Southside Partnership

Southside Partnership is delighted to announce that two of our clients, local business owners SHANE BONNER of NEWMARKET KITCHENS and MARI DONELAN of DAN & MONSTRO, pictured above, have been selected to represent the Dublin Region at the inaugural ILDN National Enterprise Awards in September 2016.

The Dublin Regional Final took place on 30th June in Dublin City Council's Civic Offices where both winners received a trophy and cheque for €1,000.

 

Newmarket Kitchen is a food incubator and kitchen facility for Irish food producers, founded by Shane Bonner in April 2015 when he identified a shortage of facilities for food businesses. Newmarket Kitchen provides space for food producers to prepare, cook and distribute their products. Newmarket Kitchen aims to further expand their premises, offering a range of consulting services to users and developing a food distribution service. Commenting on the benefits of the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, Shane asserted that “without the scheme I don’t think I would have been in a financial position to take such a risk and set up in business.”

Our second winner Mari Donelan had a dream, inspired by her own family – to create, produce and sell fresh pasta sauces for children and, in May 2014, her Dan & Monstro range was born. Starting with placing one type of sauce in a few local shops, Mari has added a curry sauce to her range and Dan & Monstro is now available in 14 Supervalu outlets. By the end of this year, Dan & Monstro will be available in all 42 Dublin Supervalu stores, with an expanding product range and target market in Mari’s future plans. Marie, delighted to have won the award, explained how the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance had helped greatly when launching her products into the supermarkets, saying she would have “struggled immensely to purchase my ingredients” without the support.

 

Commenting on the success of the event Cormac Shaw, CEO of Southside Partnership, congratulated Shane and Marie saying “We are very proud to see such strong contenders going forward to the National Awards.” Finn McGuirk, Enterprise & Employment Programme Manager, stressed how great it was that two local companies had taken awards considering the extremely high standard of the Dublin Regional finalists.

The Back to Work / Short Term Enterprise Allowance Schemes
From January 2011 to December 2015 Southside Partnership DLR has supported over 1,300 individuals to move from unemployment to self-employment. Shane and Mari are two of these people.
By combining the Department of Social Protection’s Back to Work / Short Term Enterprise Allowance schemes with the supports provided by Southside Partnership’s Enterprise team, Shane and Mari were each able to receive a minimum income along with access to enterprise training and mentoring to assist them in their move from the live register into self-employment.

To mark the great success of these schemes and supports nationwide, the inaugural ILDN National Enterprise Awards 2016, which will take place on 15th September, aims to acknowledge and celebrate the individuals and businesses who availed of them from all over the country.

All the staff and Board at Southside Partnership wish the two winners the very best in the National Finals in September.