Annual Report 2014 - 2015

AnnuAl RepoRt 2014-201502

Contents:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

03 Sponsors 04President’s

Message 05 CEO’s Message

10 Events 12 Annual Dinner

13 Awards

Membership06 Board & Staff 08 Retail & Tourism

16 Skillnet

15 EEN14Jobs, Enterprise

& Innovation

18 Chambers 19 Financial Report

07

09 Purple Flag

AnnuAl RepoRt 2014-2015 05

I wish to thank our members for their support and encouragement over the last year. Whilst Waterford has had to deal with various challenges over the last number of years, there are now very encouraging signs, in particular around job creation, which would suggest there are better times ahead. In overall

terms, there is a greater sense of confidence and optimism, yet recognising there is still plenty to be done. It is fair to say that the level of collaboration and effort by all stakeholders in Waterford is making a difference – this momentum must be sustained. turning specifically to our own activities:• Waterford Business Awards – in conjunction

with our sponsors, judging panel and media partner, we delivered a highly successful awards initiative and the feedback from everyone has been hugely positive. Congratulations to Dawn Meats on winning the overall Waterford Business of the Year Award. We look forward to our second year with this awards initiative which has the potential to grow from strength to strength.

• our membership base is now moving in the right direction and for the first time in many years, we have seen growth in our numbers which is encouraging. In addition, we carried out a strategic review of our events schedule following engagement with both members and our board. to date, the feedback has been positive and we will continue to focus on providing relevant events that deliver both learning and networking opportunities.

• We grew the sales of Waterford Gift Vouchers, an initiative between ourselves, Waterford City & County Council and Waterford Business Group. In particular, the support from local employers by purchasing the vouchers has been significant and we now have over 120 local businesses accepting the vouchers.

MessAGe FRoM tHe Ceo

• Chamber played an important role in the delivery of Purple Flag status for Waterford and we are the only location in the South east to achieve it, having secured accreditation in early 2015. the key stakeholders, in conjunction with the steering group, local businesses, agencies and community groups, have recognised the importance and value of purple Flag accreditation which delivers a vibrant, safe and well-managed offering in the evening and night time economy.

• We have also worked closely with key stakeholders in delivering specific initiatives under the City Centre Management Plan. It is designed to make Waterford an attractive proposition to do business which in turn contributes to the economic development of our city.

• We continue to lobby and represent the views of our members with both local and national politicians, as well as key agencies. We meet visiting ambassadors and delegations on a regular basis here in Waterford to promote new business opportunities for our members.

• We worked closely with Irish Rail to introduce an express train service from Dublin to Waterford which started in April 2015 – thanks to them for having the confidence in supporting this initiative. on the topic of connectivity, we were delighted with the arrival of VLM Airlines to Waterford, and would encourage everyone in the South east to support this service at every opportunity.

the future is looking better and at Waterford Chamber, whilst recognising there is still plenty to be done, we will not be found wanting in terms of playing our part. My thanks to the board and the Chamber staff for their support and a particular welcome to lynda lawton who has joined us on a full-time basis as our Membership & events executive. Finally, I’d also like to thank our team at Waterford Chamber Skillnet for their significant contribution and commitment over the last year.

nICK DonnellYCeo

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BoARd oF diReCtoRs & stAFF

Back row (l-r): Ronan Brazil, Jonathan Earl, Ian Fewer, Tony Power, Billy Sweetman, Nora Widger, David McCoy, Kieran Walsh, Paul Nolan, Greg Touhy, Nick Donnelly. Front row (l-r): Danette Connolly, Kathryn Kiely, Michael O’Dwyer, Dr Derek O’Byrne, Tina Darrer and Laurent Borla.

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nICK DonnellYChief executive

lYnDA lAWtonMembership & events executive

MIChAel lYnAGhCommunications executive

lISA poWeRAdministrator

SARA MullAllYSkillnet network Manager

CAtRIonA houGhSkillnet Administrator

KellY CuMMInSSkillnet Job Seekers Administrator

ChAMBeR StAFFPRESIDENT:Dr Derek o’ByrneWaterford Institute of technology DEPuTy PRESIDENT:Michael o’DwyerAIB Bank VICE PRESIDENT:laurent BorlaArkopharma SECRETARy: Teresa Jane O’MahoneyBMCI Insurance & Investments TREASuRER:Ronan BrazilO’Sullivan Scanlon Brazil

