Tag: entrepreneur

KPMG Global Tech Innovator Competition returns for 2025

KPMG today kicked off its annual search for Ireland’s next top tech innovator. Now in its fifth year, KPMG’s Global Tech Innovator competition is open to Irish tech founders and entrepreneurs who are pure technology, tech-enabled, tech-led, or tech-driven and ready for their next stage of growth.
Are you Ireland’s next tech giant?
Ambitious Irish tech companies are invited to apply for their chance to be crowned Ireland’s winner and represent Ireland at the prestigious global final in Lisbon in November. Shortlisted entrants will pitch their innovations and present their growth ambitions to a panel of judges, including successful entrepreneurs and investors.
 
Commenting on the launch of this year’s competition, Anna Scally, Ireland and EMA Region Head of Technology Media & Telecoms, KPMG, said: “In times of global uncertainty and shifting trade dynamics, it is essential to proactively support Ireland’s entrepreneurs and the builders of the next wave of successful tech businesses. Targeted initiatives and investments will ensure that our tech sectors continue to innovate and grow, safeguarding its vital contribution to the Irish economy. We invite all tech innovators across Ireland to participate in this competition.
It provides them with a platform to showcase their innovations on a global stage, elevate their businesses to new heights and connect with fellow tech innovators and join a global peer-to-peer network to share ideas and build important connections in a growing community of high-achieving tech entrepreneurs.”
 
The Irish winner will advance to the Global Tech Innovator final in Lisbon in November. Additional prizes include representing Ireland on the global stage, receiving mentorship from KPMG professionals, and gaining access to exclusive networking events.
Previous Irish finalists
Last year, Emma Meehan, Founder, CEO and CTO of Precision Sports Technology took the top spot in the Irish competition and went on to represent Ireland, competing against 22 other country finalists in the global final. Reflecting on her experience, Emma Meehan, said: “The opportunity to represent Ireland on a global stage was invaluable and provided us with an excellent opportunity to showcase our cutting-edge software. My advice to companies considering entering the competition this year would be to do it and enjoy the experience.”
Other previous Irish finalists include Conor Sheridan, founder and CEO of Dublin-based Nory, an AI-powered operating system for the hospitality industry, Barry Lunn from Limerick-based Provizio, an Irish accident prevention technology firm, and Terry Canning from Belfast-based CattleEye, the world’s first hardware-independent autonomous livestock monitoring platform.
Emma added, “Being a finalist and the overall Irish winner in the 2024 KPMG GTI competition was transformative. The mentorship and guidance from KPMG experts were excellent and the networking opportunities and national and global exposure significantly boosted my business profile and connected me with key industry influencers.”
Qualifications and eligibility criteria
Registered and based in Ireland or Northern Ireland, applicants are typically technology entrepreneurs who are successfully making the transition from the startup phase to the next stage in the growth of their businesses. They have developed innovative, proven technologies, established robust business models, demonstrated traction and have the potential to scale up globally. From the initial application to the regional and global pitch presentations, the competition can be a significant learning experience. Feedback from judges and interactions with other participants can help refine your innovation and presentation skills.
To be eligible for the competition, you must:
  • Be a registered company in the country/region where the country/region final is being held.
  • Have been actively operating for 7 years or less (in the current form).
  • Have generated revenue of between US $1 million and $15 million; or have raised at least US $500,000 in equity.
  • Be either a pure technology or a tech-enabled, tech-driven or tech-led business.
  • Not be majority owned by a large corporate.
  • Applications must be submitted by 23 May 2025.
  • Available to appear in-person for the Ireland final, which will be held in Dublin on the 17th of June 2025.
The 2025 global competition will include technology innovators from 20 countries and regions, including Austria, Brazil, Colombia, East Africa, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Southern Africa, Sweden, Turkey, UK and the US.
To enter, find out more about the competition and watch all the 2024 Irish finalists’ pitches visit www.kpmg.ie/GTI

10 Ways to Become a Tech-Savvy Entrepreneur

When you’re an entrepreneur, everything is your job and your responsibility. Even when you delegate, it somehow seems like the mistakes of others are your own and that, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t keep all the reigns in your hands. Now, while no one has solved this problem completely, it’s no secret that technology can help. So, here are the top ten ways to become more tech-savvy as an entrepreneur. 

1. Accept that your learning process will never end

By its nature, technology is always evolving. The problem is that today, it evolves at a much higher pace than ever before. Just think about where AI was one year ago and where it is today. Scary, right? 

You need to keep up with it.

Therefore, you want to allocate a part of your budget for self-improvement. Free learning materials are great, but they can do only so much. Instead, you want to attend events, look for online courses and webinars, and more. 

Reading the right books can help you grasp the fundamentals, but this is just a first step. Also, you need your daily source of information, so subscribe to newsletters dedicated to this topic and follow these blogs. Just embrace that continuous learning is the only way forward.

2. Embrace cloud

Even in this day and age, people fear cloud or avoid going for cloud integration. The critical thing to remember is that, as a tech-savvy entrepreneur, you’re leveraging all this tech to your convenience. There’s nothing more convenient than cloud. 

