Meet the Winners of the IPBN 2023 Business Success Award!

The Ireland Portugal Business Network’s 2023 Business Success Awards Ceremony was held on January 30 at the Irish Embassy in Lisbon and was well attended by over 50 members and representatives from the 14 companies who applied for the prestigious award. To select the winning application, the panel of judges focused on achievements in innovation and significant and transformational change to business. Furthermore, sustainability and employment opportunities were considered of particular importance, as was promoting trade between Portugal and Ireland. These pillars, in line with those of the IPBN, were the deciding factors in selecting the winners, and this time three applicants were selected to share first place: Enerview Solutions, represented by Director Denise O'Connor, Bridge In, represented by VP or Growth Elisa Tarzia, and re.store, represented by CEO and social entrepreneur Silvia Correia. Find out more about the winners and hear more about their success stories below!

ENERVIEW SOLUTIONS

Enerview Solutions is a leading renewable energy services company specializing in providing comprehensive solutions for onshore and offshore wind, solar, and electric vehicle projects. With over two decades of experience and a team of industry experts, Enerview Solutions is committed to helping businesses and organizations transition to sustainable energy sources and achieve their environmental goals. The company provides expert project management services for renewable energy projects, from concept to completion, and assists with all aspects of the project including site selection, permitting, engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, commissioning, supply chain management, engineering, consultancy, and design. They are deeply committed to promoting sustainable energy practices and achieving ESG targets.

Standout Success in 2023: Thanks to the development of its robust service offering within the renewable energy sector, Enerview Solutions has achieved widespread acclaim from customers and industry experts. Providing businesses with real-time visibility into their sustainability strategies, the company's services allow them to identify and address inefficiencies while also finding solutions to these issues. Setting up the company's Portuguese operations at the beginning of 2023 has given Enerview Solutions access to Europe and also a highly skilled workforce within the renewable sector. Throughout the past year, the company has engaged with many IPBN member companies which, according to Managing Director Gavin McBride, "has in no small part assisted our set up in the market and our growth thereafter."

Collaborations between Portugal and Ireland have provided a solid foundation for the company to grow its European footprint to offer its bespoke service offerings, which led to assisting a large oil and gas client with their ESG transition into the offshore wind sector. Having since gained a foothold in the international marketplace, the company has been tapped to aid in renewable energy market entry assistance for a large international equipment supplier as well as a large equipment/hire company via the O&M stage of onshore wind. Furthermore, the company launched its solar installation division and has gone on to work on installation projects across Europe with a focus on Spain and Portugal. Currently, Enerview Solutions is working on a large project in Ireland with a team fully employed from Portugal. Gavin added, "Growth in Portugal has emerged as a strategic hub for Enerview Solutions, enabling us to accelerate growth within the EV and solar markets which are still in their nascent stages on the island of Ireland. By gaining direct market insights in Portugal and effectively transferring that expertise to the Irish context, we will gain a first-mover advantage in many sectors of interest."

Furthermore, Gavin said, "The job creation we have achieved in Portugal has been instrumental to our success and it has strengthened our relationship even further between Ireland and Portugal. As always, conferencing and networking have been a key part of the growth within our organization concerning the wind and solar sectors."

All these successes have set out a solid road map for expansion in 2024. The expansion of Enerview Solutions' services to encompass EVs and solar power has broadened its operational scope, allowing the company to dive deeper into both its current projects and emerging markets where the company intends to invest in the future.

BRIDGE IN

BRIDGE IN supports the creation of decentralized organizations, by offering Employer of Record (EOR), Payroll, and Business Incorporation services to foreign companies. Bridge In's core value is to help companies develop their teams smartly. Many companies in Portugal are building momentum using their approach and Bridge In has proved its worth by establishing operations and customer support teams for the Portuguese startup scene for one. Bridge In has successfully helped foreign companies open their operations here and has assisted in recruiting the very desirable tech talent in Portugal, pairing their skill sets seamlessly with each entity.

