Athlone an ideal town for start-ups but housing an issue

The need to address the housing situation to help attract international talent to Athlone was one of the challenges highlighted by Athlone-based CEO Paul Madden at a major regional start-up summit in the Radisson Blu Athlone Hotel last week.

The Zinkworks CEO, who was one of a number of representatives from the Midlands region to speak at the summit, hosted by Scale Ireland, also praised Athlone as a location to start a business.

The summit focused on the potential and the challenges facing start-ups and scaling companies within the region and nationwide.

The Scale Ireland summit took place with the support of the Technological University of the Shannon Athlone, Google, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), Enterprise Ireland, Bord na Móna, Atlantic Bridge and Research Ireland.

Regional start-up and scaling companies, including Athlone-based Zinkworks, Mersus Technologies and GreyScout, Mullingar company IDASO and Scopey from Longford, all participated in summit panels during which they discussed issues such as company growth and the factors which will enable them to progress into the future nationally and globally.

The event featured a keynote address from the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke, who commended the work of Scale Ireland, noting that the representative organisation CEO Martina Fitzgerald was "always bringing ideas to the table".

The Minister said that in a time of ongoing geopolitical landscape unrest businesses were "yearning for certainty".

"Unfortunately, we are in a time of much uncertainty at the moment following the imposition of significant tariffs on the EU by the US, but as a Government we are trying to bring a calm, cool and collected response to ensure we arrive at an appropriate and negotiated solution to such measures.

"We have started to challenge and control the areas under our jurisdiction and will bring forward our action plan for marketplace competitiveness in early July. We must act now to ensure that those who invest in our economy know what they are actually going to get in return," Minister Burke said.

The Minister said that there was a need to improve on investment in the start-up and scale-up sectors as "tax relief and grant aid support" was not enough to ensure for such businesses.

"As a Government we are looking at the introduction of a de-risk fund for start-up and scale-up businesses which will incentivise and allow capacity for growth in the sector. We are doing all we can to ensure that Ireland is the best place in which to set up a small business," Minister Burke said.

The Minister also stated that €165bn had been allocated towards infrastructure improvements over the next decade, this too being an essential measure for the growth of start-up and scale-up companies.

"The Government is reviewing the infrastructure plan to ascertain what are the essential projects needed to advance the country. Countries with deep pockets are competing with us so we need to show them that we are improving our infrastructure. This is a key area that will make a difference to our economy.

“We have to do more and more each year to demonstrate how we can rival any capital city in Europe with what we have to offer for start-up and scale-up businesses," the Minister said.

Concluding his address on a note of optimism, Minister Burke stated that the country had a "balanced budget" and with "record levels of employment and are the envy of so many capital cities across Europe".

"The future is exceptionally bright in this country and we, as a Government, will be backing start-up and scale-up businesses all the way as this is where we will get huge reward for Ireland into the future," the Minister said.

Addressing founders during the initial panel discussion, the Zinkworks CEO noted the company's intention to continue its global growth from its base in the Shannon Retail Park.

Established in 2018 and currently employing 200 personnel, Zinkworks provides expertise in software innovation and cutting-edge technologies to clients globally in the telecommunications and financial services sectors.

"Our telecommunications business is predominantly in Europe at present with our financial services focus in North America. However, we have new leads now emerging in Australia and Japan so we are getting around the world," Paul said.

The CEO said he established the business in Athlone as it is a town which provides "all we need as a business".

"Athlone is where we set up the business, where we live and a place for which we have a strong affinity. We were able to set up an office in the town and attract the right talent from our company base as we reached out around the world," Paul said.

Paul also commended the "green jersey" impact which has a positive influence for potential clients particularly in North America.

However, the company CEO did detail a number of challenges which could potentially hamper the future growth of Zinkworks globally.

"We have to try and get the right talent into our company, but the availability of housing is an issue. There are super programmes available like the trusted visa scheme which allows us to bring in engineering talent from overseas if needs be, but we need more housing to accommodate this talent.

"However, start-ups have a lot of control on how to address certain issues. We have built up a great relationship with the estate agents in Athlone so when talent arrives we have an apartment in which they can stay. There is a lot more that companies can do. They just need to step up and do it," Paul said.