Opportunity Ireland Purpose – Promoting investor and corporate awareness of efforts to attract foreign direct investment in Ireland.
Note – The USPTO published its acceptance of our declaration of use under Section 8 of the trademark Opportunity Ireland and has renewed our registration 4,612,645 of the mark. Dated June 5, 2024. The USPTO has therefore determined that Opportunity Ireland has been in use in commerce for the past ten years. Our next submission of a declaration of use and trademark renewal is due at the earliest Sept. 30, 2033.
– Opportunity Ireland can refer you to Irish companies in many different industries/markets that might be seeking international partners.
– Our extensive Reports (at no cost) under the News/Events section of this website (under title – A Case of Mismanagement of Irish Government Funds) provide an objective insight into the workings of the Irish Government and Ireland’s oversight system based upon a real-life example (case study) of a potential FDI transaction where a prominent US life sciences company had committed to setting up its European operations in Ireland.
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Our first Report includes our original summary documents (parts 1, 2 & 3) which are accessible via links in the introduction section of the Report, and which were the impetus behind our Reports. Our first Report is then followed up by three other Reports (update, final and ‘one pager’, in that order), and all are accessible on this website under the News/Events section.
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These Reports are based on a case prior to the launch of Opportunity Ireland. Opportunity Ireland was launched to create a formal entity to handle a portfolio of future FDI projects and to engage in a more structured way with the Irish Government, based upon the experience of the
founder (Bio attached – or to coin a phrase, my Bio
me, a cross between a bio and a resume as it’s difficult depending on your experience to incorporate it all into a bio) in bringing FDI projects to the Irish Government in the life sciences and alternative energy areas.
These life sciences and alternative energy projects were not part of the Opportunity Ireland initiative, but since the Reports are based on one of these projects and can be applied to any future FDI project, and were written after the launch, the founder has kept them under the Opportunity Ireland banner to highlight the pitfalls of bringing FDI through Irish Government agencies.
– Opportunity Ireland offers an alternative to the traditional approach of bringing FDI through government agencies which we believe is not the ideal approach and is rife with unnecessary risks.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein regarding negative action on the part of Irish Government are those of the founder of Opportunity Ireland and are not necessarily those of anyone else involved in the initiative. While Opportunity Ireland has continued since 2012 by its founder, negative action on the part of the Irish Government towards the initiative has prevented it from becoming a more established entity and structure to develop some of the leads (FDI) identified during the launch, although its founder, prior to the launch of Opportunity Ireland, has demonstrated competency in sourcing and successfully engaging excellent FDI opportunities through the formation of business groups (MOU’s), precursors to the formation of business contracts. You can lead a horse to water…
Opportunity Ireland does not provide (perhaps in future) services such as management consulting or any other type of business service outside of bringing two parties together in the context of FDI. That is, Opportunity Ireland only acts as online middleman in FDI transactions, hence its ability to provide no-fee service (see further below). We are not responsible for undertaking due diligence of any companies that partner in any way with each other via Opportunity Ireland, or liable for any negative consequences of such partnerships.
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If you are interested in availing of the services of Opportunity Ireland, please contact us using the email/s below. More detailed information on our services further below.
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. LAUNCH OF OPPORTUNITY IRELAND
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The launch took place at the beautiful residence of Gloria Starr Kins in New York City, and what a wonderful lady Gloria is.
NTDTV sent a news crew to film the event, and they interviewed a number of people on the evening, including Jim Rice of Rice Law Group NYC and advisory board member of Opportunity Ireland. It’s unfortunate the Irish Government had the film effectively removed as there were great takes of the event and people in attendance. The launch was also covered in the Irish Examiner USA, the leading newspaper in the U.S. for Irish and Irish American news. Its owner is none other than the legendary Cork man himself, Paddy McCarthy, Esq., who was also involved in organizing the event.
The Honoree on the night was WILLIAM J. FLYNN, Chairman Emeritus, Mutual of America, and attendees included JETRO, Westchester IDA, Shannon Development (CEO Vincent Cunnane) and other state government agencies focused on international trade (Philippines, Canada), and an impressive line up of dignitaries, Ambassadors, and business/finance people.
The expertise of Opportunity Ireland’s Sara Moose (Halstead), and her time spent in Japan and engaging with the Japan External Trade Organization here in New York brought another valuable dimension to the initiative.
The Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations, Gary Quinlan, was in attendance as was Ambassador Anne Anderson and other diplomats. Leaders from the Irish American community were also in attendance.
Opportunity Ireland, in furtherance of its commercial/trade opportunities with the governments of other nations, values its relationship with the United Nations by attending meetings when it can, and through its Chairperson, Gloria Starr Kins, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Society & Diplomatic Review (SDR), a United Nations accredited publication that serves as a directory of Ambassadors, UN Secretariat, and the Consular Corps.
Representatives from the Consulate General of Ireland were invited and attended, as our intention was to be as inclusive as possible and not be seen to be competing with the Irish Government in terms of attracting FDI to Ireland.
