Launch of business magazine in Shannon

A NEW business magazine based in Shannon will hit the newsagent’s shelves in the coming weeks.
It’s the brainchild of local man Kehlan Kirwan and is focused on small and medium enterprises in the West of Ireland.
The magazine will be called Focusme and Kehlan says it will be in print very shortly. “It should be on the shelves by the end of the month. It’s going to be dedicated to small businesses along the West Coast of Ireland and the response we’re getting is phenomenal.”
He says that experts on many different areas of business will give advice and opinions in the magazine. “We will have articles from marking people, accountants and HR people. Our marketing consultant is Brian McNally and he’ll be writing about that area. There will also be stuff about getting the best employees for your business.”
Kehlan is 27 years old and had been working and studying in the UK before moving back to Shannon to start the business. He is hoping that it will hit the ground running and that the magazine will have more workers soon. “By the end of year one we’d hope to have five or six people employed. Hopefully two reporters and people in marketing and sales.”
While the current economic climate is hardly encouraging for start-ups, he isn’t daunted and feels that the circumstances will put Focusme more in touch with its target audience. “You have to take these opportunities when they come up. It should give us a connection with readers because we won’t just be writing about these issues, we’ll be going through them and we’ll appreciate how difficult things are.”
He feels that there is a need to nurture small business. “People have realised that big business hasn’t done us a lot of favours over the last few years and that there is a need to develop new businesses. If people start small, employ a handful of people now and keep working, in 10 to 15 years they could be employing 200.”
Support for small business should be about more than money, he believes. “When you manage a small business you have to wear a lot of different hats, you have to be an expert on time management, on marketing, on hiring staff. There is a need to help people to get these different skills.”
The magazine will be published monthly and he feels it’s important that there is real substance to it from the start. “The first few editions are so important, to build up a base. Word of mouth is very important and that’s the quickest way to develop it, you will notice if someone recommends something to you personally.”
He says that if Focusme proves successful in the West of Ireland, it may go national in the coming years.