Standout Success in 2023: With fully-owned operations in Portugal, the Bridge In team is made up of experts in local labor regulations, back-office payroll, insurance, benefits, and taxes on behalf of its clients. For companies that are ready to set up a subsidiary in Portugal, Bridge In has successfully acted as interim country managers, taking bureaucracy off the shoulders of clients who should be more focused on growing their businesses. According to Founder and CEO Pedro Henriques, the company enjoyed a turnover of over 5 million EUR, a team growth of 75%, and the kick-off of its in-house product team. Bridge In is now building software that will automate part of its manual work along with that of its client base. This software will drastically reduce the complexity of bureaucracy and the hurdles and wait times that go along with it.

Bridge In is eagerly anticipating the official opening of its operations in Spain, as well as the release of the first iteration of its product. These two next steps will enable them to move from static to exponential growth over the coming years.

RE.STORE

re.store is a Portuguese textile brand that combines social innovation with environmental innovation and pedagogical actions to change current consumption habits. The company serves eco-friendly and socially responsible consumers while promoting social inclusion for training, appreciation, and recognition of social institutions, refugees, social associations, active aging, prison inmates, and others who help to create the products. re.store contributes to the reduction of the ecological footprint of the textile industry through upcycling leftovers of the Portuguese textile industry. The re.store aims to contribute as a solution for three main issues: social inclusion, reduction of textile waste and the textile ecological footprint, and consumers' behavioral attitudes towards collective awareness of the need to optimize the planet's resources.

Standout Success in 2023: Last year was a very difficult one for business as the national and international economic scenario was not advantageous for the re.store brand as consumer trust, behavior, and future expectations were shaken by inflation, unemployment, and war. Given this scenario and knowing that 2024 will also be challenging, "We have decided to invest in the launch of 2 sub-brands since we strategically believe that these areas will bring us better business results, scaling possibilities, reach out to new targets and markets and increase our social and environmental key impact indicators. We have then launched re.store Wear and re.store Pet with the same essence: upcycled textile material and stitching made by our social partners, thus promoting their social inclusion, self-esteem, and fair pay for their work," according to CEO Silvia Correia.

Despite the hurdles, re.store closed a deal with a Portuguese retailer that will sell their pet beds, which is the first stage of this collection, and now the company is negotiating the distribution possibilities for the wearable collection. And with new social partners, the brand is thriving. Silvia told the IPBN, "We started working with elders (on an active aging policy) and with the prison facility of Guimarães (a group of 10 inmates is going to work on the pet beds) promoting future employment possibilities. One innovative process that we wish to highlight is that the prison inmates will be trained by one social partner who has been working with us almost since the beginning: a Syrian refugee family that lives in Guimarães. Both collections are stitched and assembled by social partners to provide them with fair remuneration and to foster their inclusion and social integration through the development of skills. We are very happy to be able to start a collaboration with the ‘Estabelecimento Prisional de Guimarães’ for the Pet project."

In terms of the planet, re.store is using new upcycled materials and has added upcycled denim, seat belts, and trimmings to enrich the design and creations. The clothing collection is based on samples from the Portuguese Tetribérica textile company and the incorporation of textile leftovers/waste from re.store, which helps avoid needless waste and contributes to the reduction of the carbon footprint of this sector. Finally, Silvia said, "We have been invited to participate in more than 20 events at Universities, schools, and others to explain our process of transforming ‘textile trash into gold’. The clothing collection is designed by students of Design Courses so that they can be educated on these two themes through a practical project. The result of this process is pieces with a unique design and superior textile quality that contribute to a world upcycled with love!

re.store believes that these successful endeavors and investments will help us to reinforce brand positioning and awareness as an upcycling partner, scale the business both in Portugal and in exports, increase its social partner base and impact, increase the company's environmental contribution, and increase textile industry partners, among others.

We send our utmost congratulations to all who applied and look forward to sharing their success stories as a follow-up to the event. Once again, well done to the winners and thank you to everyone who attended the event.

For more information please contact Ireland Portugal Business Network (IPBN).