This article is from page 29 of the 2007-11-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 29 JPG
A DOOLIN man has just two days left to wait before he finds out if he will be bringing the biggest prize in Irish business franchising back to north Clare.
Derek O’Dwyer, of ActionCoach Business Coaching in Doolin, has been short-listed in the Franchisee of the Year Category at the prestigious Irish Franchise Awards 2007.
The award will be presented at a ceremony at Dublin’s Conrad Hotel this Thursday.
“We work with small and medium- sized business owners in the mid- west, helping them to improve their business through different strategies.
A lot of business owners are doing well, they know they can do even better but they don’t know how,” said Mr O’Dwyer.
“We go in and effectively teach them how to do it and then hold them accountable for the things that they know they should do but don’t do because of a variety of reasons.
“It compares very well with sports. Every sports person in the world has a coach. That coach isn’t better than the sports person but they have a different perspective.
“Ultimately every business _per- son wants to make more profit. But you can’t do that unless your team is working well and there is a good structure to the business which is
sustainable.
‘“That’s what we look at, at creating structures that continue to work when we are no longer there ourselves.”
Other finalists in Derek’s category include Michael O’Hara of Signs Express, John Dawson of Snap Print and Donnchadh McGinn of Chem- Dry.
The awards, which are sponsored by Ulster Bank, recognise excel- lence in franchising, a sector which has grown to an annual turnover to €2.099 billion in Ireland, accounting for more than 25,000 jobs.
“T have been set up here in Doolin for six years. I was the first Action- Coach to set up in Europe and now there are 200 of us all over Europe.
It’s an Australian company but it now has offices all over Europe,’ contin- ued Mr O’ Dwyer.
“It’s great to be nominated for this award. I am delighted. I have been working hard with ActionCoach to try to grow the franchise in the area and it’s working very well.”
ActionCoach Business Coaching operates nationwide with a team of 30 coaches. ActionCoach’s members work one-on-one with business own- ers and managers to help manage and grow their businesses and profit nerevaca Dae