed to save time and will greatly increase employee engagement and pension understanding by way of step-by-step guides, videos, infographics and calculators.
JLT Financial Planning Ltd. trading as JLT Corporate Benefits and JLT Private Wealth is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
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ISME EVENTS DIARY – Q4 2017 ISME Annual Conference 2017 Our 2017 conference took place in the Citywest Hotel on 3rd November. The conference was attended by over 300 attendees and almost 50 exhibitors with booked out workshops on 'GDPR' and 'Brexit'. Speakers included Michael Cawley (Chairman Fåilte Ireland), Cillian Fennel (Stillwater Communications), John McGrane (Director General of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce), and Siobhan O'Connor (Codex). Breakout sessions focused on 'Preparing business for GDPR' and 'Brexit'. Wild Orchard were the winners of the Sean Hannick SME Award. The day finished up with a lively debate on 'SMEs & New Socialism' with Anne-Marie McNally (Social Democrats), Jim O'Leary (Economist), Ian Kehoe (Sunday Business Post) and Mannix Flynn (Councillor).
Consumer Law Ready Project ISME's HR advisor Niamh Heneghan hosted a 'Train the Trainer' session in the Ryan Academy with a number of ISME Members for the Consumer Law Ready project in early October.
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