A busy week

It's been a hectic week here at Synergy Centre - what with hosting the iFactor finals on Monday night (www.innovationfactor.blogspot.com); welcoming John Green for a Franchising Juice on Tuesday morning; and spending Wednesday with our EPP participants making their parting pitches! As if I didn't have enough on my plate I had to run the gauntlet of Vincent Browne last night (http://www.tv3.ie/shows.php?request=tonightwithvincentbrowne). Now I know how our entrepreneurs feel when grilled on their business plans! The Juice was particularly interesting though as John took us through the pros and cons of being both a franchisee and a franchisor. For our client companies I noted the necessity to have been in business long enough to have acquired a track record and ideally to have trialled the franchise concept once in a "safe" environment before selling on.

Getting Busy Again

In the past week or so we've really felt things beginning to buzz again here at Synergy as the summer lull draws to an end. With our Enterprise Launch Programme starting on the 4th September and being in the midst of recruitment for the Synergy Enterprise Platform Programme we are looking forward to welcoming a new crop of enterpreneurs to Synergy Centre. In the meantime Jos, Onray and myself are planning the coming year in terms of "The Juice" speakers, Brown Bag topics and book club reads - all suggestions gratefully accepted. Synergy centre is also leading the iFactor - a competition for Dublin incubation centres which challenges them to come up with the most innovative product or service. The Student Synergy Awards for 2009/10 are also looming on the horizon and Onray is working hard to have everything ready to kick that off when the students start back in September. In the meantime we are all reading "Who Moved My Cheese" ready for book club on the 25th August - everyone welcome.