Championing founder led businesses
Ibec champions the ambition and resilience of Ireland’s founder-led businesses, recognising their vital role in driving local and national economic growth. These businesses are the backbone of their communities — creating jobs, sparking innovation, and delivering real societal impact. While Ireland has a strong base of exceptional homegrown enterprises — with over €7bn raised by indigenous Irish startups in the last five years — we must continue to foster the next wave by strengthening access to funding, investing in talent and skills, and building a more supportive innovation ecosystem.
As your representative voice, Ibec works with government to ensure business supports are fit for purpose and enable fast-growing Irish companies to scale. Our research highlights three priority areas where targeted action can make a real difference: simplifying access to funding, strengthening talent and skills development, and enhancing support for innovation.
Download reportWhat founders need / from policy makers
Recent Ibec research highlights innovation, funding, and talent as the top challenges facing founders in Ireland today — and the areas where change will have the greatest impact on their growth and long-term success.
Hear from our founders / key priorities
“Our approach has always been to focus on impactful innovation, to build value through intellectual property and know-how, and to engage with experts in the field to ensure we're on the right path.”
“Ireland is a great nation for recognising its talent and nurturing it. We are definitely an example of how strong Ireland’s fintech prowess is and, thankfully, this has been highlighted nationally.”
“I think if we’re serious about building successful, scaled domestic businesses in Ireland, we need to make it easier for founders and management teams to access capital. That means being more open to taking risks. ”
“What has sustained us is that we’re driven to be the best. We want to be the best in the industry. There’s been a lot of research, self-reflection, and continuous improvement within the company. We try to improve our locations all the time.”
"Today, we welcome the Irish government’s focus on digital transformation and AI capacity building, though more needs to be done to align policy with the real pace and needs of scaling tech or non-tech firms wanting to become AI driven."
Ibec championing founders
Supporting founders on their growth journey
Ibec champions Irish founders at every stage of growth. We are a strong, representative voice with government, ensuring that policies and business supports are fit for purpose to help fast-growing companies scale. We share founders’ stories with policymakers, the media raising awareness of their impact and needs.
Through our trade associations and business networks, Ibec supports founders directly, helping them scale, connect, and thrive. We provide practical support, networking opportunities with peers, investors, and industry stakeholders, as well as visibility and recognition through our success stories and awards programmes.
How we back Founders
- Representation: Advocate and engage on sectoral issues
- Events: Access to talks & discussions with leading figures, industry events, networking brews and our Founders Circle.
- HR, people & compliance support: Expert support to get started and scale: contracts, hiring, salary benchmarking, culture, advice and support on workplace queries.
- Showcasing success: We shine a spotlight on founders through high-profile awards such as the SFA National Small Business Awards, Technology Ireland Awards, and the Irish Medtech Awards.
- Policy, insights, research: Access cross-industry working groups, guidance on industry regulation, submissions, economic analysis, sectoral information & developments and market intelligence
- Skills for growth: Build leadership and management capability, AI readiness, and sustainability know-how through Ibec Academy and Skillnet L&D programmes and MentorWorks mentoring programme.
Get in touch
For more than 30 years, Ibec and its 39 trade associations have delivered results for key sectors of the Irish Economy. We support thousands of businesses of every size, spanning every sector of the economy.
Together with our 39 trade associations, we promote a positive business environment in Ireland by campaigning for evidence-based policies that are formulated in consultation with our members.
For any questions or enquiries, please call us on 01 605 1500 or
Email us
Executive Director, Membership & Sectors
