Do you bit, go for gold
Ireland can be a winner in more ways than one at the 2012 Olympics, says DIARMAID WILLIAMS - 03/02/10
While somewhat low- key so far, there is growing excitement in anticipation of the London 2012 Olympics. The London Olympic Group Organising Committee (LOCOG) is committed to making sure the games experience is as inclusive of all the city’s minorities as possible. As the largest ethnic minority in London, the Irish have plenty to contribute and, truth told, plenty to gain.
From an Irish business perspective there are a significant number of contracts still to be won, but more of that later.
Dermot Heneghan of the Irish Olympic Council explains that it’s a twin track approach – success for the athletes involved and ensuring the larger Irish community gets a chance to experience this unique occasion.
“Of course we would love to see success, but over past years we haven’t had a massive amount of medals yet or produced great heroes and our ambitions is to discover new heroes again in London. Of course we can win medals and we aspire to do that, but don’t promise anything. Never build up expectation.
From the other point of view, what we want to do is embrace the Irish community here in the city, and involve and integrate the community in what we are doing. We want to have a good communication basis with the entire Irish people here. That really sums up my job, liaising with the embassy to ensure that our people don’t feel left out. It’s as close as we will have to a full Olympics so close in proximity to Ireland.”
A delegation of the LOCOG Irish Community Group toured the Olympic campus last Monday, and included UK based Irish community and business leaders, embassy officials and members of the main UK-based Irish newspapers, the Irish World and the Irish Post.
One of the main messages organisers are driving is the level of opportunity that exists for Irish entrepreneurs and businesses. Bodies like the Irish international Business Network and the Irish Club and the media in particular are charged with disseminating that message.
While 1,500 contracts have been won to develop the campus, and many of those are of course the larger projects, there are still over 51,000 tenders waiting to be taken up.
Some of the key players already are Irish, as could visibly be seen at the park last week. Company names like Kilgallen, McNicholas and Laing O’Rourke were emblazoned on much of the machinery working on campus. In fact, the last count indicated that eight per cent of the entire workforce is Irish and seven of the major construction projects awarded by the Olympic Delivery Authority went to Irish firms.
Small and medium-sized businesses should be encouraged to note that it’s not all about the big blue chip companies; far from it. Almost 75 per cent of the total contracts so far awarded went to firms of under 100 employees. 18 per cent of that went to firms of between one and 10 employees. If you have your house in order and homework done, there is every chance of securing a contract.
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