For the last few years, the SFA has brought together small and large businesses at this special marketplace event in the Aviva Stadium. This year, we are looking forward to offer Business Connect virtually so everyone can attend the event, and it will also be completely free of charge for the first time.
 
We are delighted to announce that our keynote speaker will be Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist Dr Colman Noctor.  His specialist area of research interest is ‘the impact of technology on our mental lives’, and he is a regular speaker at the Mental Health & Wellbeing Summit.
 
Not only will there be plenty of networking sessions giving you the opportunity to connect with other businesses, building your network and business opportunities, but you will also get the chance to see the SFA National Small Business Awards exhibition with all of our Finalists and Sponsors. This event will be of particular interest to managers working in procurement; with a mix of 400 small and large organisations in attendance, there will be plenty of networking sessions throughout the days giving you the opportunity to gain new clients, members and future business partners.

Here is the agenda:

08.00    Networking Session – Exhibition open
09.15    Welcome – Graham Byrne, SFA Chairman and CEO, Flender Ireland
09.20    Opening Remarks – Sharon Higgins, Director, Member Services, Ibec
09.30    Re-setting the Dial for 2021 – Dr Colman Noctor, Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist

• Dr Colman Noctor will present on reboarding post Covid-19 and developing digital resilience in an era of technology and anxiety, followed by a Q&A with Richard Curran.

10.00   Networking Session & Exhibition open

10.15   Adapting for Business in a virtual world

• Alan Wyley, Chief Commercial Officer, Luzern
• Cathy McGovern, Founder & Director, Inspiration
• Joanne Charles, Head of Commercial & Small Business, Cisco

11.15   Networking Session & Exhibition open

11.40   Winning with Big Business

• Noel Keely, CEO, Musgrave
• Dom McGroddy, Lily's Tea
• Chris Mitchell, Co-founder, Green Angel
• Brian Fitzpatrick, Founder & Director, Oriel Sea Salt
• Michael Ferncombe, Borrisoleigh Bottling

12.20   Looking for Money? What are the Do's and Don'ts when applying for finance?

• Eoin McGee, Broadcaster, How to be Good with Money
• John Madigan, Head of Marketing and Research, SBCI
• Eoghan Hanrahan, Regional Director Dublin, Enterprise Ireland
• Garrett Stokes, CEO, Microfiance Ireland
• Mags Brennan, Head of Business Banking, PermanentTSB

We will conclude at 1pm with more networking sessions and the Exhibition.

Register today You can also check out the round-ups of our past Business Connect events from 2020 and 2019.