Doors Opening For Irish SMEs With Irish Based Multinationals
18th May 2016
The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD, today begins a two-day Trade and Investment Mission to Athlone, Sligo and Limerick organised by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland as part of their joint ‘Global Sourcing’ initiative. The objective is to maximise sales opportunities for Irish SMEs with multinational companies (MNCs) based in Ireland.
Highlighting the strong links that exist between MNCs and their Irish supplier base, the Trade Mission will also introduce innovative Irish SMEs to the global multinational base in Ireland. Over two days and three locations, networking events, panel discussions and 356 one-to-one meetings will take place between 180 Enterprise Ireland clients and 64 IDA clients.
These meetings are invaluable for Irish companies in terms of gaining credible access to procurement teams and decision makers in global multinationals. For MNCs, the Trade Mission raises awareness of the innovative capabilities and solutions provided by Irish SMEs across a wide range of sectors including ICT, Pharma, Biotech, Medical Devices, Consumer, Security and Engineering.
Since the Global Sourcing initiative began in 2012, 21 new contracts have been secured by Irish companies valued at €10.5m. To demonstrate the extent to which Irish SMEs are successfully supplying products and services to MNCs based in Ireland, site visits will take place to Irish company Exertis and multinational company Cook Medical, both based in Limerick.
Speaking at the start of the trade mission, Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor said: “I am very much looking forward to the next two days and my first trade mission. I am glad that this is taking place in Ireland as I am very much focussed on ensuring all regions achieve their economic potential and benefit from job creation, and through our regional action plan for jobs we will achieve this. Ireland is a world-class location for overseas companies and we have a thriving global multinational base here.”
“Regionally based Irish companies are successfully exporting their products and services globally, and are well positioned to service these companies. There are tangible opportunities for SME’s and multinational companies through mutually beneficial collaboration and partnerships. My objective and a key objective for Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland is to translate the introductions made over the next two days into business opportunities that will lead to contract wins and increased employment in regional locations such as Limerick, Athlone and Sligo”.
( L-R: Julie Sinnamon, CEO Enterprise Ireland, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA.)