Unfortunately, the Irish Government never sees it this way as per p. 22 Final Report, and as demonstrated by one of the representatives from Enterprise Ireland on the night. Suffice it to say, perhaps someday some of these EI guys will learn proper business etiquette.
Conrad Gallaher was chef of the night. Conrad has cooked for Presidents, rock stars and royalty, and has been awarded with many top awards such as Irish Chef of the year in 1998 and 1999–2001. Conrad became the youngest ever chef to receive a Michelin Star for his Peacock Alley restaurant in Dublin. He’s also won Restaurant of the Year, Best Service and Wine List and a number of other achievements including Conde Naste Traveler’s Top 15 in the World. He is also a writer and has published many book.
We also had some aficionados from the American Friends James Joyce present on the night, and the great support of Stanley Goldstein, its founder and founder of among other things the New York Hedge Fund Roundtable, as the planned Opportunity Ireland trade mission the following June had a strong James Joyce theme.
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Note – The individuals mentioned herein as being in some way involved in Opportunity Ireland generally refers to the period 2012 but may also extend into 2013 in some cases.
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Opportunity Ireland was launched back in 2012. Below are links relating to the initiative. Unfortunately, we experienced negative action from the Irish Government (who ironically copied the ‘Opportunity Ireland’ mark until we told them to stop using it without our permission – we received an apology from one of the Consuls General in the U.S.) who we believe influenced the Epoch Times/NTDTV to delink the links below from their content on the broadcast of the launch. See also p. 23
Final Report 2019.
However, the launch of Opportunity Ireland was featured in the Irish Consulate’s (NY)
newsletter. It was sent to recipients in an email as a PDF attachment, as opposed to via a link, and therefore couldn’t subsequently be delinked by the Irish Government.
And its launch was also featured in one of Failte 32’s own newsletters in 2012 (immediately below) wherein all Epoch Times/NTDTV links were included and operative at the time.
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http://printarchive.epochtimes.com/a1/en/us/nyc/2012/03-Mar/16/B01_EET201203116-NY-US.pdf
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http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/life/discovering-ireland-through-joint-ventures-207494.html
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http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_business/2012-03-03/operation-opportunity-ireland-to-bolster-theeconomy.html
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Please note that Opportunity Ireland does not recommend that you go through the Irish Government when planning to engage in a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) transaction, but rather recommends that you try to develop a partnership with an existing indigenous Irish company with a view to growing this company and, over time, spinning off new indigenous Irish companies.
Your proprietary and non-proprietary information may be at risk if you provide it to the Irish Government. The reason for this is because whenever the Irish Government receives a lead (a foreign company indicating an interest in setting up operations in Ireland) i.e. possibly an indication that other like companies in the same industry are, or are open to, considering a European presence, it seems to initiate a focused effort on trying to attract these companies, in particular the largest ones.
By using the first company lead as a testee, the Irish Government will endeavor to get as much information as possible out of this company which it may then share with those companies it ultimately wants to attract. Therefore, the information you provide to the Irish Government, under the impression that you are in the running for government support, may be shared with your competitors, the result being that your company will very likely receive no support.
Note – Any mention of a crime on the part of the Irish Government below or anywhere on our website refers to an alleged crime.
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So, what exactly does Opportunity Ireland do?
FDI PLATFORM
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This section of the website is still being built out – we are considering whether to white label an existing ‘matching’ platform or develop our own proprietary one.
We are looking to interview software companies interested in developing our platform.
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Our decision to develop a matching platform is based upon our experience engaging with Enterprise Ireland, one of Ireland’s enterprise agencies. After we brought an incredible opportunity for Ireland in the life sciences space to Enterprise Ireland for funding consideration, they were amazed by the opportunity and had never even heard of the US company we were introducing. And this is a critical point: while enterprise agencies in different nations have general knowledge of businesses they want to attract from other nations, and have some representatives on the ground in these nations, they’re unaware of the great many under-the-radar opportunities to be found. A platform that can provide greater on the ground information and matching algorithms, perhaps using AI, will be invaluable in attracting FDI in future.
FDIPs
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We can refer you to Irish companies in many different industries/markets that might be seeking international partners. Opportunity Ireland has coined the term FDI Partnerships (FDIPs) or given a name to an approach less mainstream in this economic field and never adopted as a purposeful strategic approach, certainly never in Ireland. These are direct investments by foreign companies in indigenous Irish companies as opposed to strategic partnerships, and such investment does not necessarily result in a controlling interest for the investor, but the investor will be part-operator of the Irish entity.
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However, FDIPs may initially be strategic partnerships as long as a legal commitment is made by both parties that the investor will be part-operator once a certain number of reasonable and measurable short-term goals of the strategic partnership are met. Adopting a FDIPs approach will require an informed and professional sales approach in order to be effectively implemented. It will not necessarily require governmental experience. The great thing about ‘Sales’ is that it’s the great equalizer. It can overcome bad policy and other great hurdles. As founder of Opportunity Ireland, I’ve met some great sales people in my life who could sell anything to anyone. That’s the rule, as long as it’s done ethically.
