This year has been the year for pivoting your business. We have heard many stories of companies who've adjusted their offering in order to survive the current crisis.
As part of the Boost My Business initiative, Fiona Alston talks to three companies who have carved out a new niche to stay relevant in Covid-19 Ireland.
Jamie Maguire set up a company last year called Notions Creative. It's a fabrication company doing custom builds for brands for festivals, exhibition stands and point of sale displays.
"Last year we did Beatyard Festival, the Wine and Cheese Festival and we made a couple of exhibition stands and then this year, we hit the ground running and we were looking at some big projects with Diageo and then obviously when Covid hit it was all held up," explains Maguire.
While at home trying to figure out his next move as the country was shutting down, his flatmate was given the news that he was to work from home.
"He works for one of the tech companies in town and he got an email saying they were working from home, but they had an allowance to create a workstation," says Maguire.
"I told him I’d build him whatever he needs, there's three of us in the apartment and space can be tight," he says.
This was the inception of Maguire’s new business Home By Notions. He built the workspace over St Patrick’s weekend and then set the wheels in motion on his new project.
"That Monday, I set up the website put up a couple of visuals of the concept and pushed it out on social media," he explains.
"I reached out to James Kavanagh who I’d met a few times at events, and he said to send him over a desk. I literally dropped off the desk to him, he posted up a competition for it [on social media] and by the time I got back to the workshop I think we’d gained 1,000 followers already, it was incredible," he says.
The timing was perfect with Ikea closing, the UK delivery pace slow and the fact the team were given essential workers status to build their 'working from home’ furniture. "We were in a unique position to supply the demand that was there," he says.
The week before lockdown Maguire had just signed a five-year lease on a new premises in Dublin’s Inchicore. "That was a daunting week, but it’s turned out for the best," he adds.
Despite the rapid pace in which Home By Notions was set up, one thing that they’ve maintained is their pledge to use sustainable products where they can.
"We use birch plywood which is ethically sourced and we've started using a laminate now that's made from 97% raw materials and 27% of them are recycled. And it's all made using 100% renewable energy as well," says Maguire.
"We're trying to keep that ethos of sustainability and ethically sources, but we are still learning," he adds.
Another company who are passionate about sustainability is Furniture by Penn. Started in 1973 as a cabinet makers, the company has seen quite a few changes over the years.
Owned by Gerard Barron the company sits on the edge of The Waterford Greenway in Kilmacthomas.
"All of our materials are sourced locally as much as we possibly can," says Barron. "We provide a sustainable environment; we have a minimal waste area so we don't send anything to landfill. All our waste is used to heat the premises and we reuse as much as we physically can."
"We have a wood burner which distributes heat around the workshop," he adds.
Gerard’s late father started the business while running a dance hall and cinema in the village, the back of the dance hall was his workshop. The original business was called Penn Products because as he increased his workshop space, he moved it over to the old railway pens used for holding cattle for the railroad trucks.
The railway is now of course The Waterford Greenway and Gerard renamed the business Furniture by Penn as its former title was a little vague.
"We specialise in making bespoke furniture for the homes and businesses. We provide design, manufacturing, and a full installation service, and work together with our clients on their designs."
The business was forced to close in March and the team of four were left looking for new avenues for sales. They started an e-commerce offering and took to social media to let Ireland know they were still in production.
"We had to try and develop some more freestanding furniture because all of our furniture was fitted furniture - it's custom made and fitted," explains Barron. "What we’ve done is we’ve had to convert some projects to create freestanding pieces."
"We are fairly close to getting back to where we were," he says, "it's been a slow process, but we are looking forward to getting somewhere back to normality.
"We haven’t gone back up to 100% as of yet but if it keeps going as it is, hopefully by the end of the year we’ll get there," he adds.
Over in Co Mayo, Lynmore Kitchens have been carving themselves a new market with their latest creations of Hiddenbeds.
The Aghamore company has been around for over 30 years, producing bespoke kitchen and bedroom furniture, and remarkably they also began in the site of an old dance hall.
Owner Michael Lynskey has seen the business in all manners of profitability having carried the company through two recessions and the interim years of the Celtic tiger and now, of course, a global pandemic.
"One thing I learned from the last recession is, when you have a business in rural Ireland your customers are mostly from rural Ireland," says Lynskey, "and you are hit very severely when a recession comes along because we just don’t have the population."
"When things started to improve again, and I was rebuilding the business I didn't want to be relying just on customers in the West of Ireland," he continues.
"We were looking for different products that we could sell outside Connacht and be viable."
They certainly have expanded their reach because they now sell kitchen and bedroom furniture in London to city dwellers who are looking for quality Irish made products.
They are now also manufacturers of Hiddenbed - space saving solutions for smaller rooms or apartments. The mechanism was innovated by an engineer in Uruguay who was happy for Lynskey to use the mechanism for his products and create Hiddenbed Ireland.
The product is a desk which revolves into a bed and the unique concept allows you to leave your desk, as is, while you fold it back away.
"We’d leave a glass of water on the desk. And every time we’d go to fold it into a bed, in a demo, people would shout to us to remove the glass," says Lynskey. "They were absolutely amazed that the glass of water on the desk would stay completely level as it transforms into a bed," he says.
Lynskey has been producing Hiddenbeds for three years now and it was for the most part a side project working alongside Lynmore Kitchens.
With funding from their Mayo Local Enterprise Office they upgraded their machinery and can now produce the product cost effectively.
The enterprise has been going from strength to strength as people have upgraded their spare rooms and sought working from home solutions in recent months.
