David Broderick’s Post

What an incredible day we had yesterday; around 28 hours ago we were wrapping up at the Killashee Hotel, after a fantastic morning at Business Connect. The event, attended by 400 business leaders, was opened by local TD, James Lawless, Minister for Higher Education and Science. This year's event was structured around three key themes: Survival, Resilience and Success and was once again hosted by journalist Richard Curran. After an inspired welcome by Geraldine Magnier, SFA Chair and co-founder of Idiro Analytics, our first session “Survival: Support to businesses; Where do you go? Who do you connect with? Who do you need to know?” began with a presentation from Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland and was followed by a panel discussion where Leo was joined by Claire Dunleavy, Senior Enterprise Development Officer, LEO, Kildare and Niall O'Kelly, COO, Agile Executives. The second session was structured around Resilience and speakers and panel discussion revolved around growing your revenue, from branding to online sales. Kevin Kelly, MD of PaceOps, delivered an insightful presentation on the value of the sales playbook and was joined by Gerard Tannam, MD, Islandbridge, Olivia Nash, Digital Marketing and E-commerce Manager, VITHIT and David Broderick, Director of the Small Firms Association. Our last official session was about success. Maryrose Lyons, founder of the AI Institute, captivated the audience with a presentation about AI and was joined by Louise O'Conor, Rethink Digital Advisory and Sinead Perry, Head of SMB Vodafone to discuss how digitalisation can bring efficiencies to businesses. The keynote address was delivered by entrepreneur Aimee Connolly, founder of the award-winning cosmetics range, Sculpted by Aimee. She got the audience hooked on every word about her business journey in the interview masterfully conducted by the event’s MC, Richard Curran. The exhibition area was buzzing throughout the event, where attendees had the chance to network with the amazing businesses who are the finalists of the SFA Awards 2025. A big thank you to all the incredible businesses in attendance, we hope to see you again soon in another one of our events! Business Connect wouldn't be possible without the support of Awards sponsors: Elavon Europe, PTSB, National Standards Authority of Ireland, (SBCI) Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, Sage, One4all Group, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board, Microfinance Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Skillnet Ireland and DeCare Dental. A big shout out to the team at Shellcove - Association Management Company and the Killashee Hotel. The lovely photos were taken by Conor McCabe #BizConnect #SFAAwards2025 #smallbusiness #irishbusiness #SFA