Most FDI to Ireland has been by MNCs (1000 plus) whereas Ireland has tens of thousands of indigenous Irish companies, many of which can benefit from FDI. Therefore, the Irish Government has to take its focus off of larger MNCs and assist initiatives such as Opportunity Ireland focus on developing indigenous industry using FDIPs instead.
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Opportunity Ireland commented (as we do every so often for some additional context) on a recent article in the Irish Times titled, ‘Young people are bearing the brunt of this economic crisis’ (link below), as unemployment among our youth is the continuing consequence of a lack of a comprehensive Irish Government strategy on developing indigenous Irish industry as the main engine of growth in Ireland, and the persistence of decades-old protectionist policies and sheepish old boy (and girl?) network power structures that do nothing to improve economic life for the people of Ireland, except for those behind them.
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These FDI partnerships do not necessarily have to result in a controlling interest for the investor. The investor can own whatever percentage they wish to negotiate be that 10%, 40%, but never 100% (we don’t want foreign owned MNCs buying out indigenous Irish companies and ultimately moving them abroad as was announced recently that Sudocrem’s production – an indigenous Irish company for 90 years – will be shifted to Bulgaria by Teva. Opportunity Ireland’s approach can remove this type of risk). Or they can gradually increase their stake over time. But they will be part-operator of the business.
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Negotiations can be as flexible as possible and hopefully in future will be supported by Irish Government policy and incentives (regulatory, tax, etc.) that do not provide direct funding to companies such as government grants. Depending on the companies involved, partnerships can be established based upon options that might not normally be part of other types of non-FDI partnerships or buy-outs.
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By eliminating grants and such direct funding from the FDI process, FDI incentives are now fully democratized and apply equally to everyone by removing the grant application process and its propensity for preferential treatment. Although on page 9 of our ‘
one pager‘ report we refer to grant support, we were at the time referring to more equitable mechanisms of support before we came up with the idea of FDIPs, and do not now believe in grant support as a suitable FDI incentive, but the point we were making is in agreement with the above, that is, the democratization of incentives and the effective elimination of corruption within Ireland’s enterprise agencies.
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We use the word ‘partnership’ in FDIP initially generically to mean any type of business partnership between two companies that at a minimum comprises an equity alliance proviso (acquisition of shares by foreign investor in Irish company), but ultimately these partnerships may end up being any type of typical FDI transaction/method such as a merger, acquisition, new facility etc.
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To be eligible for listing on this section of the website, Irish companies cannot be Enterprise Ireland or IDA (Ireland) client companies, and generally are not eligible for benefits from these state agencies. These Irish companies will be for example in industries such as distribution, maintenance, service etc. That is, they do not necessarily have to be ‘innovative’, but rather represent the backbone of indigenous industry in Ireland, the nuts and bolts of the economy.
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While Opportunity Ireland has some criticisms of the Irish Government, and serious ones when we believe it has again committed fraud and is covering up for it, it is not anti-Irish Government, but understands the necessity to have an alternative approach that does not involve the Irish Government directly. FDIPs will be developed further by Opportunity Ireland as an important, indeed critical, mainstream strategy for Ireland’s economic success.
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IRISH ENTERPRISE AGENCIES
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Opportunity Ireland believes that the Irish Government’s involvement in developing the Irish economy via its agencies, Enterprise Ireland (EI) and the IDA, should be limited to supporting organizations like Opportunity Ireland with economic analysis, business demographics and the like. In other words, the Irish Government’s involvement should be a support role, including policy making, thereby providing a degree of separation between Irish Government members and business transactions. Irish Government members should not be involved in business transactions including seats on the board of companies and other quid pro quo facilitators.
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Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that EI and the IDA will ever be dissolved, and so Opportunity Ireland can only hope that over time their role in business transactions will be limited and more focus given to that which they should have been doing all along which is supporting organizations (for example, Opportunity Ireland and Connect Ireland –
ConnectIreland | LinkedIn (
screenshot). The connectireland.com domain has been disabled it seems) that can keep business transactions at arm’s length from Irish Government involvement, and in Opportunity Ireland’s case, at no cost to the companies involved. We refer you to the second page of
Part 3 of our summary documents and how
Enterprise Ireland doesn’t like to deal with third parties such as for example Opportunity Ireland.
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The founder of Opportunity Ireland remembers trying to get a list of Irish companies doing business here in the U.S. so that he could reach out to them in the hopes of doing some business with them. He had just arrived in the U.S. and thought this would be a good way to get his business off the ground. He approached Enterprise Ireland for a list, and was refused. Remember, Enterprise Ireland is an Irish taxpayer funded agency and it was refusing a simple request for a list of American domiciled Irish companies. This practice is reflective of Irish Government protectionist policies that are as strong today as they ever were and provide no benefit whatsoever to the people of Ireland. The founder briefly referred to
protectionist regulations and policy in his
first Report, page 13/14, after his experience meeting with the Central Bank of Ireland in the early 2000s.
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After much teeth pulling, he finally received a list that was limited to some of the main Irish companies that one could have gotten themselves with significantly less effort. And this was long before he engaged with the Irish Government in any meaningful way. Opportunity Ireland recently approached a number of Irish agencies to assist it with some basic analysis that will improve its matchmaking process, but have not yet heard back from any of them. It seems nothing has changed in twenty five years!
