Manufacturing and installation firm has eyes set on UK market

Clinical Cabinets designs, manufactures and installs laboratory, cleanroom and workspace furniture for medical device, pharmaceutical, industrial, healthcare, educational and technology centres.

It was established in 2011 and currently employs five people.

What distinguishes your business from competitors? We have a couple of competitors in this space but the thing that most distinguishes us from them is that we are ISO-certified and a lot of our work is high-end custom-built furniture designed specifically for our clients.

We have a number of well-known multinational firms on our books, including one of the world’s biggest drinks companies and many of the leading healthcare and pharma groups.

What has been the biggest challenge you have had to face? Marketing the business has been difficult because we haven't had the funds to do it.

We’d like to get to a position where we have a full-time marketing person but that’s some way off right now although we hope to have someone employed part-time within two months.

Because of the lack of marketing spend available, it probably took at least two years to get the name out there locally and we’ve still yet to really do that for other markets.

Our success has been mainly based on cold-calling and leveraging the fact that we had one big client on our books from day one and we’ve been able to use their name to get meetings on the back of that.

What is the biggest mistake you've made in business? I don't think we've made any major mistakes although, looking back, it would have been good to get out on the road more early on.

It was a vicious circle though in those days because we didn’t have the money and I also needed to be here helping to oversee the manufacturing process.

It has really only been a year or two since I got suitable staff and enough business to allow me to spend three or four days out of a week on the road.

And your major success to date? Getting that first call from a multinational looking for us to price a job meant everything. It showed me that we had a sustainable business.

That first call was received after we were in business for about a year and it turned out to be a large contract for three laboratories for a big drinks company.

What was the best piece of business advice you've ever received? I remember a number of people telling me to never give up and to keep chipping away.

This proved to be good advice. There was a company that we chased for two years and came close to giving up on when, out of the blue, we got a call from them asking us to come in and measure up for a job.

Who do you most admire in business and why? Both my father and brother are in business and they've influenced me greatly.

My brother Niall runs the Galway Brewery and has a chain of pubs and he makes things look so easy.

I meet up with him once a week and he always has good advice for me.

My father, Sean, runs Walsh Crane Hire in Clarinbridge and he’s been great at showing me how important networking is in business.

He’s a man who will talk to anyone in any situation and I really admire that because I don’t share that particular trait.

What advice would you give to the Government to stimulate the economy? What's killing a lot of small businesses is rates.

The Government really needs to do something to address the issue because I know many business people who are struggling because of this.

Outside of this, I think the local enterprise offices and the likes of Enterprise Ireland are proving to be a great help to companies here.

Do you think the banks are open for business at the moment? I can't fault the banks personally.

They have been very good to us over the last few years. They’ve also been positive about other business ventures I’ve approached them with.

How do you see the short-term future for your business? One of our biggest goals is to get into the UK market in the next 12 months.

We will also more than likely take on another two people before the end of the year. We may also need to expand because our biggest issue right now is lack of space and, obviously, if we’re taking on more staff that will make things even more difficult.

What is your business worth and would you sell it? I have no idea what it is worth but, if I was offered the right money, I would because there are lots of other things I'd like to do.

I’d still like to have some involvement in the business if I did part with it because I love the manufacturing side of things and have met some great people while doing this job.

In conversation with Charlie Taylor.