Chiru is a rewards app for sustainable shopping that connects those looking to start shopping sustainably with their local charity shops, vintage shops and seamstresses on one platform. With Chiru you can still get that feel good factor from buying clothes that are not new, but new to you. The points you earn from shopping and donating clothes in these stores can be redeemed in local establishments, such as cafés and activities eg. Tickets to the cinema. These points can also be donated in-app to the charity of your choosing. By connecting vintage stores, charity shops and consumers this app is not just closing the loop on fast fashion, but also helping circulate back into the local community. The app is in the beginning stages of development and are hoping to launch within the year. 

FeedAlpha is a Carlow based company that according to their website lets you create “plan, schedule and publish great content to all your social channels in seconds”. By doing this the website allows users to save time, increase efficiency and makes it easier for social media teams to share content across multiple platforms. Their 4 person team has a range of expertise and customer service available. In addition to helpful hints and tips around content available to their customers once they join. 

“Frankli is the Performance OS that helps ambitious tech startups and scaleups build thriving, high-performing teams by putting people at the heart of what they do.

People want to work hard, but they don’t want to be micromanaged. They want to be supported and to see their impact on the company’s success. They want to have their work recognised. They want to love their work. Frankli ensures everyone has the opportunity to do their best work, regardless of their role or where they work.

A finalist in Vision X’s pitch competition, Giyst is a husband and wife venture Colm Murphy and Avril Power are solving the problem of organisations having too much content, but their users having too little attention span. According to their website the innovative AI assists video producers to “Get to the point, quickly! Giyst generates automated AI-powered video summaries to drive, discover and enable efficient consumption of the essence of content. With Giyst’s innovative summarisation engine, you can get video summaries instantly, without the cost or time required for manual video summary production and editing.” Supported by CeADAR, Nova UCD, Enterprise Ireland and Ideate Ireland Giyst is set to expand in the rest of 2022

An idea developed from the The National Council for the Blind, IA Labs “was established in 2021 with the aim of creating a voice for people excluded from the digital revolution. The founding members of IA Labs want to drive forward the issue of equal inclusion and access to the digital world for everyone.” before going on to say “IA Labs specialise in website and app audits which will be measured against the Web Accessibility Directive, with our experienced staff offering actionable feedback to help improve your website for people with disabilities. The area of accessible reviews is one that is specialised and with the support of IA Labs you can be confident that the service provided will uphold against the WCAG directive.” Their clients include The HSE, Novartis and The National Disability Service Association

iPostBox aim to replace physical letter boxes with a virtual one and to impact globally on the reduction of carbon footprint. By registering to iPostbox, individuals as businesses will considerably help to impact positively on the environment. Indeed, registering to iPostBox will help to save trees, to save water and to save oil. Did you know that it takes 10 liters of water to produce a single A4 sheet of paper?  iPostBox uses the virtual technology and allow you to have a better customer experience thanks the use of virtual reality glasses. Register now on ipostbox.cloud

Created by 2 (then) students, James Fahy and Ciara Walsh, JustTip is the answer to one of the issues created by the move towards a cashless society.

JustTip is a payment system that allows its users to pay their tips for service providers like restaurants, salons, bars and hotels digitally rather than with cash.

For the employer it means increased efficiency of distributing tips to staff, improves staff acquisition and retention and increased staff morale. For those receiving the tips it brings transparency to the tipping process, the payment is sent directly to their bank account and they get notified when they receive a tip. For the customer it provides a safe, secure and easy way for tipping and it ensures that the tip will go directly to the person who serviced them.

JustTip is the future of tipping!

Longford based LendRB is an app that allows its users to “The easiest and most sustainable way to hire items, equipment or services near you!” By launching a marketplace it allows their customers to rent out equipment that they would otherwise need to purchase and only use rarely. This reduces the amount of equipment that needs to be purchased in the future and therefore cuts carbon emission and the production costs that comes with purchases of new products.

Created by the team at The Reading Academy  MyWordPal is a groundbreaking for dyslexic children According to their website “MyWordPal is a game-changing app for children with dyslexia. With just 6 minutes a day, for 6 months, a child can improve their reading accuracy by 2 years”. The app is in the process of being developed, and they are currently looking for investment.

A family run business, husband Brian, wife Tara and son Richard Beattie, Prepsheets was born out of the highly successful restauranteurs business Mange Tout Limited where they run 6 successful SI Cafés and The Caterers. The team saw first-hand the issue low margins and food waste as well as the difficulty of consistency in their kitchens when Brian was not present. This is where Prepsheets was born. According to The Hotel and Restaurant Times “Prepsheets started an internal tool that enabled them to create dishes suitable to their diverse clients whilst always having accurate recipe costs, portion sizes, allergens, and calories. For a long time, they wanted to offer it to other hospitality companies and help them achieve the same efficiencies and gross margins”. Having already included suppliers such as Pallas Foods, La Rousse and Odaios Food Prepsheets is available as a webapp for a monthly cost which is less than the price of a main course in most restaurants.

According to their website “Search Talent was born from the need in the recruitment industry for a boutique high-end service offering. Search Talent will take the time to understand your recruiting needs and treat every requisition as if it’s an Executive Search. This means high levels of service and attention to detail, no matter what your requirements.” With their team of over 30 highly qualified employees they are one of the top performing recruitment agencies in Ireland.

According to their website “Tailr is an innovative cloud-based platform that is redefining production for the clothing industry. The company was founded by Shana Chu, who was a garment technologist for over 12 years. While visiting factories internationally she saw first hand the issues with production and sizing. ” 

Before going on to say 

“Tailr delivers a unique combination of sizing features and production services including tech pack generation, quality control, and ease of integration. Our platform has all aspects of fit built-in from the ground up enabling Tailr to solve fit during production, streamline the sampling process, and remove tech pack errors. By ensuring your sizing is consistent in your brand season to season, we help to reduce returns and increase customer satisfaction.”

According to their website “We are an AI-based job board platform that allows businesses to directly source and hire global talent. We offer companies a streamlined hiring solution, allowing them to focus on growth and leverage business operations in the long run. For Job seekers, we connect them with leading employers and help them find the best fit they deserve. By applying the latest technologies, Techfynder gives organisations excellent results in recruitment. “ A truly global business the team has offices in 4 locations worldwide and over 150 roles available worldwide.

“The B!G Idea is an exciting creative education initiative that aims to put creative thinking at the centre of Ireland’s second-level education system. Our programme has harnessed the talents of some of the world’s most successful industry professionals to work directly with 15-19 year old students to give them the skills to seek solutions to life’s challenges by igniting their own creativity. The programme is supported by the Creative Ireland programme with additional support from key industry partners!

We work collaboratively with schools and students to create, experiment, invent, take risks, make mistakes, and most importantly, have fun!

Our inclusively designed programme empowers students with creative tools that will expand their capabilities, building confidence and knowledge base, by connecting them with their communities and bridging the gap with industry. 

The Mentors give “real-world” advice directly to the students, sharing their knowledge and connecting the students with industry. We celebrated the students’ work in a virtual exhibition in May! 

If you would like to become one of our B!G Mentors for 2023, click on the link below to sign up now!