Propel is a one year enterprise development programme that takes people with a business idea on a journey to commercialisation; from prototype to product; to sales and new customers; seeking funding along the way to fuel export growth and local employment.  At the end you will be able to stand and pitch for investment, present your business plan and do business internationally.

In the past three years over 30 new Northern Ireland based companies on the Propel programme have developed new markets, sought and gained over £3m investment and are already employing 50 people. Now we need more determined entrepreneurs to build on this success with three planned programmes to run between now and November 2015, with the first kicking off in February 2013 with an application date of 22nd January 2013.

Invest Northern Ireland is running a series of regional awareness seminars to launch the latest programme which will provide startups with high quality training, one to one mentoring, workshops, networking opportunities and financial support.  The sessions will take place in the week commencing 10th December and will be held in Newry, Omagh, Derry/Londonderry, Ballymena and Belfast.

To find out more about the information sessions and book a place, click here. 

Alternatively you can call 0870 4954841, email propel@investni.com, visit the programme website www.propelprogramme.co.uk  or follow the Propel Programme twitter feed here.

You can watch a short video clip covering the event on UTV evening news.

The awards event was held to acknowledge the efforts and progress of all of the participating companies on the programme, with a number of special awards given to 5 of the startup businesses.  

Propel Company of the Year – Okotech, Janette O’Hagan

Best Final Investor Pitch – GripZone, Fergus Wallace

Business Which Made Most Progress - School Apps Kit, Richard Johnston

Best Go To Market Strategy – NoSho, Collette McCrarren

John Butler Best Networker  - Adoreboard, Chris Johnston

US Seed Stage Valuation Trends – Bill Payne

Entrepreneur turned Investor – Danny Moore

Green Your Goods, Pitch Presentation – Barry Walsh

Relevenz, Pitch Presentation – Stephen Oman

payByMobile, Pitch Presentation – Liam Lowe

It also gave Diane Roberts of Xcell Partners an opportunity to launch a new investment initiative Colman Equity which will have hubs in both Belfast and Dublin.

“We’re open for investors; we’re open for entrepreneurs,” she said.  Roberts also reflected on the new breed of start-ups that are emerging in Ireland.

“We’ve seen lots of new words emerging in recent times,” she said, “such as lean-start-ups, to reflect the change.” However, Roberts said that these start-ups need to be funded.

“We need to have a robust angel community. We now have eight additional syndicates across the country.”

According to Roberts, the aim of future Angel MeetUps in Ireland will be to share knowledge about angel investing, while also giving both self-starters and investors a forum to network. “Ultimately, it’s about funding start-ups,” she said.

Further details about the event can be found at Silicon Republic, who done an excellent job of covering the event. Thanks also go to all the event sponsors and in particular to Eoghan Jennings and the entire team at StartupbootcampDublin. Take a bow to Alison and Tom.

Future Angel Meetup events are planned for this year, both in Dublin and Belfast.

Photos:

This inaugural event, targeting both Angel Investors and Entrepreneurs is uniquely designed to discuss the hot topics of the Business Angel Community and to showcase four innovative companies raising finance demonstrating what Irish based entrepreneurs have to offer.
 
Speakers include, Gavin Duffy, Entrepreneur & Irish Dragon’s Den Presenter; Bill Liao, Entrepreneur & Micro Angel; Danny Moore of Loughshore Investments; Diane Roberts from the event host Xcell Partners; Nelson Gray, an experienced Scottish investor; Accomplished business leader Leslie Buckley. We are delighted to announce the internationally renowned Bill Payne as our keynote speaker. Accomplished, award winning, experienced and here in Dublin, Bill will be sharing his wealth of knowledge and insights into angel investment with us. Don’t miss this chance to listen, meet and possibly pitch your business idea.

Come meet the leaders in angel investment on the island – be there! Book your place

Unique Event. With the vision to make this the place for entrepreneurs, seed funds, and the Angel community to meet, network, and to learn.  We aim to make the Angel community more accessible and open to the startup community in Ireland, and help the community to build relationships with other co-investors, seed funds, VC community, and enterprise agencies, across the island.

Calling all start ups!   If you are a start-up company seeking to raise seed capital from angels, we want to hear from you!  We are offering four invigorating companies the exclusive opportunity to pitch at Ireland’s first Angel Meetup and importantly avail of 1-1 mentoring in advance with Bill Payne.

The first Propel networking event of 2012 was held on 9^th February  in Belfast.  This was an exclusive gathering for the current Invest NI  Propel Programme participants to share their business ideas and  connect with the wider business community.   We were fortunate to  have Dylan Collins give a keynote speech to the group, sharing his 7  steps to entrepreneurial success.

Bill Scott, Executive Director Invest NI, who also addressed the  group, stressed the importance of the programme and its’ positive economic impact.

Those in attendance included current and past Propel Programme participants, investors and a range of business executives from across the region.

Speaking at the programmes inaugural workshop Mr Hamilton said: “The Propel programme offers local entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to turn innovative ideas into high growth, export focused businesses.”

“The 15 companies represent areas of growth for our economy. They include businesses in the renewables and environmental sectors, software and App developers, and niche manufacturing and recycling businesses. Each of them has demonstrated good export potential which we hope this programme will help them achieve.”

“We have already demonstrated that this type of business support is good for our economy. Last year 18 companies completed this programme and already they have created 17 high value jobs, and we anticipate a further 39 new jobs will be created over the next 12 months.  Five of the companies have secured equity investment totalling more than £925,000.”

Janette O’Hagan from Okotech Ltd, which has developed an innovative product to revolutionise the control energy in homes and businesses was one of the successful candidates who made it through to Phase 2. 

Janette O’Hagan said: “Being able to progress with this programme is a fantastic development for our business at this stage. It will allow me to focus my efforts 100% on the continued development of our product and the market potential. Our HeatBOSS product is designed to help our customers to use energy more efficiently, thus saving up to 30% of their heating costs.

“At a time of rising energy prices we can see huge potential for our business both domestically and in overseas markets. I hope that through my participation in Propel that we can bring our product to market within the next six months, something that will ensure we capture a significant share of our potential market.

“Propel has given me the opportunity to learn the business ropes from experienced and successful mentors and also meet many of Northern Ireland’s brightest entrepreneurs along the way.”

Press Release issued by Invest Northern Ireland (Friday 02 September 2011)

To celebrate we are hosting a ‘open house’ between 4-6 this coming Friday, 1st July. Everyone is welcome to drop in and say hello.  There is street parking is available, but there is also ample paid parking to the rear of the office in the car park close to the cathedral.

Map showing 9 St. Colman’s Park Newry BT34 2BX.