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And this is the difference between Ireland and the U.S. for example. Government support organizations in the U.S. like Score, SBA etc. endeavor to support businesses and even private entities trying to support U.S. businesses. Unlike the Irish Government, the U.S. Government sees the benefit, and importance, of organizations similar to Opportunity Ireland in helping develop indigenous U.S. businesses. The Irish Government is insular in its approach and mentality to the extent that it blocks anyone or organization ‘stepping on its turf’ and affecting its personal business.
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OPEN ECONOMY?
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And considering Ireland’s claim that it’s an open economy, it needs all the help it can get, although, to digress a little, we at Opportunity Ireland challenge this claim based upon our own experience dealing with the Irish Government and other institutions even though we have referred to Ireland’s open economy in some of our communications in the past. Sometimes we (all of us) can get carried along by terms we accept as being accurate representations of something without challenging such application, particularly if their source is the Irish Government. According to Investopedia, an open economy is:
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“An open market is an economic system with little to no barriers to free-market activity. An open market is characterized by the absence of tariffs, taxes, licensing requirements, subsidies, unionization, and any other regulations or practices that interfere with free-market activity. Open markets may have competitive barriers to entry, but never any regulatory barriers to entry.”
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Our interpretation of Ireland’s economy is that it’s as much a closed economy as it is an open one. Aside from obvious examples of significant in some cases tariffs, unionization, subsidies, regulations etc. in everyday business life in Ireland, the protectionist regulations and policy referred to above (Central Bank) seem the antithesis of an open economy. Today, all economies have a degree of openness, even North Korea, albeit a predominantly closed one. So, how do we interpret the term open economy when the Irish Government uses it?
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An open economy in very simple terms means participation in international trade, where a country both imports and exports goods. Therefore, Ireland is an open economy, but how open is it? According to the Irish Times, “Ireland’s reliance on a small number of major multinationals leaves the economy vulnerable and threatens the outlook for growth, according to new research from the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), which has issued a stark warning about the sustainability of our economic model.”
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The Times continues, “A small number of firms in the pharma and tech sectors are contributing a large proportion of exports and output and driving up growth. In turn, this disguises a large number of smaller firms where productivity is stagnant or falling, the NCC says, posing significant vulnerabilities and challenges to Government policy.”
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Note – While we quote the NCC above, we’re certainly not hailing any great insight on its part, as Opportunity Ireland and others have been stating this fact for years.
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Therefore, how open is Ireland’s economy based upon the distortion in its exports and GDP numbers? Another aspect of an open economy is that consumers have an opportunity to invest their savings outside the country (Wiki). Based upon our interaction with the Central Bank of Ireland (above) there was no way the founder of Opportunity Ireland was going to convince them to allow him to offer U.S. financial products to Irish consumers at the time. Has the Central Bank’s protectionist stance changed since then? Far from it based upon the recent Davy scandal.
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According to Wiki, “If a country has an open economy, that country’s spending in any given year need not equal its output of goods and services. A
country can spend more money than it produces by
borrowing from abroad, or it can spend less than it produces and lend the difference to
foreigners.
[1]“.
Perhaps this is why protectionist economies like Ireland claim to be so open? Another reason might be because open economies are more susceptible to external influences that can significantly affect their revenue base, which can also be a great excuse for the government of an open economy country to use to cover for its incompetency. Opportunity Ireland has little faith in country rankings (there are rankings for everything and the kitchen sink inc. transparency, open economy etc., but most are just a load of nonsense), which are often just political exercises. We personally believe that many of those who create these rankings get paid to do so or benefit in some way. We would advise you to ignore them as generally they are meaningless in practice. Update Sept. 2021 re. country rankings – see point (I) at link https://www.failte32.org/2019/12/new-development-after-my-reports-published/
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We refer you to the article https://bizfluent.com/list-5801085-advantages-open-economy.html and suggest that if you are an entrepreneur or potential FDI investor “it’s important to have a clear understanding of the differences between open and closed economies. This will help you decide who to do business with and where to invest money for long-term success.” Where does Ireland fit into this picture?
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Is a fully open economy better than a moderately open economy? Which type of economy is better for your business? Perhaps a more closed economy is better? We would categorize Ireland as being a closed open economy or a protectionist open economy.
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As an entrepreneur or FDI investor you tend to invest in open economies, and Ireland is claiming to be one. But if it’s
as much closed as it is open, are you being misled? You’re going to invest a lot of money in Ireland. The degree of openness (or closeness) of an economy should not deter you from investing in a country as long as you’re aware of how closed the economy is so that you can plan to minimize the effects the country’s protectionist policies will have on your business and make sure your possibly smaller size won’t result in less special treatment from the Irish Government than that which they give to larger companies like Apple and others.
