ENTERPRISE IRELAND TO OPEN MEXICO OFFICE – The Government organisation has decided to follow up on the successes of its first Latin American office in Brazil last year.
The organisation's client exports there in 2006 were worth €62.6m.
According to Gerry Murphy, director of international sales and partnering at Enterprise Ireland, a 'significant push' could see exports to Mexico rise to €200m over the next three years.
He said that the areas that are likely to benefit most from the new office are telecommunications, financial services, construction and building materials, energy and environmental products and services.
He added that Ireland needed to look beyond traditional markets and that Mexico, which is the seventh biggest importer in the world, is a perfect entry point to other Latin American countries.
SFA HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING - The Small Firms Association has highlighted that many business managers are putting their businesses at risk by neglecting training.
Research carried out by the SFA says 35% of owner-managers have not undertaken training in the last 12 months.
Avine McNally, assistant director at the SFA, says that an OECD survey found that investment in training can reduce the risk of small business failure by up to 50%.
She also says that training gives owner-managers gives them every competitive advantage and says that the SFA offer an online training tool kit.
NEWS BRIEFS – The markets have endured a poor start to the week with major Asian indexes ending the day with reverses, leading to an expectation that European markets will drop 2% in morning trade.
A trading statement from building firm McInerney says that it performed well in the more challenging business market in the second half of 2007. Negative sentiment and a tightening of credit have been blamed for a drop in the company’s completion levels.