DIRECTORS:• Anne Marie Caulfield,

Caulfield’s SuperValu• Billy Sweetman,

pricewaterhouseCoopers• Danette Connolly, home

Instead Senior Care and nAS Centre

• David McCoy, house of Waterford Crystal

• Greg tuohy, Cantec• Ian Fewer, Fewer harrington

& partners• Jonathan Earl,

B2B Communications• Kathryn Kiely, WIt• Kieran Walsh,

the Munster express• nora Widger, past president• orm Kenny, peter o’Connor

& Son Solicitors• paul nolan, Dawn Meats• tina Darrer, Dooley’s hotel• tony power, Bausch & lomb


Waterford City St patrick’s Day parade, March 2015

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PuRPle FlAG

The Purple Flag is an international recognition of Waterford’s successful, well-managed city centre and public acknowledgement that our city centre is a vibrant, safe place to visit and enjoy in the evening and night time.

BACKGRounDIn 2013 under an initiative led by Waterford City Council, a City Centre Management plan was developed which highlighted the need to enhance and improve the vibrancy of our city centre.Various stakeholders including representatives from Waterford Chamber, City Council, Waterford Business Group and An Garda Síochána researched the purple Flag programme and this resulted in a decision to apply for purple Flag accreditation during 2014.

A steering committee and working group were established, coordinated by Waterford Chamber and comprised of the aforementioned organisations, city centre businesses Comhairle na nÓg and other stakeholders. Workshops were held to prepare for a trial assessment and then the official assessment by the Association of town and City Management (AtCM) in December 2014. Waterford was officially awarded purple Flag status in February 2015.

WAteRFoRD CItYIn Waterford, the award has been given in recognition of the wide

choice of the city’s entertainment and leisure attractions, the range and quality of restaurants, cafés, theatres, hotels, bars and clubs and the strong partnership working towards making the city centre safer and continuing to drive standards forward.

purple Flag status has been shown to generate increased visitor numbers and investment, as well as reduce crime levels and antisocial behaviour. Major retail brands look for purple Flag accreditation when choosing where to invest. Securing this purple Flag enhances Waterford’s reputation and generates pride of place. Purple Flag status will be of huge benefit to Waterford. The positive publicity and increased visitors that are expected to result will help sustain jobs and an increased vibrancy in Waterford.

May Bank Holiday WeekendWaterford Chamber, in its role as purple Flag Co-ordinator, encouraged businesses to enter into the spirit of the weekend by flying

purple Flags and using purple-themed window displays. the weekend was formally launched on 1st May at Broad Street by Cllr. James Tobin, Mayor of the City and County of Waterford and Cllr. lola o’Sullivan, Mayor of the Waterford Metropolitan District. purple Flag Ambassador Ashley loftus also joined the celebrations. the wooden sailing ship ‘Brian Ború’ made its maiden voyage to coincide with the launch of the purple Flag weekend.

GoInG FoRWARDAs with the Blue Flag, towns and cities will need to maintain standards in order to retain the purple Flag, so the onus is on Waterford City to continue to meet these standards, and indeed to develop and improve in the short to medium term.

www.facebook.com/purpleflagwaterford


events

A large part of what we do at Waterford Chamber circulates around events. It affords members and non-members the perfect opportunity to network, share ideas, and offer hints and tips as well as making important business connections.

the past year has enjoyed an extensive events calendar which catered for everyone in business, from our hugely successful Manufacturing Conference and Business expo, to our Annual Golf Classic, president’s lunch, Budget Breakfast and Inspiring Women in Business lunch.

We were delighted to welcome Irish Ambassador to the uK Dan Mulhall as our guest speaker at the Annual Dinner in november and we have also had the pleasure of welcoming other visiting dignitaries and organisations to the Chamber offices.

earlier this year we hosted the inaugural Waterford Business Awards, which proved an incredible platform for businesses to promote themselves and be awarded for their ongoing contribution to the business community in Waterford.

the introduction of new lunch time events has proved popular, as seen by our learn at lunch series and Social Media Bitesize Month. More events of a similar nature have been included for the coming year. Both

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have been run in conjunction with Waterford Chamber Skillnet and we will work closely with them on more events throughout the year, as well as continuing our partnership with key stakeholders including Waterford City & County Council, enterprise Ireland and the IDA.

