Feature Internationalisation
Navigating the choppy
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BROADENING THE ENTERPRISE AND EXPORT BASE OF IRISH FIRMS IS KEY TO ENSURING THAT IRELAND’S ECONOMY HOLDS FIRM AS BREXIT LOOMS. SHELLY MADDEN REPORTS.
If
we have learned anything from the past few months and years, it is that when it comes to Brexit there is no certainty. With each new day, new drafts are written up, new deals proposed and new deadlines announced. It has been more than three years since the UK referendum in which 52% of the voting population elected to leave the EU and, if anything, the state of affairs has only become more unclear. The foundation upon which Brexit balances is anything but stable, shaken daily as the revolving door of prime ministers and prime time headlines continues to spin. In light of the turbulent status quo, Irish firms simply cannot afford to take anything for granted when it comes to their export base. Though our nation has benefitted from a close relationship with the UK, recent events have frayed these ties and are forcing Irish companies to think outside the Brexit box. Ventac is one such company. The vehicle noise control firm employs 45 people and is based in Blessington, Co. Wicklow. Managing Director Darren Fortune has been with Ventac for almost 15 years, and in that time he has seen many changes, including the shift towards electrification. In this situation, a new solution was required to minimise the high-frequency noise created by electric vehicles, so Ventac got to work developing one. According to Fortune, “variants of the solution are deployed throughout Europe” as well as South Korea and North America. Entrepreneur Bernard Walsh has also felt the winds of change in recent years. He founded the Walsh Whiskey business with his wife Rosemary two decades ago, starting out with an Irish coffee blend. Thanks to an “international renaissance” in the whiskey market, the company now has nine core expressions and retails in more than 50 countries. Walsh explains: “The Irish whiskey industry has mainly evolved through huge investment, which has followed the global reawakening of consumers’ appreciation for Irish whiskey as a spirits category.”
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18/10/2019 13:26