With cloud-based software, multiple people can collaborate and track progress in real-time. This way, if there are any edits to be made, you can make them once in the mainframe (without having to alter them manually or share an updated version).

Cloud-based storage enables you to access the same data from several different devices. This simplifies digital nomadism and helps you stay in touch with your team even when you’re not at the office. It also presents the only sensible way of leading fully remote teams. 

3. Buy the right hardware

If you’re conducting business in the digital world, your devices are your main tools. So, you can’t be skimpy when making hardware purchases. While a desktop station is great for comfort, especially those coordinating everything remotely, laptops give you more flexibility. So, look for high-end gaming laptops. Instead of just fixating on the cost, look at the ROI instead.

You also want a decent phone. Sure, looking at the camera is a default for many people, but as an entrepreneur, you also want to look at the battery strength, the processor, etc. You need these apps to work without lag, so focus on that.

Of course, your job is not done with two major devices. You also want a decent power bank and a good set of earbuds. 

4. Approach cybersecurity more seriously

The next thing to consider is the importance of cybersecurity. This is something that you have to be far more serious about. As an individual, the loss of private data can lead to a significant problem. It’s nothing short of a disaster for an entrepreneur doing business online. 

You need to start by downloading an antivirus software. While many people have it on their PC, few install it on their mobile devices. Also, you probably want to pay for a premium version.

Next, you should consider getting VPN. This way, you can hide your IP address and protect yourself from cyber (and real-world) attacks. Also, this can allow you to bypass regional restrictions and access all sorts of content (even make work-related price comparisons).

5. Use password manager

As an entrepreneur, you’ll have access to several platforms with the highest level of clearance. This means that losing your password may cause a massive problem for your enterprise. Losing all of them simultaneously, however, will be catastrophic.

To avoid this, you need a more robust password policy, or, better yet, you need a great password manager. This way, you can use a unique password for each platform without forgetting any. 

It’s also much easier to create unique passwords and change them regularly (every 30 or 90 days) without the risk of making a mistake or forgetting something. It’s a hack to help you become smarter with your passwords without even trying. 

6. Learn about digital marketing

You cannot run a modern business without digital marketing, even if you’re not tech-savvy. If you are, on the other hand, you’ll be able to pick a better agency for this job and be more accurate in evaluating their reports. 

The fields that you need to learn about are:

 

  • SEO

 

  • PPC

 

  • Social media marketing

 

  • Email marketing

 

  • Influencer marketing

 

In 2023, none of these can be considered obscure; however, understanding the term and how they function (like how to harness the full power of SEO) is not the same. So, make sure you find some materials to help you get to the bottom of things.

You also want to learn some practical skills, like how to set a digital marketing budget and which KPIs to monitor to see if they (the firm that you’re outsourcing to) have done a great job. 

7. Always focus on user experience

Regardless of your service, you should always emphasize user experience (UX). In one of the previous sections, we’ve mentioned the importance of using technology for convenience. Well, this is exactly what your customer wants, as well.

The problem is that to get there, you need to monitor their customer’s journey and rely on a massive amount of data. Roleplaying is great, but you won’t always be able to put yourself in their shoes.

Instead, you must brainstorm an idea and find the right prototyping tool. This way, you can get the actual data and see how well your ideas perform in practice. Then, you can tweak them and improve upon various factors. 

8. Try new things

Now and then, you’ll be faced with a new tool or a new device. Don’t fear trying it out. Even if it’s free or doesn’t have a free trial period, you can always find a review or a tutorial online. This way, you can determine if it’s worth your time.

You can also take a different approach and check out the cost of a subscription. If you can subscribe for just a month, cancel anytime, and don’t overextend (you have to switch from a platform you already use). 

Another thing to remember is that these platforms are always competing. Just because you’ve picked the right one at the moment, this doesn’t mean that it will remain the best one indefinitely. Don’t be afraid of change; consider the costs of switching your entire operation to a different platform. 

9. Don’t do it on your own

When making your team, surround yourself with tech-minded individuals. If you switch to a different platform and the people around you can’t keep up, the fact that it’s more competitive won’t be enough. Onboarding will take so long, and it will be so expensive that you just won’t be able to handle it for long. 

You can make this a part of your corporate culture. This way, it will be more justifiable to insist on some of these habits during recruitment. 

10. Automate whatever you can

Automation saves time, executes orders more precisely (no risk of human error), and lets you focus on matters that require your attention. 

First, you can easily automate this arduous task with the right email management tool. You can always automate your social media scheduling if you have too many posts to publish on social media. Appointment scheduling is a great way to improve your overall time management.

All in all, some tasks require your attention, and those that take you aware of your core responsibilities. It’s your job to automate the latter. 

Becoming tech-savvy as a 21st-century entrepreneur is a necessity, not a choice

Technology is there to help you out; however, technology is a broad topic. What some may consider a standard toolkit, others would consider high-tech. So, how do you navigate around this? The simplest way is to adopt the mindset of an entrepreneur and acknowledge that if there’s a competitive advantage you can gain through tech, it’s irresponsible to avoid doing so.