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Update May 11, 2022 – While we have our reservations about the current Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, we’re happy to know that he’s taking some of his cues from Opportunity Ireland and Failte 32. His article below effectively discusses the consequences of that which we discussed immediately above. It’s interesting that a statement he made within it, “Ireland has no history of conquest, and no legacy as a coloniser. Our natural resources are limited largely to our landscape, agriculture, and to wind and wave.”, very much resembles in essence a statement made by Failte 32 (umbrella organization for Opportunity Ireland) some years back in one of its articles,
“The great thing about the Irish is that we never sought to conquer another country; rather, we left our country as either emigrants or missionaries, both very noble and honorable pursuits, and have contributed to the great reputation the Irish enjoy worldwide.” (See About Failte 32, Useful Articles and Recent Newsletters, 5th in series on employment options…)
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HOW TO APPROACH FDIPs AND FINANCING OPTIONS
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Anyhow, getting back to FDIPs. There are many benefits to FDIPs for both the host country and the investor such as increased employment, new markets, economies of scale, operational synergies, exit strategies for owners, less reliance on MNCs, to name but a few. Regarding exit or partial-exit strategies for owners of Irish companies, FDIPs can provide the security of such a benefit at a suitable time in the future, while offering the investor a low-cost way of establishing an operation abroad.
U.S. companies that do not want to set up a full-fledged operation immediately to access the European Market, can first partner (not a principal/agent relationship) with experienced Irish companies in a service/distribution context in order to become familiar with the ‘lay of the land’, and gradually enter the 500 million (potential customers) European Market through Ireland, a country with the know-how to scale your European business/sales.
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Many manufacturing firms in the U.S. have service/maintenance subsidiaries around the country, and Ireland can provide their European subsidiary by facilitating partnering with indigenous Irish companies. This we believe in many cases should be the first baby step U.S. manufacturing firms should take before setting up a full-fledged manufacturing operation abroad. First, start selling into Europe and provide service/maintenance support from Ireland.
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First and foremost, we refer you to the
University of Limerick and its sister university,
DCU. Your first port of call should not be the Irish Government but rather appropriate Irish Universities. Disclosure – the University of Limerick is the alma mater of the founder, but he also recommends DCU. These universities offer a uniqueness to U.S. firms over other traditional Irish universities, and we believe are way ahead of the game in terms of their education models and when it comes to assisting U.S. companies with FDI. See links below.
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https://www.ul.ie/news-centre/news/university-limerick-gets-five-star-rating-influential-global-ranking
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https://www.dcu.ie/news/news/2015/05/dcu-academic-wins-us-ireland-research-award
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/custom-degrees-help-grads-and-employers-11615745704
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Note – Read the nonsense by PwC when they refer to their engagement with universities as a “new frontier”. You can only laugh.
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Opportunity Ireland will facilitate, act as middleman initially, introduction between these indigenous Irish companies and U.S. firms looking to expand abroad. It will do this by listing these Irish companies on our website. However, Opportunity Ireland, like Failte 32, will never seek a fee for its services. U.S. firms can simply view the company’s details online (‘qualified leads’) and contact them directly. We are then out of the picture.
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There is no formal, or indeed informal, program in place by the Irish Government that does this type of matchmaking currently. Enterprise Ireland and the IDA should be doing this by supporting organizations like Opportunity Ireland, but are not. The agencies that only focus on supporting and attracting innovative companies do not seem to be very innovative themselves. This type of focus Opportunity Ireland believes is a risk by ignoring the stability of nuts and bolts types of operations which have provided stable jobs and profits to the Irish economy over the years. But they need to grow too. So, Opportunity Ireland will help them achieve this.
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Although not within its purview, Opportunity Ireland believes that Irish companies eligible for Enterprise Ireland support, that is, innovative Irish companies, do not need to avail of this support/funding and should stay away from it. You will be giving up too much to this agency in return, and we believe they will share your propriety and non-proprietary information with others without your knowledge.
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Note – when we say not within our purview, obviously the companies we try to match with each other will be innovative to some extent but are established companies with proven operations as opposed to startups that will require ongoing support and funding while they develop into going concerns.
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There are so many other types of funding options out there that start up Irish companies can utilize, be that traditional VC funding, or newer transactions such as ABSs by nonbank lenders, or the use of SPACs (under review by SEC) as an exit option to go public for startups. These are just a couple of newer financing options available, and there are many others that may be more suitable for your particular situation. One size does not fit all. If you are an Enterprise Ireland client, did they inform you of these options prior to April 10, 2021 (they are aware of the Opportunity Ireland website) when we wrote this piece (paragraph)?
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One of the investor groups the founder of Opportunity Ireland established succeeded in engaging a U.S. parent company to bring its biotech companies and IP to Ireland. At the time, incubated companies of the parent company had sought to become publicly-traded entities relatively early in their development cycle through reverse mergers with shell companies and/or the self-registrations of shares.
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Although the ongoing feasibility of taking companies public early in their development cycle through the reverse merger mechanism requires cooperative market conditions, we still believe that, at least in many market environments, this may be an efficient strategy for several reasons such as the ability of these companies to raise capital on an ongoing basis, motivate management, and have additional currency with which to effect transactions, to name but a few.
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Disclaimer: Opportunity Ireland does not offer investment advice. The above (and below) is for educational purposes only.
