Sonru wins bank's 'Bright Ideas' final
COMPANY TO BE MENTORED BY 'DRAGON' SEAN
The victorious, and proud, Sonru team collects its reward.
Wednesday March 10 2010
A LOCAL COMPANY has won the national final of Bank of Ireland's 'Bright Ideas Challenge'.
Sonru, founded by Edward Hendrick from Poulpeasty along with the company's CEO Fergal O'Byrne from Palace, competed with three other SMEs to win mentoring supplied by a judge of the event Sean Gallagher, entrepreneur and Dragon on TV's Dragons' Den, plus an interestfree loan of ¤100,000 from Kernel Capital.
Based in Enniscorthy's Enterprise and Technology Centre, the winning company was founded in 2007. Sonru, whose name comes from the Irish phrase 'BÍ le sonru' meaning 'to stand out', supplies an online video tool which can be used for conducting remote interviews or assisting job hunters to prepare for interviews.
Sonru qualified for the final through four regional finals held throughout the country during 2009. They won the south-east regional final of the competition and received a prize of ¤5,000 from the bank, along with a mentoring and training package from the South East Business and Innovation Centre valued at an additional ¤5,000.
'In these difficult economic times the ability to sift in recruitment through a thorough online video interview process, which is proven to be satisfactory to both interviewer and interviewee, is a valuable contribution to cost and time savings,' said Dr. Daniel McCaughan, Chief Technology Advisor (ICT), Kernel Capital.
'Sonru has a very strong management team, excellent client validation and a highly scaleable product amenable to an international client base. We expect to see significant market growth in the future,' he added.
- Elaine FURLONG
