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kilkennyobserver.ie
The Kilkenny Observer Friday 19 November 2021
News
Farmers: ‘reduce cash flow pressure’ IFAC, Ireland’s farming, food and agribusiness specialist professional services firm, is encouraging Kilkenny farmers to prioritise budgeting and cash flow management to mitigate the impact of rising costs and tight profit margins. From a financial perspective, 2021 has been a good year on
KILKENNY based Mentor Her have been crowned ‘Best New Start’ company at the Connacht & Leinster regional final of the 2021 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition. The company fought off tough competition having delivered an investment pitch via video conference in front of an expert judging panel. Seedcorn is the island’s biggest business competition for innovative new start and early stage businesses in any sector. The winners from each of the four regions will go onto compete in the all-island final later in the month where the overall ‘Best New Start’ and ‘Best Early Stage’ companies will be announced winning €50,000 each, and ultimately the ‘Overall Winner’ will pocket €100,000 to contribute to their business growth. Established in June 2020 by Katie Doyle (pictured with her award), Mentor Her is a woman-to-woman mentoring service matching established mentors and ambitious mentees in corporate and entrepreneurial spheres. Commenting on their win, Katie Doyle said: “We’re thrilled to win the ‘Best New Start’ company in the Connacht & Leinster final and progress to the next round. When lockdown happened in March 2020, many women decided to re-evaluate their lifestyles and professional careers, they needed guidance on what they should do next which is where I got the idea for Mentor Her. “The Seedcorn competition has given us the opportunity to focus on the next step in our business journey, getting investment. So far, it has been an excellent exercise in understanding more
most Irish farms. Commodity prices are up for milk, beef, lamb and crops. Input prices were relatively stable for the first nine months and weather conditions for both grass and crops were excellent. Taken together, this combination of factors should result in higher profits in 2021 when compared to 2020.
Looking to 2022, while the outlook for dairy, beef, lamb and crop prices is bullish, rising input costs will hit profit margins. Currently, fertiliser prices have almost doubled when compared to this time last year while feed prices are up by about 20%. Fuel and energy costs are also rising. With
tight margins on many farms, good cash flow management will be critical in the coming months. Ifac estimates that dairy farmers could be facing a potential extra cost of four or five cent a litre over 2021 (€591 per ha); beef farmers are likely to see input costs increase by €187
per ha over 2021; tillage farmers could face a potential extra cost of €281 per ha over 2021. Philip O’Connor, Head of Farm Support at IFAC, said: “The combination of the impact of these cost hikes (potentially impacting profits by as much as 50% on dairy farms and 60% on livestock farms) as well as other
financial commitments such as drawings, loan repayments and tax, are likely to lead to cash problems for many farmers.” Now was the time to review cash flow and potentially look at your farm’s existing credit limits and funding options, not next spring if the farm were to run into cash flow issues.
New year will offer new start at WIT
Katie is sowing the seeds of mentor success about our company from an outsider’s point of view.” Since the competition’s inception in 2003, more than 3,100 companies have been through the programme and finalists have raised in excess
of €276m in equity funding, emphasising Seedcorn’s position as the premier competition for high growth startup companies on the island. Congratulating Mentor Her, Connor Sweeney, Seed-
corn Programme Manager at InterTradeIreland said: “It’s a great achievement to win the regional final, the standard of entries from Connacht & Leinster this year has been particularly high.
Congratulations to Mentor Her, they demonstrated innovation, confidence and enormous drive – all of which the judges look for when assessing the potential and longevity of a business.”
WATERFORD’S Institute of Technology (WIT) is inviting people already looking to the new year for change to attend a virtual open evening in November. WIT’s Department of Lifelong Learning is running a virtual springboard & part-time winter Open Evening on Tuesday, November 23 from 6.30 to 7.30pm to coincide with its part-time courses opening for applications. Neil Quinlan, Head of the Department of Lifelong Learning at WIT, advises adults interested in starting college in 2022 to attend the online event to meet WIT subject experts and find out what the best option is for them. “Over Christmas and in early January many people will be thinking about doing a course for personal or professional development. Our open evening is designed for anyone who wants to be prepared in advance for the New Year and find a course now that they would like to start in January. Part-time/flexible and Springboard courses are ideal for people who want to enhance their employability and promotion prospects. Short courses staring this January include project management, digital marketing and social media, payroll and computerised accounts, human resource management, and radio broadcasting. Further information including fees and indicative delivery model for each course is available at www.wit.ie/parttime with applications and payment available online. Interested people can register for the event at www.wit.ie/parttime. Zoom details for the event will be available on the event page on the afternoon of 23 November.
People with unmet literacy needs can avail of new, free courses THE Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is encouraging people with unmet literacy needs in Kilkenny and Carlow to avail of free literacy services. Minister Simon Harris recently published an Adult Literacy for Life – a 10-year adult literacy, numeracy and digital literacy strategy. The strategy aims to ensure that every adult has the necessary literacy, numeracy and digital
literacy to fully engage in society and realise their potential. Minister Harris said: “This campaign is about reaching out to our fellow citizens, many of whom feel like they have been left behind as the country surges into a technologically complex century. “We might consider ourselves a modern and educated society, but there are still far too many who feel isolated, and too many who do not know how to learn these vital skills.
“It is not right that there are people in every county, including Carlow and Kilkenny, who dread having to check a bill, read a medical document, go online to access a service, or even send a message over Whatsapp. It is simply not right that too many of these people are afraid to ask for help,’’ the Minister said. “With this campaign, we are determined to address these problems head on and make Ireland a more inclusive, equitable and,
ultimately, a kinder society for everyone.” The Strategy makes a number of commitments including: • Increasing in the number of learners engaging with literacy and language support by 20,000 by expanding the range of courses available over the first half of the strategy’s lifetime; • Reduce the number of people adults in Ireland with unmet literacy needs, from 18% to 7%. • Reduce the number of adults
in Ireland with unmet numeracy needs from 25% to 12%; • Reduce the share of adults in Ireland without basic digital skills from 47% to 20%. There is a range of services available in your county through the Carlow Kilkenny Education and Training Board, with an adult education provider available on Tullow Road, Carlow and Upper Patrick St, Kilkenny City. “All you have to do is either phone of drop into your local
Education and Training Board, or freephone the National Adult Literacy Agency on 1800 20 20 65,” said the Minister. Phone lines are open 9.30am – 5pm Monday to Friday or text: ‘LEARN’ to 50050 and they will call you back. They are free of charge and aim to help people with reading, writing and digital skills.” For more information on Adult Literacy For Life, please go to www.adultliteracyforlife.ie.
