The man who founded computer giant Compaq from a prefab in 1984 has joined the board of the little-known Irish e-learning company Woodgrange Technologies.
Mr Joe McNally, who resigned as managing director of Compaq in June, will use his contacts in the IT industry to help Woodgrange penetrate the British and US markets with a new suite of e-learning products currently under development.
Woodgrange, which developed the successful Careers World and Irish Times/Business 2000 multimedia teaching and learning aids, is repositioning itself to utilise the Internet as a tool to deliver its e-learning solutions.
The company is in the process of raising £3 million from a number of private investors through a private placing organised by BDO Simpson Xavier. Woodgrange will launch the first of its Web-based training products - a foundation e-learning course aimed at the telecoms market - in October. The company already counts Eircom and Ocean among its clients for training products and is hoping to sell the product in Britain to the likes of British Telecom, according to CEO, Mr Jim Nugent.
Woodgrange employs 16 people and outsources work to about 25 part-time workers.
