Dermot O'Connell, general manager, Dell Ireland
9th March 2010
Successful firms can help start-ups.
The colleges are obviously the most important place to start because they have a lot of the infrastructure in place to enable new entrepreneurs to get a project or an idea into fruition.
There are different institutions in Ireland that will help an entrepreneur to get off the ground. It’s really about publicizing that and putting it into one concrete facility that is visible to all. At the moment it is probably a little bit difficult to navigate this information.
We all understand that the banks have their challenges; lending to SMEs and start-ups is probably seen as a high end risk. So what do we do? Perhaps we should look at a public-private partnership where some public money, some private money is put in and the spoils are shared.
Money is part of it but support, enablement and mentoring programmes from successful businesses could help.
It’s well known that when someone has a great idea, they don’t always have the business acumen to take that idea to fruition. Calling on successful organizations to help start-ups isn’t something we’ve done until now.
People focus on funding but I think there are softer skills we can go after and there’s people here to help. It’s a country where typically people will help each other; it’s just a case of reaching out and making it happen.
Dermot O'Connell's biography
Dermot O’Connell serves as general manager and is responsible for Dell Ireland’s Global, Corporate and Public Sector Sales and Marketing operations, with a team based in Dublin, Limerick and Belfast. O’Connell is also a member of the Senior Management Team responsible for all aspects of Dell’s operations in Ireland.
O’Connell joined the company in 1993 and has held a number of senior positions both in the UK and Ireland. Most recently, he was Head of Solutions and Services for Dell Ireland where he was responsible for Dell’s Professional Services, Pre-Sales and Complex Project Delivery teams. In his time with the Ireland team, he has built and managed the Enterprise Pre-Sales team and spent time in Dell’s UK and Ireland Key Accounts and Enterprise Support teams.
A native of Co Kerry, O’Connell holds a bachelors degree in information systems from Trinity College Dublin.
