Address by Mr Noel Treacy, T.D., Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce, At the launch of Small Business Mentoring and Support Website on behalf of Mc Garry Consulting and Dublin City CEB in the Burlington Hotel, Friday 18th February 2000

I am delighted to be here today to perform the official launch of the Small Business mentoring and support Website on behalf of McGarry Consulting and Dublin City Enterprise Board.

The Internet is recognised as a fundamental element of growth in business and community development today and has changed forever the way in which a huge range of businesses now perceives customers. Companies, large and small, are no longer restricted by physical boundaries or the complexity of establishing outlets for their product in far-flung places. They no longer have to rely so heavily on costly agents or distributors to develop markets in different countries. Instead, they can promote their goods or services internationally by harnessing the power of the Internet to deliver powerful, global advertising. The process is taken to its logical conclusion through direct sales and payment transactions in a wide variety of retail and service businesses.

Not surprisingly, Internet marketing and e-commerce trading are most advanced in the United States where companies are now using them routinely to improve their competitive edge and increase their customer base. Ireland is not lagging behind, however. In a country exposed for two decades to world-class software industries, there has been a rapid and willing acceptance of the Internet and its potential for a range of services - in business, education, and training. You only have to scan the business and technology pages every day to read about imaginative and innovative Web sites being developed by companies and individuals all around the country. McGarry Consulting Ltd, a Dublin-based company, has been delivering consultancy and training services to the SME sector in Ireland for the past 20 years and has done excellent work in the area of partnership between firms in Ireland and North America. Mr. Seán McGarry, the Managing director, is a founder member of the Irish Franchise Association and through his company's involvement in partnering and franchising, he quickly came to realise the potential of the Internet for a variety of uses in the type of business in which he is engaged in.

In 1998 he launched a dedicated franchise website - franchisedirect.com. International franchise companies, the majority of them American, advertise their franchises on the site and are its source of revenue. Potential investors who visit it can then contact the companies directly or be introduced on-line by the site operators. A range of ancillary services is provided to both advertiser and visitor. Franchise Direct.com currently attracts 30,000 visitors per month and is competing confidently with well-established franchise sites around the world.

The existence of Internet facilities in most small and medium businesses, combined with the suitability of training and consultancy for delivery on-line, have resulted in the creation of Management Direct.Com. being launched here today. Management Direct.com is a secure site accessible by password to its membership network of SME's for a modest fee. It provides a time-efficient way for owner managers to receive business support from the comfort of their own offices or homes at a time that suits them. The site is fully interactive and will enable its members to:

• obtain mentoring services,
• keep a check on their business through quarterly completion of a probing evaluation checklist,
• deal with the financials
• learn how to take care of their customers and staff.

They can also post public questions and comments and share experiences with other owner managers around the country.

Arising from the launch of Franchise Direct.Com in 1998 and Management Direct.com. today, McGarry Consulting is forming a separate company, McGarry Internet, to develop and commercialise a suite of Internet sites to underpin its services to the business sector, both here in Ireland and internationally. Common web-mastering and sales support will be shared by all sites at the company's offices in Ballsbridge, Dublin.

I am pleased to see that the Dublin City Enterprise Board, one of a network of 35 City and County Enterprise Boards established by us in 1993, is lending its support to this new company. City and County Enterprise Boards have been major players in achieving the economic success which our country is experiencing at this time and the Dublin Enterprise Board has played a major part in this success story through its provision of a wide range of supports to start up and existing enterprises located within the City. The Enterprise Boards have proved to be extremely successful, innovative and effective at developing a structure capable of both generating and tapping enterprise at local level. Within a few short years they have helped transform Ireland's economic landscape. By providing an unequivocal enterprise focus, the Boards have developed indigenous enterprise potential and stimulated economic activity at local level.

In recognition of the huge impact which E-Commerce is now having, and will have in the future, on business, especially small to medium sized businesses, the Dublin Enterprise Board has invested in the form of Preference Shares in this new venture that will add greatly to the future development of the SME sector in this City.

In conclusion I would like to extend my personal congratulations to McGarry Consulting and Mr. Sean McGarry who has proved himself to be an able and successful businessman - the establishment of McGarry Internet represents the future for McGarry Consulting and consolidates its position for the first decade of the new Millennium - to Dublin City Enterprise Board and its Chief Executive, Mr. Gerry Macken and to all involved in this new company.