We know small businesses have greatly contributed to the growth of Ireland’s economy since we’ve begun to claw our way out of the recession. We also know being an entrepreneur today involves a large degree of bravery and a healthy dose of hard graft. We’ve teamed up with An Post Admailer.ie to bring you these awe-inspiring couples (and parents) who saw gaps in the market, and just went for it. Kudos to them:
1 Áine Teahan and Mark Byrne
And Baby Makes Three Photography
This inspiration couple met while working in the city in Hong Kong. After six years in the rat race, they decided to quit their jobs and head to Australia where they re-discovered a passion they shared for photography. Together, they studied photography while assisting top advertising and editorial photographers in Australia. When they returned to Ireland, they made the brave decision to set up a photography business selling the photographs they had captured on their travels. When their little boy Oisin arrived a few years ago, they noticed a gap in the market for natural, creative baby and child photography, and so And Baby Makes Three Photography was born. Áine trained with two of the top newborn photographers in the world. Now, they’re known across Ireland for their unique approach to photographing children, sought-after for their ability to capture the love and bond a parent has for their children. We love.
2 Brian and Rachel Nolan
Dublin born, self-confessed food geeks Rachel and Brian Nolan were working in Finance and Advertising in New York when they decided to take a leap of faith, moving to Italy to work in a restaurant and immerse themselves in their true passion: food. Upon returning home to Ireland, they opened Nobó, selling Ireland’s first dairy and gluten free ice cream made from coconut milk and avocado and sweetened with honey. As the HerFamily.ie team can attest, Nobó is beyond delicious (we’re addicted) and the couple are now expanding their team, hiring brand ambassadors all over the country. As if things weren’t busy enough for Team Nobó, the enterprising pair welcomed their latest joint venture, baby Sam Nolan, earlier this year.
3 Jenny Glasgow and Reuven Diaz
Eastern Seaboard Bar & Grill and Brown Hound Bakery
Opening a restaurant was probably always on the cards for Eastern Seaboard Bar & Grill owners, Jeni Glasgow and Reuven Diaz, who met when they were living in New York in the 1990s. Now parents to two boys, Finlay and Saul, the husband and wife team opened the American-inspired venue, which is located in The Bryanstown Centre in Drogheda, in November 2008. Despite it being the start of the recession, their award-winning venture has been a phenomenal success, with the foodie pair opening the Brown Hound Bakery, just a few doors down from their restaurant, in 2011. Jeni, who is from Meath and has a background in modelling and event planning, takes care of front-of-house; while Israel born chef, Reuven looks after the kitchen.
4 Olivia Mai and Bartek
Husband and wife duo Olivia and Bartek have recently launched the niftiest kid’s equipment hire service at Dublin Airport – The Stork Exchange. The brilliant new hire service helps lighten the load on mums and dads who live abroad, making travelling to and around Ireland with infants and young children a cinch. Think car seats and buggies, travel cots and highchairs, and well, pretty much all the bulky equipment a little one needs to travel – and we all know little people do not travel light. The couple originally set up the business when their daughter was only three months old as a buy and sell website for baby equipment, now, almost four years later the website has metamorphosed, due to demand, into a baby and children’s equipment hire service. Since opening at the airport, they have also taken on several business partners: Aer Lingus, Ryanair, Sixt and Enterprise car rental.
5 Carina and Alex Mount Charles
This enterprising couple is an inspiration. Alex, the eldest son of Henry, the owner of the Slane Castle Estate and his wife Carina, run the successful luxury eco-campsite, Rock Farm (Alex also runs the Slane Castle Distillery). It began as an organic farm site, with raised beds for vegetables, an orchard and rare breed chickens and Tamworth pigs on the banks of the river Boyne. Now, it’s a stunning, sustainable glamping site with a series of gorgeous eco-lodge yurts and a cool communal living area, and a busy spring and summer season of welcoming eco-friendly guests and groups to the site. Next up is a sustainable, eco-friendly guesthouse on the grounds. We can’t wait to see their next moves.
These inspirational couples will inspire any budding entrepreneurial parents, they are presented to you by Admailer.ie from An Post. Admailer.ie allows businesses to send hyper-targeted promotional postcards to customers for less than the price of a stamp per item, www.admailer.ie.
