In his address, Fergal Quinn of Superquinn fame stressed, “We have got to remove barriers which stifle the growth of new industry: in some countries, a new business can be up and running in 7 hours.”
The National Employment Week publicises a call on each employer to create a job for at least one additional person in 2011.
Microsoft Ireland Managing Director, Paul Rellis, said: “The key in relation to Information Communications Technologies (ICT) is to move rapidly, to get going. Start with students in second level schools. The internet explosion erupted in the year 2000; it’s virtually a new industry which has great potential.
Thousands of companies can now start up at a fraction of the cost; for instance our own Cloud Computing provides resources to companies all around the world.”
At the launch, a short video clip showed the progress of 200 countries over 200 years in four minutes. The object was to show how countries who adapted quickly to new technologies became the healthiest and wealthiest, and indicated that the new industries are the ones we are going to have to adopt if we don’t want to become one of the nations left behind.
Mr Rellis said, “It’s important to create conditions in Ireland to attract companies from other countries, and also to keep them here.” Mr Rellis stated that “Financial problems are everywhere, it is a global issue, but foreigners sometimes ask why the Greeks got a much more favourable treatment from the EU.”
Ms Louise Phelan from PayPal said in her address that, “The Irish media is not helping Irish business abroad by continually reporting doom and gloom, we have to talk Ireland up, we have to support each other to grow the double digit growth we want for Ireland.”
Louise Phelan joined PayPal in 2000 from GE Money, where she was a member of senior management for 16 years. She said: “PayPal is a bank which operates from Blanchardstown. 50 per cent of our staff speak English and the other 50 per cent speak foreign languages. Yes, there were challenges in 2009: I wanted to secure PayPal’s base in Ireland and approached the IDA with the mindset of ‘You help me’.
“After working with the IDA, we signed a seven million euro deal to ensure we stay in Ireland. We now have 1200 people working for us in Blanchardstown. We work through nine languages and 52 currencies. We could find in Ireland the staff we required to take the corporation to the next level, and I have interviewed for staff in many countries”.
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Fergal Quinn, who introduced the supermarket to Ireland in the 1960s when most people relied on the corner shop, emphasised loyalty to customers to ensure they return. He said that there were 270,000 people working in retail in Ireland, and it would be his brief to employers to find a new customer while remaining loyal to the old customer. To explain on a personal note, Mr Quinn said: “I was an avid reader of The Economist, and was thrilled when they were offering a 35% reduction in price, but was appalled to be told that this only applied to new customers! I never bought The Economist again, but my wife gets it!”
Small, innovative gestures can be important in attracting customers too, said Mr Quinn.
Recently he dined out in the Bon Appetite restaurant in Malahide. “I was astounded upon paying the bill when they asked me to throw the dice: apparently, if it landed on a certain number, the meal would be for free. The place was packed...”
Mr Quinn believes that it’s important to create a good working atmosphere where people enjoy going to work. “If people are happy in their work they perform better,” said Mr Quinn. One of his managers who worked for the group for more than nine years in the Ballinteer branch never missed a day. He confided in Mr Quinn upon his imminent retirement that he had enjoyed every day of his working life.
Mary Hanafin, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Sport, Trade and Innovation said that the government doesn’t create jobs, but creates an environment where jobs can be created. She believes that many graduates are idle and can’t get the jobs which utilise their talents, and they need help to get them into the workplace.
For this reason Minister Hanafin announced that the government has initiated the internship programme, which is enterprise-led and tailored to education. Private and semi-state companies will be involved. An intern will receive 150 euro per week while still retaining their social welfare payments, and they will also receive up-skilling bonus payments. The government is offering 5,000 of these places. FÁS is looking for employers who are interested in the programme, which should be up and running at the end of the next quarter.
The audience in the ornate room of the college laughed when the minister quipped that she would be leaving the country soon, but she added that she was in fact going abroad to promote Ireland during Saint Patrick’s week. Minister Hanafin said that more and more countries are joining in the celebration that is Saint Patrick’s Day, and that other countries would die for the opportunity which Ireland has to promote itself around the world. An audience member told the minister that he hoped that they would promote Ireland’s low corporation tax further, as a lot of foreign countries are still not aware of it!
Fergal Quinn concluded with a story about a Japanese business friend of his who opened his first stores the same year he did. Currently the owner of 19 stores, Mr Quinn said that he recently asked his friend how many stores he now has. His friend’s reply was 14,700. Mr Quinn was amazed, and he asked him what the secret was. After a long pause, the Japanese business man replied, “Whether you believe you can or whether you believe you can’t, you are right.”
The National Employment Week launch’s chairman was Adrian McGennis, CEO of the Sigmar Group. Other speakers included James Mailley, Commercial Director of Monster.ie
