Bizstartup.ie - NewsA haven for new businesses at EBIC

While many of us dream of starting our own business, what can put many people off is the initial expense of starting up, especially in a recession. While you may feel your idea is a good one, is it good enough to justify locking yourself into a lease on a premises, paying for costly overheads and generally spending cash you’ve not yet earned?

Jude O’Meara understands the difficulties entrepreneurs face. That is why she and her father Rory O’Meara – of O’Meara Camping fame – recently decided to open a Business Incubation Centre (BIC) in their existing premises, Elephant Self Storage in Tallaght, aptly titled EBIC.

Jude O'Meara explains: “What we offer is more than your typical ‘serviced office’. As well as providing a business address and workstation/showroom for people at a very competitive rate, we also offer business support. We have a network of contacts willing to provide pro-bono assistance to new businesses. This is not an act of charity as the pay back comes if the enterprise grows.”

O’Meara explains that the BIC is an American concept that has caught on worldwide. BICs are set up for profit, so BIC owners have a vested interest in making sure their clients succeed.

“The Elephant BIC is not funded by the Government, so we run it like a business. Obviously we want our start-ups to succeed so that they stay with us, and become long-term clients. If we do our job well, then pay back comes over time.”

O’Meara’s business savvy and interest in start-ups is not exactly without context: her dad, the aforementioned Rory, started his first business on “a borrowed fiver” back in the Fifties. “He bought a tent, rented it out. And then when he made enough money, he bought another one.” In this way, O’Meara Camping was born. 

The new Elephant BIC is not the O’Meara family’s first foray into enterprise support – in the Nineties Rory started up two incubators, one in Richmond Business Campus, Dublin 7 and another in Ossory Business Park, Dublin 3, housing the likes of Aldi, Motorola and about 500 other small and large businesses.

O’Meara believes that while there is obviously a profit-making element to the EBIC, it encompasses more than this.

“There is a sense of giving back. We like to support people who are willing to take a risk. In certain cases, if we think the idea is really great we charge no fees for a few months until they are up and running. If the idea works, fantastic, but sometimes we’re just willing to take a punt.”

Elephant Self-Storage, with 800 own key highly secure storage rooms, shares premises with the new Business Incubation Centre. Thus EBIC clients have the opportunity to store stock in the same location as their office or open a showroom to display their wares.

O’Meara believes that a key thing about the EBIC is that you won’t be bankrupt if your idea doesn’t work out. However, you will not have failed. You will have learned some valuable lessons and eventually you will be able to start another venture again.

“You can give it a go, and we will offer as much support as we can. But at the end of the day, if it doesn’t work out, you can walk away knowing you’ve tried, gained valuable experience, safe in the knowledge that you’re not out a huge amount of money because you followed your dream.”

To find out more, go to the EBIC website.