Daniel Plewman is a former construction worker (civil engineer) who set up a company last year called Happythreads (www.happythreads.ie). He supplies sexy uniforms for healthcare and beauty care professionals. The garments represent a bit more cheer than traditional uniforms worn by nurses, dentists etc.

A new start ...

Georgia and her mother Nikki decided to take the plunge and start their own company 'Georgia in Dublin' in December 2009. United in their love and appreciation of elegance and functionality they designed a range of attractive, high visibility, waterproof alternatives to purely functional walking and cycling clothing.

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College chums Tony Judge and Paul McGinley discovered an innovative way around the exorbitant fees airlines charge to ferry golf clubs to holiday destinations. They have launched an international rental business which gives golfers the opportunity to book the clubs of their choice over the internet and collect ...

Kingdom Cleaning are a cleaning company who have had to re-invent themselves as a result of the economic downturn. Their business for the last 20 years was connected with the building trade which now has gone. They have now started an oven cleaning business which is a fairly new idea ...

Eoin Lennon, along with five ambitious, motivated and passionate friends, have set up Monty’s BBQ, a catering company appearing at all major events around the country.

Monty’s BBQ Shack is styled on an oldschool beach/surf shack. For the construction of the shack they sourced 100% recycled and reusable materials ...

We’re looking for people in Ireland who’ve taken the bull by the horns and gone it on their own.

Whether through redundancy in the current climate, entrepreneurship, or any other means, they’ve gone out and established themselves in the market place, whatever their speciality or idea.

Ideally we want ...

Donna and Lorraine are sisters who have started ‘The Gourmet Picnic Company'. They offer picnics of delicious, homemade food, beautifully presented for people to take away and enjoy anywhere in West Cork. They’re based in Schull, on the Mizen peninsula.

They do breads, meats, salads, cheese, their own chutneys, pickle ...

Pascale Van Riet spoke to KC about her new business, Phoenix Delite Chocolates.  

Pascale Van Riet is originally from Belgium and has been living in Ireland since January 2000. Last year she was made redundant so decided to start her own company.  

She specializes in luxury ...

Donal Moloney spent the previous ten years working as a carpenter in the construction industry and recently started a business called Moloney Woodcraft. He decided to move away from carpentry towards an area where he could be more creative with his work. He now produces and ...

On Monday morning we met up with Anne-Marie Cunningham who moved to Austria a few years ago after meeting her husband-to-be. A former dancer with Riverdance, Anne-Marie set up her own Irish Dancing company in Salzburg, the ‘Anne-Marie Cunningham School of Dance’. Check out her website at www.amcdance.org

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Lynne Baillie and Barry Moore have set up a new company called "Veg2table".  

Veg2table provides hand built, timber-framed raised vegetable and herb gardens. If you are dying to 'grow your own' but don't know how to do it, or don't have the time, or don't want the ...

Soft top Beetle

Batmobile

Aoife Keogh was made redundant and decided to set up a business making children's novelty beds. So far she has a few different designs; a sports car, Batmobile, VW Beetle and a Mustang and many more to come. She makes them from start to ...

Declan Walsh has just started a new D.I.Y service in Kilkenny, trading as Greenacres D.I.Y.  As well as selling kitchens and wardrobes etc, he also provides a professional timber cutting service i.e. if you need a piece of wood 4ft 5ins by 2ft 1 1/2, he can do it, no ...

Seven weeks ago Noel Anderson opened The Grafton Lounge on Royal Hibernian way. By day the bar is a buzz with local businesses on their lunch break and is very popular among shoppers and tourists in search of a break from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The ...

Siobhan O’Neill and her husband Dave have been running a parenting website, www.mumstown.ie since August 2009. They were both made redundant from their jobs and got a small grant from their local enterprise board to help start up this business. So far it has been going well and they have ...

Brian Kenny set up the Slip Sweet Shop in Kilkenny after being laid off from his job last year. Having never worked in a shop before, and with no income, he used any savings he had and with help of family and friends opened up a Traditional Sweet Shop in The ...

After being made redundant last year from a purchasing job, Trish Mahon visited a career consultant who was able to bring her back to her long-standing passion for animals. She decided to specialise in Dog Training and completed her training in the UK. Trish set up About Your Dog...

Helena Murray set up Giddy Studios, a 2000 square foot pottery painting studio in Rathfarnham.

It’s an independent, premier pottery painting destination where kids and adults of all ages come to paint pottery pieces with their own designs and ideas. Each unique masterpiece is picked up few days later having been ...

‘From Mother’s Kitchen’ specialise in creating food products that are not readily available anywhere else to buy, complimented by some tried & tested recipes with a twist! Treat your taste buds to our sumptuous Pineapple Jam, our Apple Butter or our tingling Chilli, Tomato & Ginger Jamney. They use only ...

John Paul Manning set up a website business called www.build4less.ie. The purpose of this website is to sell building materials and insulation at trade prices and even lower to everybody. Up until now if anyone walked into a hardware store to buy some building materials and they were not ...