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According to a Wall Street Journal (
WSJ)
article, “
As technology companies became a bigger part of the U.S. economy, private-equity firms began buying them, too, starting with established and profitable businesses before shifting to more speculative companies that traditionally relied on venture capital for cash.
Debt investors have traditionally been hesitant to lend to companies with little or no profit because they can’t earn the spectacular returns of equity investors if a business is successful but can still take significant losses if it fails. That attitude has shifted in recent years as investors have grown more confident that such companies won’t fail, thanks to their own belief in the companies and the committed support of private-equity firms who have paid top dollar for the businesses.“
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Another WSJ
article (April 21, 2021) states in part, “Investors are offering startups five times—or more—the amount of money they are asking, and deals that used to take months now sometimes close in days, according to venture capitalists, deal makers and founders.”
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Opportunity Ireland recommends that you research the many other financing options out there, including outside of Ireland, and then terminate you client engagement with Irish Government agencies. These agencies will only hold you back by bringing you along in a way that is more favorable to their own political motivations in terms of the Irish Government’s protectionist policies. Keep the politics out of your business. Politics of the kind of having the Irish Government involved in you business from the get-go will only be damaging to your success. Why do you think that many Enterprise Ireland client companies have had a dismal performance and many have failed.
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AHEAD OF THE GAME
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Opportunity Ireland, like
Ed Walsh in the article above, likes to be ahead of the game (read about Dr. Walsh’s archive/book, “
Upstart” (screenshot), or link https://www.ul.ie/node/75707#:~:text=Almost%20exactly%2050%20years%20to,a%20different%20kind%20of%20ceremony
The life sciences project the founder brought to the Irish Government as mentioned above was unique and its model to create a life sciences hub in Ireland ahead of the game. Hence, the reverse engineering of the project by the Irish Government to create Innovation Fund Ireland (IFI) (which would have been fine had they not excluded Iverna Group, the group set up to initially administer the project, and had they carried out a fair evaluation process), and the subsequent crime and cover-up. Therefore, the above mentioned negative action by the Irish Government this time towards Opportunity Ireland (delinking and not seeking our permission mentioned further above) certainly makes it clear that that nothing ever changes in the Irish Government.
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That said, the launch of Failte 32 set precedent for the launch of a similar ‘Failte 32’ type initiative by the Irish Government not long after its launch, so we’ll put up with them copying our ideas if it doesn’t cost us or hurt us. Our approach is to be positive, as the saying goes, ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’, and hopefully the Irish people will ultimately benefit. But we’ll hold them accountable when they behave unethically.
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The link a few paragraphs down is a good measure of the culture of Ireland’s current regulatory and oversight system in practice. Much of this the founder of Opportunity Ireland brought to the attention of pretty much everyone who could have done something about it years ago. Only now are these practices being seriously taken notice of (we hope!). Again, we were ahead of the game.
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The comments in these articles are also important to read as they can give a deeper perspective on the issue. There are other Irish Times articles, including link below, highlighted in the ‘Recent Posts’, New developments section (top right of this web page, click, then scroll towards end or click on link https://www.failte32.org/2019/12/new-development-after-my-reports-published/ – then scroll towards end) that discuss recent issues in Ireland. Opportunity Ireland comments on these articles are identified ‘FromNY’ (FR), and although they again demonstrate we’re ahead of the game, our purpose is to assist any way we can through this reputable (journalists/columnists) and widely read platform.
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The article below states in part, “The fact that senior staff circumvented the firm’s own compliance team speaks volumes about the culture of the organisation.”
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In the founders’ case against the Irish Government, the first thing he pointed out years back in his summary documents (before writing his series of detailed Reports) was that the NPRF (NTMA) circumvented the Innovation Fund Ireland (IFI) evaluation process, indeed circumvented IFI altogether while claiming to have awarded funding under IFI.
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https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/davy-and-tracker-scandal-reveal-toxic-culture-at-heart-of-irish-financial-system-1.4522164.
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We also direct you to (F) points (6) and 6(b), link below, since there are similarities between the recent Davy (Ireland) scandal and a case being brought before the Irish High Court by the founder of Opportunity Ireland against the Irish Government, including John Corrigan’s (NTMA) involvement in both cases.
Serious concerns should be raised about the recent release of the independent review on the scandal which failed to mention the illegal practice of ‘churning’ at Davy, instead choosing to describe the practice with kid gloves. Opportunity Ireland implied this practice at Davy long before the release of this review. See point 6(b), Update July 31, 2021, https://www.failte32.org/2019/12/new-development-after-my-reports-published/
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And I recently received a response from the Irish Government (Minister Paschal Donohue) to the opinion I expressed to him, and added as a comment in the Irish Times, about Ireland’s 12.5% corporate tax regime (see https://www.failte32.org/2019/12/new-development-after-my-reports-published/ – scroll to very end i.e. Point 6 (e))
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See also OPPORTUNITY IRELAND RELATED COMMUNICATIONS towards end of (F) 6(b) of https://www.failte32.org/2019/12/new-development-after-my-reports-published/
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FINALLY…
Opportunity Ireland in essence is practicing FDI in its broadest sense (see below) as opposed to the narrow application of it by the Irish Government over the decades as manifested by the presence of predominantly foreign owned MNCs based in Ireland. We believe this strategy has run its course, certainly with success but also failure to leverage MNCs to develop indigenous industry in Ireland in any significant way. FDIPs are just a first step towards developing a comprehensive FDI strategy for Ireland that will expand its indigenous industry base significantly such that exports from indigenous Irish companies will in the long-term far exceed those from foreign owned MNCs.
