Springfort Hall, New Twopothouse, Mallow, First Tuesday of the month from 10am to 12 noon.

The Open Coffee Club was started in London to encourage entrepreneurs, developers and investors to organise real-world informal meet-ups to chat, network and grow. There are already 8 OCCs operating in Ireland.

Open Coffee Club Mallow will meet on the first Tuesday of every month and play host to a network of diverse and progressive businesses in and around the North Cork area. The Club/Network is free to join and operates as a casual drop-in opportunity for busy entrepreneurs and business owners, all with one common goal: to grow their business. The only cost is a cup of coffee and possibly a scone.

Founders of the Mallow Club, Elaine Rogers of Seefin Coaching and Gráinne Sherlock of Local Discounts decided to set up the club as a support and platform for entrepreneurs to come together and share their experiences.

Speaking of the initiative, Elaine Rogers of Seefin Coaching said “Our collective interest will ensure the Business Communities of the North Cork region connect and build quality business contacts and relationships to enrich and boost our local economies. The Open Coffee Club meetings offer an informal venue for people from all walks of life to meet up as long as they have an interest in business. You can meet new people, exchange experiences, form bonds and do some business. Most of the more established Open Coffee Clubs have generated successful new ventures, and I am confident that the Mallow Club will do the same”.

Gráinne Sherlock of Local Discounts added that “Building connections between businesses is imperative to provide for the sustainability of our local economy, as businesses, and in particular start ups feel more and more isolated. Each month we will have a key speaker to provide expertise and advice on a number of issues concerning setting up and running a business in today’s economic climate”.

She continued, “Up until now a lot of business networking activities have been limited to cities, this in spite of the fact that towns like Mallow, Charleville and other rural areas also have a thriving entrepreneurial community”.

The club is open to all business people and budding entrepreneurs in North Cork, East Limerick and other nearby areas.

Link

1. * The message will only be broadcast occasionally – many who listen to the station may miss the broadcast
2. * The local station focuses on a certain demographic. I know from personal experience that many locals never listen to the station
3. * Many working in Cork do not have access to the station
4. * Many who work do not have access to radio at all

I call on you to follow the example of other councils and employ the internet as a method of informing local residents. I note with regret that the mallow.ie website seems to be solely focused on attracting investment, new residents and tourists – it does not cater to the concerns and interests of residents at all. Nevertheless, you have at you disposal for free, tools such as Twitter and blogs to inform the public.  Twitter can be used for brief 1-2 line bulletins and blogs can be used to provide more detailed information. Furthermore, it is possible to integrate the two services, so that a twitter bulletin can link to a more comprehensive blog post. Given that you are already preparing this information for the radio station, it would be a matter of a moments work to submit the information on the internet.

As someone who provides training on using such services for business, I would be happy to set up accounts and provide free lessons to a staff member on the use of these services. Please contact me to arrange same.

When the speeches had concluded, the speed networking event commenced. There were 4 tables and roughly 120 attendees, each of whom had 3 minutes to exchange information with others in the interests of forming new business relationships.  Each individual got the opportunity to speak to about 13 other business people, before time ran out.

Everyone I spoke with was very upbeat about the event, and most had gained valuable new contacts and potential sales leads. Joan Kelleher of the NCEB was widely praised for playing a key role in ensuring that the event went off without a hitch.