They're in their 20s and creating businesses that are buzzing. These stories show how good, self-starting ideas can work – without a whole pile of cash, writes DEIRDRE MCQUILLAN
ALEC BARRETT French and Surf
ALEC BARRETT WILL never forget the loneliness of a student exchange he went on in France when he was a schoolboy. “I was totally isolated for one month, with grandparents, and it didn’t work out – it was awful,” he recalls. “I figured that there had to be an alternative way of learning French that was more socially interactive. Then, on holidays with my parents in Biarritz when I was 18, I fell in love with the place and its surf culture.”
The idea of uniting sport and learning French came together last year when he set up the first Irish surf academy in France, near Biarritz, offering surf instruction along with Leaving Certificate tuition in French. Barrett, who is from Kilkenny, is a UCD sports management graduate and a full-time coach, hockey player, cricketer and part-time surfer. He set up his company two years ago with a bank loan of €19,000, received on foot of a 22-page business plan. Last year’s camp was a huge success, with tuition from French teachers and experienced Irish surfers, including members of the Irish surf team. This year’s camps are already almost booked out, and due to parental demand, the academy now offers the option of a two-week programme. “The concept was borne out of projects I worked on in university and all along, quality has been key,” says Barrett. “This year we should clear the loan and make money.”
The most important lesson learned from the first course, Barrett says, was about the logistics of day-to-day activities. “Originally we set the timetable based around the waves; now the timetable is set in stone, irrespective of the weather. The surf is so consistent anyway,” he says.
Looking after teenagers has not been a problem or a challenge for his young staff. “The fact that we’re still in touch with that rebellious side means that we know what they want to be doing and we are better placed to manage them,” he says with a smile. “They look up to us.”
The academy, half an hour’s drive south of Biarritz, is located on a headland overlooking the bay at Hendaye in an area that has a strong surf culture as well as being a popular holiday destination. The biggest costs in setting up the business were providing cash flow for food and accommodation upfront before bookings were taken, along with investment in equipment. “The paperwork for working in France is really significant and getting the surf instructors cleared takes ages as the French regulations are very rigorous. But seeing how much the kids enjoyed it made it all worthwhile,” says Barrett.
frenchandsurf.com
SOPHIE MORRIS, GRAHAM CLARKE Kooky Dough
‘RECESSION GIVES PEOPLE a bit of courage,” says Sophie Morris, who with partner Graham Clarke set up Kooky Dough in September last year, selling handmade ready-to-cook biscuit dough. Clarke picked up the idea in the US, where he was working on a J1 Visa.
Both have degrees under their belts. Morris has a masters in economics from TCD, Clarke has a degree in finance from UCC, and they met while working for a wealth-management company in Dublin, which neither particularly enjoyed and from which they were made redundant.
“I was always interested in food,” says Morris, who did a 12-week course in Ballymaloe, where making biscuits was part of the daily routine, “and always thought it would be good to have a food business.”
With “a few hundred euro” they started making rolls of dough last October and on their first day in the Stillorgan market in Dublin sold 40 rolls at €5 each. “It really encouraged us,” she says. They then started selling in the permanent market in Ranelagh five days a week, reaching a record sale of 200 rolls at the RDS Christmas craft fair in December. Social networking played a significant role in spreading brand awareness. “We used Facebook a lot and it worked for us and we have 600 fans – it’s free advertising, really,” she says.
The dough, which comes in five different flavours, is a fresh product with a three-week shelf life. It takes just eight minutes to cook 15 biscuits. “People in Ireland just love biscuits,” smiles Morris, who is full of praise for the mentoring service they got from Dublin City Enterprise Board. “James Burke knew the industry, had all the contacts and lined up meetings with buyers. He answered everything for us.”
Now they supply 24 shops around Dublin, making weekly deliveries from their premises in the Spade Centre in North King Street, including to four Superquinn supermarkets. “We want to be nationwide and already we’re supplying White Gables in Moycullen and Kate’s Kitchen in Sligo. We want to switch on more shops every week, but we need to look into better distribution. It’s been a massive learning curve.”
They have secured a grant of €10,000 from Dublin City Enterprise Board, which will enable them to further their aim of building the brand up as quickly as possible and sorting out distribution logistics.
