Sometimes it seems as if there can be nothing new left to invent, but there are entrepreneurs who are proving otherwise writes Ciarán Brennan.
IFOODS.TV - Doing a Delia, on demand
Given the proliferation of cookery programmes on television, it was only a matter of time before somebody thought about putting cookery lessons on the internet. That's where Niall Harbison steps in.
He has set up www.iFoods.tv. Dubbed "Facebook for Foodies" it is aimed at everyone interested in cooking - from outright beginners, to proficient cooks.
Online cooking tutorials give viewers a step-by-step guide to recipes developed by top class chefs. "We have more than 130 videos teaching people how to cook online, from the very simplest soup recipes right up to soufflés," explains Harbison.
The website also has a distinct advantage over cookery programmes beamed from televisions every night, according to Harbison.
"A cookery programme is probably on at 8 o'clock on a Wednesday night and you are pretty much tied to that, whereas ours is on demand. You can set up the laptop beside you in the kitchen and watch the video and start cooking straight after."
But it's more than just an online recipe site, he says. It is a social-networking platform where members can upload their own videos and photos. "It is built around a kind of facebook community where people can interact, upload their own videos, their own photos, meet other foodies around the world. It's a destination for foodies."
Those foodies can access the site free of charge. "Everything is supported by advertising," says Harbison. "We also place our content on third-party websites."
Harbison began his career as a chef in the Peacock Alley restaurant under the guidance of Michelin star-winning chef, Conrad Gallagher, and then took the reins at Lloyd's Brasserie, where he cooked for the likes of Victoria Beckham and Robbie Williams.
He later worked as a private chef on both super yachts and in the mansions of the rich and famous worldwide, cooking for Bill Gates' 50th birthday party, U2, Lance Armstrong and Mariah Carey.
"Our recipes have been tried and tested on the rich and famous and are so easily recreated at home you can't fail to impress," he says. "We want to help change the way people cook and inspire those who have never cooked by being their personal 24/7 online chef."
BIDTOBARGAIN - Sold - to the lowest bidder
Around a year ago, it was next to impossible to get a builder, plumber, carpenter, tiler or any tradesman to do some work on your house. But things have changed with the construction downturn, and plumbers appear to be a bit more plentiful.
It could be perfect timing for a new web-based business www.bidtobargain.ie.
Set up by Ulf Oberdieck, Bidtobargain is essentially a reverse bidding site where the lowest bidder gets selected. Customers and householders advertise a job on bidtobargain.ie for auction (free of charge) and, without obligation, qualified tradespeople, service providers and businesses will offer quotes to receive the business and the price drops for the customer.
"At the end of the day, they will underbid each other and the lowest bidder will get the contract. The contractor has to fight for the job because the client wants to get the best price," says Oberdieck.
While this may not have worked in an environment where tradespeople were inundated with work, its time may have come, according to Oberdieck who has spent €25,000 setting up and developing the site.
"Bidtobargain will make money at the moment the contract is closed between the client and the contractor. The contractor has to pay a fee of between one and four percent. It depends on the contract," he says.
The site will offer a range of services, whether you are looking for a painting job, furniture removal, carpentry work or gardening work, and all trades people are vetted and have to register their details with the website before offering their services.
PROTECTAS HEALTH LTD - Ensuring your horse's health
Thoroughbred racing is a notoriously risky and expensive business for breeders, as injury and death can, without warning, stop revenue lines. Given that top thoroughbred racing horses can cost in the millions of euro, breeders are keen to invest in any technology that can increase the longevity of their investment, by preserving the health of their horses.
Dublin-based Protectas Health is planning to take the lead in equine healthcare by providing ground-breaking veterinary services. It is primarily focused on the processing and cryo-preservation of umbilical cord stem cells from newborn foals and white blood cells from adult horses. The aim is to provide people with a way to protect the health of their most valuable horses by banking stem cells and white blood cells.
"On the human side, umbilical cord stem cell procedures were carried out in the late 1980s, and in the last five to 10 years in the US and Britain, umbilical cord banks have become relatively common," explains Protectas Health managing director, David Crimmins.
"On the equine side, stem cells have been used to treat various injuries and illnesses but the source of the cell has always been the bone marrow, something that has some major consequences. It is very invasive. If you are getting stem cells from the bone marrow, it involves a general anaesthetic with quite a deep probe going through the sternum. Taking stem cells from the umbilical cord is painless and non-invasive and will allow the horse to use their own bio material to treat injuries and illnesses."
The second service is storing healthy horses' white blood cells. Should they subsequently become ill, their own white blood cells can be re-infused to boost their immune system.
"Training, exertion and racing diminish their immune system, so their immune system is artificially lower," explains Crimmins.
"We're taking white blood cells from the horse in their normal relaxation period, banking those cells and giving them back during its training regime in order to boost the immune system. This is not to boost their performance and this is extremely important. We're not giving them red blood cells because that seems like blood doping. It's really just to replenish what should be there naturally but has been diminished because of their training regime."
With viral infections on the rise and infections becoming more resistant to antibiotics, Crimmins predicts this will be a major growth market and the company intends to target the four main thoroughbred markets - Ireland, the UK, Australia and the US.
Q-VALIDUS IT - operating solutions
When the computer became a way of life, there was one problem: users usually learned on the job, and levels of proficiency varied - until the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL). A group of Irish businessmen who were heavily involved in the ECDL are behind a new company, Q-Validus, that aims to provide international certification programmes across a broader range of IT platforms.
Q-Validus' promoters are David Carpenter, Garry Cleere and Dudley Dolan. Dolan was a founder and first chief executive of the ECDL international computer skills programme. Carpenter was chief executive of the ECDL Foundation from 1999 to 2006 while Cleere was Head of Certifications from 1998 to 2006.
The team is combining its experience in certification programme development and delivery with industry best practice to manage and deliver high quality certification programmes.
Later this month, Q-Validus will launch its first product, a compliance programme for spreadsheet users, targeted at the financial sector. Carpenter says poor spreadsheet design, verification and operation has led to major problems at a number of companies.
"If you go into organisations that use spreadsheets, the propensity for errors is enormous. It is relatively easy for someone to create a spreadsheet and have errors in it. It gets passed to the next person who continues to work with it and the error replicates itself."
Q-Validus is also developing a new role-based vocational skills series aimed at small businesses.
