As part of Mayo Ideas Week 2015, Horizon will be acting as industry experts at the Jobs of the Future 2015 Showcase.  Jobs of the Future 2015 will be held on the 1^st of October in St Mary’s Hall, GMIT Castlebar.

We at Mayo Ideas Week got the opportunity to have a quick chat with Aiden Corcoran, Managing Director and CEO of Horizon to find out a little bit more about him and to ask what tips and advice he would give to those starting out in business and looking for investment.

Who is your inspiration?

I believe Tony Ryan was a great inspiration, worked hard and focused on delivery, even when chips were down he rose to win.

Tell us about yourself/your work?

Horizon has built a great team and although I’m involved, I don’t work on coal face operations.  I’m working to build the company of the future and bring the company and team to a point they deserve to be.

What advice would you give to start up’s or expanding businesses?

Business is constantly evolving and organically changing, it’s easy to get distracted and when fighting to stay alive you get wound up in the day-to-day.  Be flexible and move, change as needed but keep an eye on the goal.  Goals (at least ours) are not achieved in straight lines.  As Eisenhower said, ‘planning is everything, but the plan is nothing’.

What mistakes have you made and what have you learned from these?

I think if I went into this in detail, it wouldn’t be a blog but more of a novel/series publication.  However, accept you will make mistakes, it’s a CEO and entrepreneurs job.  If you’re not making them, are you pushing your business far enough?  It’s counter intuitive but that’s what makes the better business as I see it.

How difficult is it to raise investment? Any advice here?

Investment is there and we have been lucky enough to be mostly self-funding, barring the excellent support from Enterprise Ireland we get on some projects, which allows us to hire more people in the region.  Money is available to projects that will return, and ultimately I try to put myself in their shoes.  Would I back me with this team, on this plan?  I try to remember that they probably don’t have the passion for the business that I have (and they shouldn’t) and so, they will want, naturally, to make money and ensure that it is low risk.

Where to now for Horizon?

Horizon is now five years old and we are going into the new phase.  The mature team must now achieve the goals we set and, I guess, react to the changes that will inevitably come.  We are going to enter a new field now where we join with other teams and partners to achieve our goals, both from stakeholders and M&A positions.  The goal is for this Mayo Company to be the number four Engineering Services consultant company in Pharma/Biopharma in Ireland in eighteen months, and to have a significant base in the US and our current European operation.

Horizon was formed in 2010 by a group of Engineers with a background in High Tech Volume Manufacturing.  Beginning at a small scale and operating for a single client, Allergan Pharmaceuticals in County Mayo.  Horizon is now operating primarily across Ireland, with clients in the UK, US, Benelux, France and Switzerland.

Mayo Ideas Week is a week-long series of idea generation, entrepreneurship and business events hosted by the development and enterprise support agencies and organisations in Co. Mayo.  Admission is free to most events

Please find the full Mayo Ideas Week brochure at http://www.westbic.ie/mayo-ideas/  

Posted by Nichola Cosgrove – Mayo Ideas Lab