“I really feel so happy now and even though it is hard work, it is most rewarding having people say they love your product. Exciting things happen every day,” says Morris. By the end of the year, Kooky Dough hopes to have a turnover of €100,000.
kookydough.ie
DANIEL LEWIS, ROB GODSIL The Graduation Company
DANIEL LEWIS AND Rob Godsil have been pals since they were students at St Andrew’s in Dublin, where they used to talk casually about setting up in business together. After college they went their separate ways, Lewis to DIT to pursue a degree in business studies and Godsil to TCD to do computer engineering, keeping in touch through a common interest in rugby.
When Lewis came up with the concept of selling graduation jewellery, after giving up the idea of a golf career in South Africa, he contacted Godsil, who was then working in Australia, about creating a business partnership. The Graduation Company was formed in June 2008.
“The father of a friend from school was a jeweller, so we got silver rings – graduation gifts – made by him and our first sale was in Wesley,” recalls Lewis. “We both have a keen eye and similar taste and our goal was to establish ourselves as the best,” adds Godsil.
Having set up the business as a dedicated service and product provider for secondary school and college graduates, they set about sourcing as much as they could from goldsmiths in Ireland and abroad.
Their products now include solid silver rings, bracelets and pendants, which can be engraved with a school crest or motto. The cufflinks come with engraved or enamelled crests and everything is presented in wooden boxes with blue and black packaging.
So far, they have linked up with 50 schools in the greater Dublin area and they liaise directly with school management, past pupils or the students themselves. Along with their product expansion into T-shirts, hoodies, ties and yearbooks, the Graduation Company is also targeting the debs market.
“In short, we want to be a one-stop shop for sixth years, for graduate students,” they say. Already this year they have organised 15 debs’ events and have teamed up with two hotel groups in Dublin and one out of town “for country-themed adventure bus trips”.
Having started with seed money of €10,000 from their own earnings and a small bank loan, their target is €500,000 turnover by the end of this year. Their plans include a “debs expo” in September and a new webpage.
“Nothing prepares you for business and the real world,” says Lewis. “We have learned more in a year and a half than from years in college. It’s all about who you know and how much knowledge you have.”
thegraduationcompany.ie
PADDY O'CONNELL Paddy's O'Granola
As far as Paddy O'Connell is concerned, it all started after a trip to Hawaii. O'Connell, from Cullahill in Co Laois, studied auctioneering in DIT, later working in a Dublin auctioneers "and I hated it", he recalls.
During his college years, he took off for the summer with friends to Hawaii, "had a ball", learned about selling, and discovered granola, a toasted breakfast cereal. Coming from a renowned gastronomic family – his aunt is Darina Allen, his uncle is the chef Rory O'Connell – he came home, did a three-month Ballymaloe cookery course, and set up his own company in 2006, selling granola called Paddy's O'Granola.
A popular hippie health food in the 1960s, granola originated in the US, but O'Connell's recipe came from one of Darina Allen's cookery books.
"It is a mix of oat, wheat, rye and barley flakes, mixed with nuts, sultanas, apricots and sunflower seeds that are toasted in Healy's honey from Cork and organic sunflower oil," he says. "It's 100 per cent natural and nutritious. Most cereals are full of sugar and salt, and preservatives. There are none in mine."
With a €60 investment in the ingredients, he started selling at the farmers' market in Stillorgan two years ago and sold 60 bags at €5 each. "The markets tell you quite quickly whether people like it or not," he says. From his premises in Cullahill, above his family's award-winning pub, he and his mother Una are producing between 750 and 1,000 bags of granola a week, each retailing at €4.95.
"The business totally funds itself," he says. "I have no bank loans and I can expand by saving up and being able to invest back into it. But business growth is contingent on me having to be here."
Having secured a stamp of approval from Good Food Ireland, he is now stocked by many of its recommended food shops, restaurants and hotels. He has just had his first export order from Bewleys Irish Importers in Pennsylvania and is currently working on a gluten-free granola, which will be made in Cork by the Delicious Gluten Free Bakery.
"It's a huge market. One in 20 people in Ireland is coeliac," he says. Now he is hoping to double his output and employ someone to work three days a week. He says, quite winningly, that granola is not just a breakfast cereal, but can be a nutritious snack or a dessert mixed with ice-cream, yoghurt or fruit.
granola.ie
