On 10, 11 & 12 November, 23 Welsh businesses visited Ireland to meet up with the Irish Network participants. 

As part of this trip, the Irish Network participants put on a Business Showcase Exhibition in the Tower Hotel, Waterford.

Date:  Thursday 11 November

Venue:  Tower Hotel, Waterford

Time:  2 pm

Venue:  Hotel Minella, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary

9.00 am                                      Registration

9.15 am                                      ‘Making Sense of Internet Marketing for Small Businesses’ with Keith Bohanna – Part 1

11.00 – 11.15 am                     Tea/Coffee and Scones

11.15 am – 12.15 pm               ‘Making Sense of Internet Marketing for Small Businesses’ with Keith Bohanna – Part 2

12.30 pm – 1.30 pm                 ‘Practical Stress Management for Professionals’ with Leonor Rivallo

1.30 pm                                      Complimentary Lunch

2.15 pm                                      Enterprise Visits to Gurtnafleur Business Park, Clonmel

2.15 pm                                      The Label Factory - Susan Schaerer (Female Network)

2.40 pm                                      Solve IT – Austin Gleeson, (Male Network)

Business Topic:  The Road to Self-Facilitating Networks, The SLNIW Story So Far

Venue:                Ferrycarrig Hotel, Wexford

Time:                   9 am - 1 pm

The three Irish SLNIW business networks will travel to Wales to network with their Welsh counterparts.  This event is the first of two cross border trips that brings all of the six networks together to network, share ideas and establish new business opportunities. 

During the event, the Welsh network members put on a showcase of their businesses for the visiting network delegation from Ireland.  In November 2010, the Welsh networks will travel to Ireland to visit the Irish network participants and the Irish entrepreneurs will have any opportunity to showcase their businesses.

SLNIW hosted their first international conference on Networks, Learning and Entrepreneurship in Aberystwyth, Wales.  For further information on this event, please click on http://www.slniwconference.co.uk/.

From 30th March to 1st April, the Irish Networks will travel to Wales - the purpose of this event is to facilitate networking between SLNIW Irish and Welsh businesses. 

The Irish Networks will have an opportunity to carry out site visits to a number of Welsh Network Enterprises, providing them with a valuable insight into how their counterparts run their businesses.  Guest speakers will also present - on day one, a representative from the Cambrian Mountains Initiative, which is a wide-ranging project that aims to help promote rural enterprise, protect the environment and add value to products and services in Mid Wales, will give a talk re sustainability; on day two, Dr Carl Iwan Clowes, Founder of the Nant Gwrtheyrn Trust will share his experience of networking during his talk, “Nant Gwrtheyrn – from vision to reality; networking at a national level to empower Wales and her language”.

An Exhibition and Networking Event will be held in the afternoon of 31st March.  This will feature West Wales businesses sharing their experiences of networking and learning.  Local business owners from Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Gwynedd and Carmarthenshire who are network members, will describe how they have learned and benefitted from networking with the other Welsh and Irish businesses involved in the project.  There will also be an exhibition of the services provided by Welsh Business Support Agencies including: the Federation of Small Businesses; Finance Wales; Chwarae Teg; Flexible Support for Business; Services to Business – Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities and Ceredigion Business Development.

“Entrepreneurial Networking and Learning within Regional Economies”

Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland

7th & 8th December 2011

Please note important dates for the Conference:

Abstract submission deadline:  30 June 2011

Full Paper submission deadline: 2 September 2011

SLNIW Networking Event and Seminar / Exhibition / Spirit of Enterprise Michael Dee Award

This event has a treble purpose;

It is the second Cross Border Trip for the Welsh Networks, bringing the six networks together.  As part of this event, the Welsh participants will have the opportunity to visit three businesses in the South East region, enabling them to see these businesses in operation first-hand.  Following this, a shared network meeting will take place, enabling the six networks to come together to exchange ideas, share business problems and establish new business opportunities. 

Secondly, SLNIW, in conjunction with the Spirit of Enterprise Forum, will host a Seminar on "Ireland and Wales Working Together"to disseminate information on Learning Networks in Ireland and Wales, delivered by Professor William O'Gorman (SLNIW Project Director, Ireland), Ms. Nerys Fuller-Love (SLNIW Project Director, Wales) and Mr. Simon Baily, Head of Unit from the Ireland Wales Office. 

Martin Shanahan, CEO of Forfas will deliver the key note address for this event.  Also, as part of this event, an exhibition showcasing a range of enterprise supports available to enterprises in Ireland will take place.

The final element is the presentation of the prestigious "Spirit of Enterprise Michael Dee Award".  

To book your place at this event, please contact Catherine Whitty @ cwhitty@wit.ie.