Plato Midwest, the business support network for established Irish owned SMEs has launched its Advanced Programme for 2012. An information evening to outline details and how to apply to the Plato Advanced Programme, followed by networking and refreshments will be held on Thursday, the 9th of February at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick from 6.00pm to 7.30pm.
Speaking about the forthcoming Plato Advanced Programme, Eoin Tynan O’Mahony, Regional Manager, Plato Midwest said, “ Plato has been hugely successful in theMidwest. In a recent survey of our members 91% of them reported that participation in Plato had given them more confidence in running their businesses, indeed 41% of them expanded their businesses and took on new employees with 30% reporting an increase in turnover. The principal objective of the Plato Advanced Programme will be to assist member companies to identify key business objectives for the next 12 months and to work with the support of Plato towards these objectives . “
The Plato Advanced Programme is open to all established businesses in the region. The commitment is for 12 group meetings in the year, one per month. A number of supports will also be available to draw on such as training and networking events. Support interventions such as mentoring or consultancy will also be provided where appropriate.
The involvement of Multinationals and Larger Companies, as Parents in providing Group Leaders and support in a facilitating and mentoring role is unique to Plato and the facilitated peer to peer learning has successfully aided over 4,000 companies in Ireland over the past 15 years. The ‘Parent’ companies to Plato involved in supporting the Plato Programmes in the Mid-West include Reagecon, ACC/Rabo Bank, Microsoft, Loyalty Build, Essilor, Roche, Filtertek, AIB, Rusal formerly Aughinish Alumina, Bank of Ireland and Avocent.
Eamonn Kelly, CEO of Clare County Enterprise Board and Chairman of Plato Midwest commented, “Plato can act as a ‘Non executive Board’ to support small businesses, it’s an extremely valuable forum for the SME sector. We look forward to welcoming existing and new Plato members to our Information Evening on the 9th February where a presentation and outline on the Plato programme in theMidwest will be given.”
John O’Connell , MD of Connor-Winfield, a Plato member and Shannon based company who design and manufacture machine-to-machine communication products and systems amongst other electronic products, was on hand to help launch the new Plato Advanced Programme, “Connor-Winfield also provide manufacturing services to Irish companies. We recently launched an initiative focused directly on entrepreneur start-ups in the electronics arena and provide prototype (up to 20 units) manufacturing services at cost to such start-ups in order to assist entrepreneurs in their product development phase. In addition to designing and manufacturing their own products, Connor Winfield already provides manufacturing services at very competitive prices to a select group of Irish companies at present.”
Plato is a European wide support network for owner managers, with over 10,000 SMEs in the network and 500 parent companies across 11 countries. Plato inIrelandcurrently has over 1,500 members, 40 in the Midwest employing almost 300 people, and is an initiative funded byCountyClare,LimerickCityand County Enterprise Boards in association with IBEC, FAS and the Chambers of Commerce,Ireland.
For further details on Plato or to register for the forthcoming Plato Information Evening at the Radisson Blu Hotel, the 9th of February @6.00pm, contact Eoin Tynan-O’Mahony on 086 303 5664.