‘Agriculture and Food – Irish Growth Stories for 2014 and Beyond’ conference, organised by Bank of Ireland National Enterprise Week is taking place in the Lyrath Hotel, Convention Centre, Dublin Road, Co Kilkenny this evening.
The conference will be opened by Simon Coveney, Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food, and addressed by Seamus Kearney, CEO of Valeo Foods, local entrepreneur James Brett of Brett Group and Justin McCarthy of the Irish Farmers Journal. Richie Boucher, group chief executive of Bank of Ireland will also speak at the event.
The conference follows the launch of Bank of Ireland’s Business Momentum survey, which was conducted by iReach among Kilkenny SMEs that showed positive sentiment for the year ahead with 74 per cent of business leaders in Kilkenny optimistic for 2014.
Some 50 per cent of Kilkenny business reported that they recruited new staff in the last 12 months, with 46 per cent saying that they plan to recruit more staff in 2014.
AgriLand will be reporting live, report to follow.
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