The latest in a series of Entrepreneur Events held in July at the Claremont Hotel in Douglas, Isle of Man was another resounding success. Six European based companies were invited to network with some of the Island’s business leaders and provided the opportunity to present their business plans to potential investors. Event organiser, Steve Hawkins commented “We have arranged a number of these events over the last 2 years now, these events increase awareness of all that the Isle of Man has to offer for both start up and early stage businesses’
Growing interest in the events was reflected in the addition of two new sponsors of the evening, as hosting provider Continent 8 Technologies and trust and corporate service provider Acclaim joined long time sponsor PwC. The Government’s Department of Economic Development (DED) also provided support for the event.
Hon John Shimmin, Minster for the Department of Economic Development, opened the evening by welcoming the entrepreneurs to the Island and detailing the wide range of assistance and guidance that DED could provide to them. The entrepreneurs were then each given a period of six minutes to pitch their business proposition to the potential investors present.
Roberta Castle, Account Director for Continent 8 Technologies said “Events like this are beneficial both for those visiting and to the Island itself. For the entrepreneurs and companies considering the next step in their development, it’s an excellent opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the Isle of Man proposition and the many benefits the Island can offer businesses. For the Isle of Man it enables us to develop relationships with high-quality, emerging businesses that will assist us to ensure the Island’s continued success.”
Martin Elliott, Director at Acclaim said “I was extremely impressed with the quality and diversity of the presentations we saw tonight. The event was very well supported locally and events such as this can only reinforce the growing reputation of the Isle of Man as a centre of excellence for business innovation.”
Two of the companies presenting on the evening were ‘Syrei’ whose mission is to become an infrastructure platform vendor for 4G Mobile Networks, and GMG Europe who’ve designed a unique range of laser products for the treatment of non-cancerous prostate disease.
The three sponsors for the evening were on hand to provide advice on matters such as taxation, company registration and data centre hosting and connectivity services.
The evening’s presentations were followed the next morning with a business breakfast where the entrepreneurs were presented with the key benefits the Isle of Man and provided with the opportunity to discuss their business requirements more comprehensively with potential investors.
The next event in the series takes place on Wednesday 4th September.