We have altered the traditional Business After hours format, where some of the events will include short presentations from other members, as well as our hosts, and again this was a welcome change to the original format. We have featured a number of excellent keynote speakers at our events in the past year and are engaging with others of note for the year ahead.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our sponsors and partners who have worked with us over the past twelve months and we look forward to continuing our working relationships and building

Golf Classic, July 2014: Tom Walsh, House of Waterford Crystal; 3rd place Greenstar team: Jamsie Kelly, Dick Power, Michael Howlett & Colm Keating; David McCoy, House of Waterford Crystal; Nearest the Pin winner Harry O’Neill. Front row (l-r): 2nd place Arachas team: Nick Donnelly, Waterford Chamber CEO, Peter Mulvaney, Jim Whitmore, Kieran Jones.

on new ones for the year to come. new events are constantly being added to our calendar and we welcome requests and suggestions from our members, so we can work for you. We look forward to welcoming you at some of our many events in the months ahead and encourage you to get out and engage with the business community. Who knows who you might meet!


Thirty of Waterford’s top businesses were honoured at the inaugural Waterford Business Awards, which were held on Friday, 6th March at Dooley’s Hotel.

over 200 guests attended the prestigious event, organised by Waterford Chamber and media partner WlR FM, and the top Waterford businesses were celebrated for their successes and their contribution to the local economy. each category winner was presented with a custom designed Waterford Crystal trophy and the overall Winner, Dawn Meats, was presented with a custom design perpetual trophy.

Receiving the Waterford Business of the Year title, niall Browne from Dawn Meats said, “We are delighted, I accept this on behalf of 400 plus employees in Waterford City and County, it is fantastic to win this award.”

Waterford City and County Council sponsored the overall Winner, while category sponsors were AIB Bank, City enterprise Centre, Clock tower Car park, Coillte panel Products, FBD Hotels, Genzyme, pricewaterhouseCoopers, RIKon, Waterford Airport and WIt.

the independent judging panel was chaired by former Chamber president, Frank o’Regan.

WAteRFoRd Business AWARds:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

ARtS & CultuReSpraoi

BeSt SMAll BuSIneSSShellac nails

CoMMunItY & SoCIAl enteRpRISe

Ballybeg Greens

FooD & AGRIM&D Bakery

InnoVAtIon & teChnoloGY

eirGen pharma

MAnuFACtuRInG & InDuStRYDawn Meats

BeSt neW BuSIneSStheatre Box

RetAIlMulligans pharmacy Group

SeRVICeSeishtec

touRISM & hoSpItAlItYthe Reg

oVeRAll WInneRDawn Meats

Dr Derek o’Byrne, Waterford Chamber president with Dan and niall Browne, Dawn Meats.

Dr Derek o’Byrne, Waterford Chamber president with niamh Colbert, Spraoi and Ruth Beadle, Genzyme.

Dr Derek o’Byrne, Waterford Chamber president with patsy Carney, eirGen pharma and neil Foot, Coillte panel products.

WInneRS


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JoBs, enteRPRise & innovAtion

The primary objectives of the Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation (JEI) Committee is to ensure Chamber’s connectivity to national and local Government, development agencies, industry and academic institutions on matters relating to jobs, enterprise and innovation, in addition to informing the formation of enterprise policy by participating in working groups and making direct contributions to Government consultations.

Over the past year the JEI committee has continued to actively develop its links with Waterford City & County Council, Ibec, IDA, enterprise Ireland and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation. Waterford Chamber is an active participant in the economic development committee structure for the development of Waterford City and County. the Chamber continues to work with IDA through meeting with incoming visiting itineraries to Waterford and contributed to the IDA Welcome pack published in the past year.

The Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation is in the process of developing a Regional enterprise Strategy for the South east in order to better integrate the efforts of enterprise agencies and the other regional stakeholders in building enterprise based on sustainable competitive advantage of the region. Members of the Chamber

Board and executive are actively engaged in this consultation process.Waterford Chamber has appointed the following nominees on a number of enterprise and economic development committees:

• Brendan Cummins – Waterford economic Development & enterprise Strategic policy Committee

• nick Donnelly – Waterford local Community Development Committee

• nick Donnelly – Steering Group for the City Centre Management plan

• paul nolan – Monitoring Committee for the Southern & eastern Regional operational programme 2014–2020

• Jonathan Earl – Monitoring Committee for the Ireland-Wales Co-operation programme

JEI COMMITTEE

KAthRYn KIelYWIt

BIllY SWeetMAnpricewaterhouseCoopers

CARolIne BAnnonDavid M. Breen & Co

lAuRent BoRlAArkopharma

KIeRAn WAlShthe Munster express

nIAll pRenDeRGAStGenzyme

nICK DonnellYWaterford Chamber

oRM KennYpeter o’Connor & Son Solicitors

pAul nolAnDawn Meats

at the Manufacturing Conference: Pat logan, Teva Pharmaceuticals; nicola Murphy, lake Region Medical; aidan Walsh, WiT; dr derek o’Byrne, Waterford Chamber President; Gerry Forristal, kel-Tech engineering and Frank Ryan, ida ireland.

