20th February 2009

LIT Congratulate Dragon Slayers

Entrepreneurs secure €50,000 investment for novel website idea

Limerick Institute of Technology would like to congratulate Limerick Enterprise Acceleration Programme (LEAP) participants Donall O’Connor and Michael O’Donnell for securing €50,000 investment on the first Irish programme of the Dragon’s Den to develop their business www.pedigreecattle.ie . It is fantastic to see two entrepreneurs from Clare and Limerick getting the financial backing from seasoned businesspeople to take their start-up to the next level. 

“Donall and Michéal epitomise the essence of the LEAP programme” said Graham Royce, LEAP programme manager explaining that the year long programme sets out to assist entrepreneurs to develop a business plan to attract investment. “Their passion and commitment to get this business off the ground was a key factor in LIT offering Donall a place on the programme.  We also valued the market that they had identified to advertise cattle online meeting an unmet need of the agricultural community while tapping into the trend of growing use of the internet by farmers.  As owners of pedigree herds they exhibited substantial knowledge of the market in Ireland and the UK.”

Mr Royce added that the various elements of the LEAP programme integrate to challenge participants to progress their businesses over the 12 months. “Among the milestones achieved by the business since joining the programme is the launch of the website at the National Ploughing Championships in September, the development of relationships with the Pedigree Breeder Societies, Dept of Agriculture and Teagasc; and the most recent achievement as finalists in the 2009 JFC Innovation Awards. They have received fantastic feedback from the farming community and we are delighted that Sean Gallagher and Gavin Duffy recognised the strong potential of the business.”

“The ongoing development of the Enterprise Acceleration Centre on campus and continued delivery of the LEAP programme are real evidence of LIT’s very practical research and development strategy and our commitment to supporting new businesses and the Mid-West economy,” said Dr. Fergal Barry, Head of Development at LIT.  “Our Enterprise Acceleration Centre is near 100% occupancy; 2009 will see an increase in offers on the LEAP programme and in the short-to-medium term we will also be doubling the office space available to entrepreneurs.”

Applications are currently being accepted for the LEAP 2009 programme. Further information on the programme and profiles of participants from 2007 and 2008 available online www.leap.ie