Since it opened in 2006, the Rubicon Centre in Cork – a 24-hour incubation centre for new businesses – has more than doubled in size. Its ethos of collaboration is helping dozens of start-ups to buck the downturn, writes BRIAN O'CONNELL
CORK-BASED filmmaker Aidan Mulcahy is one of the many who emigrated from Ireland in the 1980s, first to Germany and later Australia. When Ireland’s financial rise began to make international headlines, he returned home in 2002 to chase the Tiger. The experience, though, was not what he expected and it has taken him several years and many closed doors to get his film production company off the ground.
As he looks back on the past decade from his office in the Rubicon Centre in Bishopstown, Cork, Mulcahy says supports now available to new businesses didn’t exist during the so-called good times. “The myth of the Celtic Tiger is that you saw everybody else and thought ‘why am I not making as much money?’ But when I stepped back from it I realised that really the only people making money were either directly involved in construction or related to it. I expected to come back, start my business and boom, money would follow. It wasn’t like that,” he says.
Two years ago his company, M3 Productions, took office space in the Rubicon Centre, which is affiliated to the Cork Institute of Technology, and since then he has seen his business expand.
He says this is partly down to learning from his mistakes, but he that the creative energy he gets from sharing work space with dynamic start-up companies has helped him maintain his focus and drive. M3 Productions has just finished From Here to Maternity, a successful six-part series for RTÉ television, and is embarking on a number of other projects, including a large co-production for the National Geographic channel.
M3 is just one of several dozen start-ups at the Rubicon Centre, one of Ireland’s largest and most successful incubation centres.
When the centre opened in 2006, it comprised 18,000 sq ft of space and less than a dozen companies. Today, it houses more than 50 businesses across a range of sectors from online wedding-planning to large-scale engineering projects. The centre now occupies more than 50,000 sq ft and continues to grow. As well as competitive rents and modern office infrastructure, companies using the space are also able to learn from and interact with one another.
The atmosphere is one of focused positivity. “The demand for space here has exceeded supply and we are working on another option,” says Rubicon manager Paul Healy. “Our plan is that it will be open in Cork city within the next 12 months. There is nothing but optimism and enthusiasm and good news stories in here.
“The number of people who want to do something now is huge compared to in the middle of the boom. We were busy then but nothing compared to now. There are challenges and you need a good idea and the drive and commitment to make it work, but there are success stories here and sometimes they get drowned out in the national discourse.”
So, what companies based at the centre are bucking the prevailing economic climate?
In one of the first rooms downstairs, where three new companies share an office, 31-year-old Simon Dennehy shows his design for ergonomic school furniture. His company, Perch, is currently running trials in several national schools in Cork while also teaming up with a major international furniture producer. Dennehy is supported by Enterprise Ireland and was introduced to the Rubicon Centre through the Genesis Programme, which helps start-ups.
Sitting across from Dennehy is Gary Bennett from mytown.ie, a website that enables local advertisers to target community-based events and content. The site represents 170 towns over 32 counties and has some 800 paying advertisers. Bennett has taken on two employees and is growing the business at a steady rate.
“For the first 12 months, I had a home office and was working crazy hours. Now I put in about 50 hours a week here and can leave the work behind in the evening. It helps having others in the office and we do bounce ideas off each other or help each other out. I could never go back to working from home again,” he says.
The Rubicon Centre doesn’t just attract technology whizz-kids; some entrepreneurs have many years of work behind them when they start new businesses. The range of ages and experience makes for a good dynamic within the building.
Kieran Logan worked as an employee and later as a sub-contractor for many years before finally taking the plunge in 2009 and starting up his own business, roleconnect.com. It is the “equivalent of a dating site, where companies meet smart contract IT professionals and we actively encourage casual relationships”. With his website about to go live, the past two years have meant 12-hour days, seven days a week.
Usually he is one of the last to leave the building in the evening – which isn’t a problem, as the centre remains open 24 hours a day. “I guess the last 18 months have meant consistently refining the product and understanding what [customers] wanted. I also threw away seven months work because I was doing the wrong thing. Many people I know in here faced redundancy and took positive steps rather than simply collect their payments. They are trying to build something. If I have a problem, it’s great to know others will help me solve it if they have had similar experiences.”
To get a space in the building, potential new businesses must be knowledge-based, be in receipt of some form of State support, such as Enterprise Ireland funding, and demonstrate a commitment to link in with the Cork Institute of Technology (CIT).
This isn’t a problem for Aidan Mulcahy, who graduated from CIT in 1982 and is glad to restore his personal link with the institution. “It’s coming full circle for me,” he says,
Mulcahy says that for him, the recession has brought opportunities that never existed during the boom and that people are now more open to listening to good ideas and willing to forge partnerships. “It has brought about its own opportunities. There is this pervasive doom and gloom people are sick to the teeth of. In here though, it is a recession-free zone.”
For more information, see rubiconcentre.ie
Entrepreneurial spirits
Documatics.com
Led by chief executive Brian O’Neill (pictured left), documatics.com specialises in business process management software. They started in 2004 in the legal industry in Ireland and have now expanded to Australia and the US – O’Neill points out that the US state of Illinois uses his company’s software system to process all its child adoptions.
He says the benefits of the Rubicon Centre include access to academic research conducted at the Cork Institute of Technology, and the ability to grow businesses in a flexible environment where greater office space is available if needed.
However, “one of our biggest bugbears is that we can get Government contracts outside Ireland, but so far we haven’t been able to get one in Ireland,” says O’Neill, “The hoops we’re put through as a small Irish company in the tendering system makes life very difficult.”
TreeMetrics Ltd
TreeMetrics has been based in the Rubicon Centre for four years. It has developed a laser-based system that accurately measures the timber content of trees and “virtual sawmill” software that promotes the optimal and most cost-effective use of forest resources.
In the past year, the company has moved from development to the commercial stage, securing its first commercial contracts and successful delivery of its solution.
“We have benefited greatly from the entrepreneurial spirit and sense of camaraderie that exists within the Rubicon Centre. We are a good example of the incubation system working,” says chief executive Enda Keane. “We can create long-term sustainable jobs at the Rubicon because we have a unique offering that meets a large international need.”
WeddingDates.ie
Ciara Crossan launched her company from the Rubicon Centre two years ago. Her website allows users to check availability for wedding venues and suppliers, and the business now represents more than 150 hotels across the country.
“There’s such positive environment at the Rubicon. Also, we can share insight and expertise with others,” she says. “If we need to find a website designer or get a good accountant, or find out about debt collection, there is a wealth of experience in here.”
Crossan says funding agencies are increasingly receptive to online companies like hers, singling out recent Enterprise Ireland competitions for online start-ups which did not exist 12 months ago.
