Plane sailing for participants on the ‘Peer to Pier’ Walk

More than 300 members of Dublin’s business community have turned out to participate in a unique ‘Peer to Pier’ networking walk. This event signalled the culmination of a very successful Local Enterprise Week, with over 800  people attending 22 events across DLR.

Entrepreneurs,  business men and women joined with executive coaches, mentors, and representatives from state agencies, accelerators and incubators at today’s event on Dún Laoghaire’s famous East Pier. They shared ideas and advice, socialised, created new contacts, and formed new business relationships over the 2.5km walk. Opening up the battery at the end of the pier for ice cream and coffee provided the perfect spot for finding the next person to talk to before heading to the Royal St George Yacht Club for refreshments.

Organisers were delighted with such a strong turnout and said that large fun and innovative networking events such as the Peer to Pier walk could easily be replicated across the country.

Owen Laverty, Head of Enterprise, LEO dlr said: “We were thrilled that so many people from so many different backgrounds, skill sets, and industries came along and participated in this inaugural event. I got a clear sense from those I spoke with that everyone managed to get something constructive from the day. People open up when walking and it creates a great dynamic and opportunity to share.”

“One thing in particular that impressed me was the energy created just by having 300 like-minded people walking. There was a great sense of community and engagement. From our point of view, the week provided the opportunity for businesses of all scales to up-skill which is critical in today’s fast-paced environment. We also got to spread the word about the advice, training and financial supports available from Local Enterprise Offices to help sustain and grow business.”

One of the participants Mary Cronin of The Apple Tree Ltd said: “I thought today was fantastic. I suppose you have to approach these things with an open mind and having done that I got to speak to so many wonderful people. We should do this every week and make it a regular occurrence. The format was brilliant, well organised. I loved the stop off where we had to swop and meet the next person. I got some huge benefits from this, made some great contacts and had some laughs along the way.”

An Cathaoirleach, Councillor Tom Murphy, “This was a fitting end to a week of events that demonstrated the broad business base supported by the  LEO in DLR. The quality of this year’s events has been very high providing inspiration and valuable insights to our entire business community, the week covered everything from Executive Coaching, Pricing (via our partners in Nova UCD), managing partnerships to social enterprise and tourism. The week was a great reflection of the strength and innovative nature of our business community in DLR” .”