Thoughts and ideas on growing a business

A friend, Philip Gillen, has started a new business, and is looking for funding. 

Himself and his business partner have shared their knowledge and experience in finding the market opportunity first, and then designing a business around it. 

This post is for information only; you may be interested in contacting the company.

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Dublin based Safefood 360° is seeking €500,000 of private investment through the Business Expansion Scheme (BES). The company is an early start-up and specialises in web based applications designed to assist food companies manage their food safety systems. Version one will be ready for full release early in 2011 and many of the investors to date are from the Irish food sector. This initial investment round (raised €200,000 so far) is continuing and the company expects to raise an additional €300,000 before Christmas. 

What do we do?

Safefood 360 is a web-based software package specifically designed to manage food safety compliance for the global food processing sector. We are a young Irish start-up business, grant aided by Enterprise Ireland and categorised as having High Potential. 

BES Investment Opportunity

We have set up a Business Expansion Scheme (BES) for Safefood 360 which qualifies for a tax rebate of 41% on inward BES investments. The typical unit of investment is €25,000 (other amounts are possible) and at the end of 5 years the investor can expect a return of at least twice their initial investment.  We also have a unique ‘Put & Call’ agreement in place whereby each BES investor shall have an alternative ‘Share Subscription Option’ to subscribe for new ordinary shares in the company, if this proves to be the more attractive option for the investor at that time. Our BES target for 2010 is €500k and we will process all Revenue RICT forms on behalf of investors so that they can claim tax relief for 2010. 

Progress to Date

We have already met with numerous local and International food companies who have expressed keen interest in purchasing the application once development is complete, which is targeted for January 2011 (letters of intent are available upon request). Our business proposition has received very positive feedback from key industry stakeholders such as regulatory and commercial compliance auditors from Ireland, the UK and the US. 

Go-to-Market

We are currently developing our go-to-market strategy to accelerate launch of Safefood 360 in our key markets in 2011 (with support from Enterprise Ireland). We are based in the Blanchardstown LINC incubation centre where we receive support under the Enterprise Platform Programme. The global market of food safety compliance is valued at €200bn and there is a food processing sector in every country. 

Promoters

George Howlett and Philip Gillen are co-founders and full-time directors. George’s background is in food safety management, having over twenty years’ experience working in the sector  –  mostly as a food safety consultant. He holds a BSc in Food Technology and MSc in Food Safety Management. George lectures at the DIT on the MSc in Food Safety Management programme and is highly respected within the Irish food industry. 

Philip’s background is in Information Technology with over 10 years’ experience in the sector and he holds a BSc in I.T. Philip is recognized by his clients for his commitment to excellence in the application of IT solutions and this will be found in all aspects of Safefood 360 when launched.

Further Information

If you would like further details or a presentation we will be happy to meet you at a place of your convenience. Please contact the promoters Philip Gillen or George Howlett at the details below. 

Safefood 360
LINC Centre, IT Blanchardstown,
Blanchardstown Road North, Dublin 15.

Tel: 01 885 1522
Mob Philip: 087 239 0371
Mob George: 087 676 8510

Email: team@safefood360.com

Innovapeak Ltd T/A Safefood 360°
Registered in Ireland with company number 482766.

Comments on performance management

A characteristic of motivated companies is how they use remuneration and reward strategies to align the goals of people with those of the company.
At Celtar we observe that in many organisations staff are rewarded for average performance. High performers are not encouraged to maintain their performance as there is little recognition of – or reward for – an above average contribution to company objectives.

Often staff, including managers, expect to be rewarded with salary increases for being “in the job”, and individuals appear to work under the maxim

Generally staff and managers would prefer a fair system. The following reward policy makes sense to many;

• A bonus rewards extra value to the company in a current role
• A salary increase rewards extra responsibilities which could be in the current role OR extra responsibilities arising from a promotion. (The increase may be rescinded if responsibilities are inadequately met)

Q. How can reward and benefits policies attract, retain and motivate the best possible workforce to achieve your business objectives?

Ask yourself the following:

1. How competitive is your company compared to similar businesses? Do you match the salaries of your competitors?
2. What benefits do your employees really value? The value of benefits varies for each individual.
3. How can you design a reward and benefit policy that motivates each employee to contribute to your overall success?
4. How much will new reward policies cost your company? What can you afford?
5. Do you need different reward policies or salaries in order to attract and retain employees for different positions?
6. Do your employees understand your rewards policy? Are they clear that there is a relationship between rewards and individual and company performance? How effectively are you communicating the benefits?
7. Could you save money by outsourcing certain payroll administration?
8. How do you collect and analyse employee data (eg. time worked, pay rates, overtime rates, special benefits, holiday time, sickness and other leaves etc.) for reward and benefits purposes? Could special human resource management software improve cost-effectiveness?

The simpler, the better. Performance pay systems, to be effective, require people to understand how their performance is assessed and how their individual performance affects company performance, for example the relationship between IPIs (individual performance indicators) and departmental KPIs (key performance indicators).

Perhaps reward effort as well as performance? Performing well on a difficult task may be rewarded more than an outstanding performance on a less difficult task. It is important to convey this when setting targets, otherwise people may be tempted to try to set easier targets that they know can be exceeded rather than strive for truly superior performance (and contribution).

Performance pay works best when it provides an unambiguously positive incentive to achieve results. The most successful companies provide a competitive base remuneration with additional performance “carrots”.

In summary, it is important to remember that:

• Money talks. Many companies have moved to performance-based remuneration, where a significant component of a manager’s annual pay is linked to achieving targets agreed at the beginning of the work year. This differs from the old merit pay systems that involved incentives that were too small and performance targets that were too ill-defined to really influence behaviour.
• Keep it simple. If people don’t understand how their performance is assessed, or how their individual performance affects on company performance, a performance pay system won’t work. For performance pay to be effective, it must be accompanied by clear communication and constant feedback on progress.
• Get the balance between risk and reward right. Experience suggests that performance pay is most effective when it is genuinely “at risk”, and not just another entitlement (as it appears to be in the Public Sector).

And as a tester an example of reward policy

“You are eligible to participate in the ABC Co. bonus scheme.  This scheme is designed to reward excellent performance in a number of important areas over the course of each financial year.  The areas of performance for which bonus applies are Business Development and/or Project Delivery, Staff Development, Personal Development together with the business unit achieving its targets.  The financial year runs from January through to December with potential of up to 15% of annual salary paid as bonus.  Further details on Individual Performance Indicators will be agreed at your monthly review with your line manager”.

 Celtar advises on how to improve the performance of your staff & how to align their activities with company objectives

Celtar management consultants are a group of expert advisers based in Dublin, Ireland