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In our third summary document (
Part 3) on the Irish Government in 2015, 5th page, the founder concluded:
“Conclusion: It should be the other way around where indigenous industry accounts for over 90% of exports (and jobs) and larger foreign-owned corporations the remaining 8-9%.”
FDIPs can help us achieve this goal, and help Ireland overcome the risks associated with its ‘closed open’ economy.
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As founder of Opportunity Ireland I was mulling over the idea of ever using middlemen such as EI, the IDA or Ibec with regards to in future supporting the licensing of an acoustics idea of mine to an Irish company, but I could not for the life of me (and I’ve been around the block once or twice) see a benefit to me or anyone else for that matter working with any of them, particularly a benefit that would justify any of them getting a piece of my idea, directly or on a quid pro quo basis, and I want a process that is as easy, efficient and successful as possible.
I’ve already been reaching out directly to some Irish companies in Ireland who are in the business should my idea turn out to be commerciable, and they have indicated interest once it’s patented. The process will be that easy, less potential complications, less opportunities for fraud…
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IRELANDs SUCCESSFUL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ZONES
Below is an article (first link below) in the Wall Street Journal re. China. As founder of Opportunity Ireland, I personally made a comment (see below the second link) regarding Ireland’s successful economic zones and that Xi Jinping brought this model back to China. At the end of my comment, I refer to a link to/article on the Embassy’s website. When I went to make the same comment on another WSJ article a week later (second link below), I noticed that the Embassy link/article at end of comment had been disabled. Fortunately, previously I had copied the Embassy article – see Embassy website article PDF link below the comment (or copy and paste version below PDF link – note that tabs in both versions link to the Chinese Embassy). Below that again is an updated comment I made on another WSJ article.
China Launches Live-Fire Drills, Missiles Around Taiwan After Pelosi Visit – WSJ
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China’s Computer Chips Are Down – WSJ
Comment I made in above two WSJ articles:
Xi Jinping, as VP, used to visit to my home country Ireland, more specifically the Limerick/Shannon region, where he was respectfully entertained and given guidance on our very successful economic development zones, which model he then brought back to China to build China’s special economic zones, Shanghai Pudong New Area, Tianjin Binhai New Area and other development zones. While Ireland is an innocent player in all this, as an Irish man I’m ashamed to think that such a person, who we showed respect for, all along had the nefarious motive of using such success to strengthen China’s economic power with the ultimate goal of overthrowing Hong Kong and Taiwan and God only knows where else in the future. I understand the need for general trade activity between countries, but policies and experience on a macroeconomic level that give one country an advantage over another should be carefully guarded from communist regimes. Lesson learned? Vice President Xi Jinping Visits Ireland’s Shannon Development (mfa.gov.cn)
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Embassy website article PDF
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| Home > News |
| Vice President Xi Jinping Visits Ireland’s Shannon Development |
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| 2012-02-20 |
On the afternoon of February 18, 2012, local time, Vice President Xi Jinping, who had just arrived in Ireland, visited Shannon Development Zone in the west of Ireland in the company of Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore.
Vice President Xi first heard the briefing made by CEO of Shannon Development Vincent Cunnane on the history of the development zone, its business philosophy, future development goals, its role in Ireland’s economic development and its relations with China and then had interactive discussions on the attraction of foreign investment, preferential policies, its cooperation with China and other interesting topics.
Vice President Xi said that Shannon Development is one of the oldest and the most successful economic development zones in the world. For decades, it not only made significant contributions to the economic development of Ireland, but also provided a useful reference for the economic development in many other countries in the world. China has learned a lot of useful experience from Shannon Development to build China’s special economic zones, Shanghai Pudong New Area, Tianjin Binhai New Area and other development zones. Many Chinese delegations came to visit here to learn experience and they were deeply impressed. Shannon Development has played a helpful role in broadening their horizons, exploring new ideas, and promoting economic development. Ireland and China have complementary economic advantages. The two sides should further strengthen mutual learning, deepen mutually-beneficial cooperation, and make unremitting efforts for the long-term, healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.
CEO Vincent Cunnane and other executives of Shannon Development thanked Vice President Xi for coming to visit the development zone directly from the airport after arriving in Ireland. It shows the great importance attached by the Chinese leaders to strengthening economic and trade relations with Ireland. They said that Shannon Development is willing to further strengthen cooperation with China in aviation, transportation, financial services and other areas so as to develop and prosper together with China for the benefit of the people.
On the Night, Xi Jinping attended the welcome banquet hosted by Gilmore.
