Enterprise Ireland said yesterday it had restructured its operations and would now provide a one-stop-shop of expert services to indigenous companies, with particular focus on high-potential start-up firms. The agency - which combines the old operations of Forbairt, An Bord Trachtala and part of FAS - said it had set ambitious targets in a drive to double sales of its client companies in a decade.
The agency's chief executive, Mr Dan Flinter, said Enterprise Ireland planned to re-balance its spending patterns, increasing the proportion spent on research and development, marketing and human resources, and using less on straightforward job creation.
The secretary general of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Paul Haran, said key challenges facing the agency included creating profitable new businesses, building Irish firms' share of international markets, harnessing new technologies, deepening R&D capability, and building staff skills.
Under the new structure, Mr Flinter said, the focus would be on solutions and service rather than programmes or products.
"Each client firm will have a development adviser appointed to it to act as a primary point of contact, giving the client access to the full range of Enterprise Ireland's solutions in an efficient and effective fashion," he added. "Solutions will be delivered as part of a structured development process agreed with the client, and all aspects of our operations will be driven by our clients' needs."
Enterprise Ireland plans to double the sales of indigenous firms from £20 billion (€25.4 billion) to £40 billion within a decade. To start this drive, the agency set a series of targets for 2001: sales should rise by 22 per cent to £21.1 billion, exports should rise 31 per cent to £8.8 million, and the resulting jobs should increase by 9 per cent to 142,000.
Mr Flinter said there were already some encouraging trends, including an increased amount being spent by companies on R&D, and the emergence - especially in the the technology sector but also in the food industry - of a new generation of entrepreneurs and investors.
Enterprise Ireland would do everything it could to drive up the number of companies with sales above a certain level, he said. This required:
Increasing the number of high-potential start-up companies through aggressive targeting of individual entrepreneurs, sectors and venture capital funds;
Focusing investment support on high-technology performers;
Driving up the number of companies operating in international markets;
Facilitating the development of human resources and capability building in client companies;
Identifying sectors with long-term market opportunity and exploiting them.
Mr Flinter said the agency would continue its policy of taking a 5-10 per cent stake in start-up companies. This meant that even if the firms were acquired by multinationals, the investment could be ploughed back into new firms.
The agency's chairman, Mr Pat Molloy, said Enterprise Ireland was concerned about labour shortages, especially in urban areas. He suggested that increased participation by women in the workforce, the return of more emigrants, and a rise in investment outside the cities could help address these problems.
Referring to the industrial disputes that emerged with the creation of Enterprise Ireland, Mr Flinter said the number of grades had been negotiated with the trades unions to six from 18. But he would not comment on the possibility of job reductions, saying that would be a decision for the board, and would be made only after the restructuring had taken place.
