National Enterprise Award Winners 2018
31st May 2018
Top awards go to Local Enterprise Office-backed companies in Kildare, Clare, Carlow and Laois as ‘20 Years of Winners’ are celebrated at National Enterprise Awards.
‘Terra Liquid Minerals’ in Kildare, an agri-business set up by two brothers in 2012, has won the overall title at the 2018 National Enterprise Awards in a competition organised recently by the Local Enterprise Offices at the Mansion House, Dublin.
Two of the main category winners were female lead companies ‘Get the Shifts Ltd’ and ‘Cyc-lok Ltd’.
‘Get The Shifts Ltd’ won Best Start-Up (supported by LEO Clare). This online business provides high quality, skilled temporary hospitality staff when and where they are needed. It provides bar staff, wait staff, event staff, mixologists and baristas; and currently supports event and catering companies, large stadiums and arenas, hotels, bars and restaurants nationwide.
Get The Shifts founder, Hannah Wrixon has a background in hospitality management, HR and staff solutions. She has had three start ups in the last 15 years, one in childcare and two in temporary staffing. She is responsible for business development and office management in Get The Shifts. Co-founder, Gillian Rijke has a strong background in customer service and HR. She was the EMEA customer relations manager in Apple Cork, and is now responsible for recruitment and customer retention in Get The Shifts.
The company’s clients get a tech powered solution that helps them manage business growth and seasonal labour challenges quickly and reliably. The software allows potential employers to search for staff using many different parameters – location, experience etc. Get The Shifts matches its database of qualified, experienced hospitality staff to its clients’ recruitment requirements. It has 700 active people ready for shifts at any given time. All ‘Superstars’ must go through a rigorous recruitment process before joining the team. ‘Superstars’ select shifts on their terms – choosing when, where, and for which local employers they want to work.
Get The Shifts is going to complete its first funding round this year through HPSU status and EI investment, with matched funding from an external investor. This will drive the overseas growth and the franchise model. Within Ireland they plan to offer staff supports to 25 Platinum, 40 Gold, and 150 Silver clients in the next three years; and will be employing eight full time and six part time staff.
‘Cyc-lok Ltd’ won for Innovation (supported by LEO Laois). Cyc-lok is a modular bike parking system that can take up to 12/24/36 full sized bikes in individual lockers, utilising innovative control technologies that open and close the individual lockers thus ensuring safe and secure storage for cyclists when they reach their destination. The lockers are also alarmed for added security.
The company was established in 2014 by Stephen Murphy and Louise Murphy. Stephen is the Managing Director; while Louise is the Sales Director of the business. Cyc-Lok was established to develop a global system of secure bicycle parking facilities in response to the surge in cycling for recreation and for transport in urban commuter zones. Cyc-Lok is the first product with a publicly accessible, real-time app-based, pay for use locker designed uniquely for cyclists for on-demand, short-term bike parking. A backend database management system allows for transparency, reporting and remote monitoring.
Cyc-Lok initially sold a number of locker systems outright to regenerate working capital to fund its growth but will, in addition, develop its own considerable network of installed locker systems to build an embedded recurring revenue and sustainable enterprise.
The Cyc-Lok system has a number of differentiating attributes including E-Bike charging in individual lockers; keyless access; on-demand ‘pay as you go’ parking; and the option for wrapping the unit for unique advertising opportunities/additional revenue, to name a few. To date they have not identified any manufacturer or operator providing a comparable product and service.
The Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities celebrated ‘20 Years of Winners’ at this year’s National Enterprise Awards, which was originally set up in 1998 to celebrate the achievements of Ireland’s micro-enterprises and small businesses. According to a survey by the Local Enterprise Offices, previous winners of the National Enterprise Awards now employ 832 people and generate €131 million in sales annually, including €58 million worth of export sales to 52 countries. Funding for the Local Enterprise Offices is provided by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland.
Full details of this year’s winners can be found here>>
