Sligo was a nice change from Dublin. It’s a little bit isolated in the west, but it’s located along the Garavogue River that feeds into the (North) Atlantic Ocean. Sligo is very small, quaint although I’ve learned that in most Ireland towns, including Dublin, stores close at 6, restaurants at 9pm. Breathing the air in Sligo is a little more refreshing than Dublin’s, except for the peat. You get used to it after a while. Dinner in Sligo was at an amazing little Italian restaurant. Yalena, one of my classmates, ordered a brie and pepperoni pizza, which I had to try. The pepperoni is different in Ireland, it’s little small round piece of ham, without the spice that we’re used to in the US.
For class today, we visited ProTek, a contract manufacturing facility for medical and surgical devices. This company too was on a fast pace of growth. After listening to the business development/marketing director and one of the shareholders, it sounds as if they may be heading towards a merger soon. Following ProTek was a visit to the Institute of Technology Sligo campus, in the Innovation Centre. IT Sligo Innovation Centre interfaces with businesses, internationally, and has an enterprise platform for startup companies. Slightly similar to the Bard Center in Denver. We also listened to a guy from lotusworks, which is an Irish company that works internationally, in the areas of engineering services, construction management, mass energy/power generation, etc. He talked extensively about working internationally, and their company’s experience with using joint ventures, acquisitions, and individually entering an international market. I was extremely excited to hear a presentation like this, since working internationally has always been at the very top of my career goals.
Some observations from Sligo:
-You are greeted with a firm handshake and “You’re very welcome!” as you meet someone.
-Business dress is similar to Colorado- dress up jeans with a jacket. Dublin was more formal.
-A little bit more respect for MBAs in Ireland
That was it for the day, I broke off and left the group for my weekend adventure, which I know you’re anxious to hear about, so stay tuned.
Below are some pictures from Sligo:
Next to the Garavogue River.
No comments:
Post a Comment