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America’s Industrial Base Isn’t Ready for War With China – WSJ
Comment on above article:
I realize I’ve brought up this point before (2-3 weeks ago) about China’s close relationship with Ireland which enabled it to bring Ireland’s very successful economic development zones concept back to China to accelerate its economic growth, no doubt a nefarious motive on the part of China to subsequently conquer Taiwan and others. Re. two previous articles in the WSJ, I referred in my comments to a link/article on the Embassy’s website. What was interesting was that the link/article was removed from the Embassy’s website after my first comment. I mentioned this in another WSJ comment. I had however copied the article before it was removed. I had experience to do this as the Irish Government does it all the time to cover up its fraud (my Reports on Failte 32 detail this). Therefore, it’s a habit now that I copy or screen shot certain references I make. I therefore uploaded the article/PDF to my Failte 32 U.S. website under the Opportunity Ireland section (towards end). I then noticed that the uploaded PDF was given first billing on Google when you searched under words like China, Shannon, economic zones. It was even before the Guardian, although it has since been pushed way down the charts : ) Maybe the Embassy wants it way out of sight. Anyhow, I agree with this article that America needs a coordinated strategic defense-industrial base for our military to counter China’s economic development zones infrastructure, which no doubt have a dual industry/military purpose.
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Note – Re. Embassy article above (copy and paste or PDF version), all links within it were also removed by the Chinese Embassy shortly after my comments were made.
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WILL THE IRISH GOVERNMENT EVER LEARN TO PUT THE IRISH TAXPAYER FIRST?
Opportunity Ireland recently gave its opinion (Nov. 2024) on an Irish Times article that seemed to show that the Irish Government continues to make and repeat bad decisions on behalf of the Irish taxpayer.
See Email opinion to the Irish Times and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.
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FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country.[1] It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct control.
The origin of the investment does not impact the definition, as an FDI: the investment may be made either “inorganically” by buying a company in the target country or “organically” by expanding the operations of an existing business in that country….
Definitions[edit]
Broadly, foreign direct investment includes “emergers and acquisitions, building new facilities, reinvesting profits earned from overseas operations, and intra company loans”. In a narrow sense, foreign direct investment refers just to building new facility, and a lasting management interest (10 percent or more of voting stock) in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.[2] FDI is the sum of equity capital, long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in the balance of payments. FDI usually involves participation in management, joint-venture, transfer of technology and expertise. Stock of FDI is the net (i.e., outward FDI minus inward FDI) cumulative FDI for any given period. Direct investment excludes investment through purchase of shares.[3]
FDI, a subset of international factor movements, is characterized by controlling ownership of a business enterprise in one country by an entity based in another country. Foreign direct investment is distinguished from foreign portfolio investment, a passive investment in the securities of another country such as public stocks and bonds, by the element of “control”.[1] According to the Financial Times, “Standard definitions of control use the internationally agreed 10 percent threshold of voting shares, but this is a grey area as often a smaller block of shares will give control in widely held companies. Moreover, control of technology, management, even crucial inputs can confer de facto control.”[1]
Types of FDI[edit]
- Horizontal FDI arises when a firm duplicates its home country-based activities at the same value chain stage in a host country through FDI.[6]
- Platform FDI Foreign direct investment from a source country into a destination country for the purpose of exporting to a third country.
- Vertical FDI takes place when a firm through FDI moves upstream or downstream in different value chains i.e., when firms perform value-adding activities stage by stage in a vertical fashion in a host country.[6]
Methods[edit]
The foreign direct investor may acquire voting power of an enterprise in an economy through any of the following methods:
- by incorporating a wholly owned subsidiary or company anywhere
- by acquiring shares in an associated enterprise
- through a merger or an acquisition of an unrelated enterprise
- participating in an equity joint venture with another investor or enterprise[7]
Forms of FDI incentives[edit]
Foreign direct investment incentives may take the following forms:[8]
Governmental Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) use various marketing strategies inspired by the private sector to try and attract inward FDI, including diaspora marketing.
- by excluding the internal investment to get a profited downstream.
Importance and barriers to FDI[edit]
The rapid growth of world population since 1950 has occurred mostly in developing countries.[citation needed] This growth has been matched by more rapid increases in gross domestic product, and thus income per capita has increased in most countries around the world since 1950.[10]
An increase in FDI may be associated with improved economic growth due to the influx of capital and increased tax revenues for the host country. Besides, the trade regime of the host country is named as an important factor for the investor’s decision-making. Host countries often try to channel FDI investment into new infrastructure and other projects to boost development. Greater competition from new companies can lead to productivity gains and greater efficiency in the host country and it has been suggested that the application of a foreign entity’s policies to a domestic subsidiary may improve corporate governance standards. Furthermore, foreign investment can result in the transfer of soft skills through training and job creation, the availability of more advanced technology for the domestic market and access to research and development resources.[11] The local population may benefit from the employment opportunities created by new businesses.[12] In many instances, the investing company is simply transferring its older production capacity and machines, which might still be appealing to the host country because of technological lags or under-development, in order to avoid competition against its own products by the host country/company.
Developing world[edit]
A 2010 meta-analysis of the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on local firms in developing and transition countries suggests that foreign investment robustly increases local productivity growth. [13] The Commitment to Development Index ranks the “development-friendliness” of rich country investment policies.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