MAnuFACtuRInG ConFeRenCethe second annual Waterford Chamber multi-sector Manufacturing Conference, “Sustainable Manufacturing – Managing Improvements into the Future” took

place on 9th october 2014 in partnership with WIt. Frank Ryan, Chairman of IDA Ireland, was the keynote speaker, and a host of experts offered insights and innovative ideas, with 82 people attending from 40 organisations to hear about operational excellence and Manufacturing Information Systems.


by the havenWood physiotherapy team. there were over 80 attendees on the day and Waterford Chamber Skillnet is already gearing up for the second conference in october of this year.

IRISh InStItute oF tRAInInG & DeVelopMent AWARDSWaterford Chamber Skillnet received an IItD outstanding Achievement award in the Category of ‘Best Back to Work Initiative’ for the entrepreneurship in Food programme. We are thrilled with the recognition and are delighted that with the continued support and hard

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SteeRInG CoMMIttee

JACKIE ROCHEBausch & lomb

CAtRIonA houGhSkillnet network Administrator

GAYle BARRYWaterford Area partnership

KellY CuMMInSSkillnet Job Seekers Administrator

lAuRent BoRlAArkopharma

neIl QuInlAnWIt

nICK DonnellYWaterford Chamber

pADRAIG DolAnhavenWood Retirement Village

SARA MullAllYnetwork Manager

at the dementia Conference: Prof. Suzanne Cahill; dr. Michael Bergin, WiT; Margaret Croke; Prof. Riona Cahill, University Hospital Waterford; lisa Carey, Bowe o’Brien Solicitors; Sara Mullally, Waterford Chamber Skillnet.

work from the tutors Seamus hayes and Daphne Gethings of Fitzwilliam training and Consulting that the programme has become the huge success that it is. We are delighted to announce that we will host an entrepreneurship in Craft programme in the second half of 2015.

Visit www.waterfordskillnet.ie for further information about funded training for your business and upcoming training courses.

The Waterford Chamber Skillnet is funded by member companies and the Training Networks Programme, an initiative of Skillnets Ltd funded from the National Training Fund through the Department of Education and Skills.

at the iiTd awards: kelly Cummins, John Fallon, Jackie Roche, Sara Mullally, daphne Gethings, Teresa Joyce, Marie Power and Catriona Hough.


CHAMBeRs

Waterford Chamber works with other Chambers on a local, regional and national level.

ChAMBeRS IRelAnDAs the largest business organisation in Ireland, Chambers Ireland works to create the best environment for members locally, regionally and nationally. Chambers Ireland acts as one voice for business in Ireland while also promoting the social and economic development of local communities.

one of the key functions of Chambers Ireland is to represent the views of Irish business to Government which is achieved through effective research and lobbying, coupled with effective representation on a range of policy-making boards.

At its core, Chambers Ireland’s mission is to represent the interests of member companies, promote business competitiveness in Ireland and enable the development of the Chamber movement. It has a wide regional spread across the country with local Chambers playing a key role in both the community and business development within their local area.

South eASt ChAMBeRS South east Chambers is made up of the nine Chambers of Commerce in the South East: Carlow, Clonmel, Dungarvan & West Waterford, enniscorthy, Gorey, Kilkenny, new Ross, Waterford and Wexford.

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A committee comprised of representatives of each Chamber meets on a quarterly basis to discuss issues relevant to business throughout the region.

tRAMoRe ChAMBeR oF touRISM & CoMMeRCethe new organisation was formed in January 2015, followed by an AGM at which a board of directors was elected. there are also sub committees working on issues such as economic Development, environmental enhancement, events, Marketing & promotion, Community Development and operations & Membership.

tramore Chamber of tourism & Commerce was set up to offer one strong voice to represent the great work that is going on in tramore.

As per their mission statement, the new organisation will “promote and develop commerce, enterprise and tourism for the benefit of its membership, wider business interests and the local community.”

tramore Chamber will have a representative on the Waterford Chamber Board of Directors, and going forward, the two Chambers will work together on specific events and activities which help to promote both Waterford and tramore as a great place to live, work and do business.

at the Chamber Ceos Forum, april 2015

www.chambers.ie www.southeastchambers.ie

www.tramore.ie

Annual Report 2014 - 2015

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Transcript of Annual Report 2014 - 2015