23 November 2012: ‘Managing Uncertainty In Challenging Times’ will be the topic of a Business Breakfast to be held on December 5 at the Kemmy Business School in the University of Limerick.
The inaugural event—in partnership with Limerick Chamber—offers “60 minutes of know-how and networking to help bring new focus to your business”.
The speakers are: Ian Quinn, founder, chairman and main shareholder of Creganna-Tactx Medical and KBS faculty member, Dr Michele O’Dwyer, a former consultant who investigated business issues in a diverse range of industries in Ireland and Europe. The moderator will be well-known broadcaster, Conall O’Morain.
Dr Regina McNally, a Senior Lecturer in Strategy at the school, explained that one of UL’s goals “is to increase engagement locally and this is one of the initiatives that KBS is putting forward to connect with local managers”.
“Limerick Chamber has a very similar goal to us in wanting to help local managers to improve opportunities for their businesses to be successful and so it’s a natural alliance. We think the subject—Managing Uncertainty in Challenging Times—is probably the most important thing on the minds of local managers. It certainly seems like managers are having severe difficulties trying to figure out how to keep their business alive, generate traffic and deliver value for customers in this challenging economy,” she said.
Mr Quinn will speak about how his company made the transition from SME to multinational; the challenges it faced and the path it took to come to focus on a completely different industry.
“We think he has an especially interesting story. It shows that we can get through tough times together. As the CEO of any firm you really have to pay attention to what’s going on and be very honest about what your own and your firm’s capabilities are. You have to make changes that will be best for the firm even if they’re not comfortable or familiar. It’s a really relevant story for managers in bigger companies and entrepreneurs managing smaller firms,” said Dr McNally.
Maria Kelly, CEO of Limerick Chamber, added that “delivering the Business Breakfast series with Kemmy Business School is a strategic fit for the chamber”.
“We are keen to enhance our service offering to businesses, particularly in the area of facilitating business growth, expansion and the creation of jobs. We believe that the topics covered will give business owners and leaders the inspiration and know-how to take their business to the next level. And, as they are so often time-poor, we hope the early morning starts will appeal.”
The schedule is as follows: 7.30-8am, networking & light breakfast; 8-8.30am, ‘Managing Uncertainty In Challenging Times’ and 8.30-9am, Q&A and sum-up. Free parking will be available on site.
Media partners for the event are: The Limerick Leader and Limerick’s Live 95FM.
Interested parties can register at: www.kbsbreakfast.eventbrite.ie or email Elaine.Kirwan@ul.ie/call 061-234605. RSVP by December 4.
-ENDS-
Note to editor:
For further information, contact Regina McNally on 061-234605 or Edwina Gore on 061-415180.
Speaker/moderator profiles
Ian Quinn is founder, Chairman and main shareholder of Creganna-Tactx Medical. Established in Ireland as Creganna in 1980, the company initially served a range of industries providing a variety of outsourced engineering solutions. In 1999, Creganna entered the medical device industry and in 2003 divested its operations in all other industries to focus solely on this sector. The company has experienced significant growth in the medical device sector since 2000 through a combination of new products, technology and service developments, geographic expansion and acquisitions. Creganna-Tactx Medical operates on three continents and is ranked among the global Top 10 providers of medical device outsourcing solutions.
Before joining the faculty, Dr Michele O’Dwyer worked as a consultant where she investigated business issues in a diverse range of industries in Ireland and Europe. Her continuing close links with industry support her research interests that focus on innovation in small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), SME marketing, product development and marketing communications. Michele currently lectures in entrepreneurship, innovation and marketing in the Kemmy Business School at the University of Limerick.
Conall O’Morain is Ireland’s most senior business broadcaster. An economics graduate, he set up RTE’s Business News in 1984. He left there to become an institutional stockbroker with ABN AMRO for eight years. However, his first love is business broadcasting and having established a successful broad based communications company (so he shares the pain of running an SME) he started presenting Today FM’s Sunday Business Show five years ago.
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