ACCOUNTANTS TURNED ENTREPRENEURS


RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE When starting a company, the first thing you need to look at is what product or service you can offer. For Tim Macdougald, managing director of The Auld Sod, the answer was right beneath his feet. The company specialises in sell- ing Tipperary soil to the American market under the brand name Official Irish Dirt. An accountant by profession,


Macdougald has worked all over America since the mid-Nineties and spent many a St Patrick’s Day there, giving him a clear understanding of what it meant to be Irish in America. “It’s truly extraordinary the amount of


goodwill directed towards the Irish. Being Irish is seen as being non-confrontational, being cool, there’s the connection with drink and dancing and music and laugh- ter. It encourages all sorts of people to join in celebrating being Irish.” Back in the Nineties, Macdougald had the idea of setting up a company that would be called The Auld Sod and would sell pieces of grass in an Ireland-shaped tray “as a kind of three-dimensional greet- ing card” to Irish Americans. However, he did nothing about it until years later, when he read about a compa- ny that had had the same great idea. He contacted the company and ended up effectively buying out the majority share- holder. He then refinanced the business and started selling to America early in 2009. Macdougald says the company’s prod-


Des Martin and Andrew Mullaney of EasyDeals.ie A L


good grounding for owner managers


Studying accountancy often provides the ideal grounding for people who want to set up their own business, such as Des Martin, co-founder of EasyDeals.ie, and Tim MacDougald of The Auld Sod


AST year Des Martin and Andrew Mullaney set up EasyDeals.ie to reduce the amount of wasted promotional material that was clogging up letterboxes, train floors and


rubbish bins.


EasyDeals.ie allows businesses to target their promotional spend while at the same time complementing their other promo- tional media – particularly while cus- tomers are searching online for the prod- ucts or service they offer. The site has been running since April


2010. Martin is a chartered accountant who qualified with KPMG, while Mullaney is an IT professional who trained with Accenture. Both are working full time on the project and have funded development so far from savings and hard work. The starter version of this service is free and will stay free according to its founders. “We see a chance to change how businesses reach out to their customers and at the same time have a positive impact on everyone’s environment. That, more than anything else to date, has driv- en EasyDeals.ie.” Upgraded profiles start from ¤50 plus


VAT per month. This compares with the average price for printing and distributing 5,000 flyers of ¤500. “The Irish market for promotional material is in the region of ¤30m per year, so there should be plenty of scope for growth. EasyDeals.ie also offers cus- tomised packages for larger multiples starting from ¤350 plus VAT per month,” the founders say.


ucts appeal to people who feel they want to connect to Ireland on both a physical and emotional level. “People often collect a piece of a far off land that they want to retain an emotional connection to, such as a seashell from the beach on your hon- eymoon. There’s a longing to belong somewhere and to be able to demonstrate it. Our approach is new, but the concept of having a piece of a far-off place is not.” He is also aware that just selling soil is not enough – it must be packaged proper- ly to appeal to the gifts market. The Auld Sod sells soil in pouches as well as sham- rock-growing kits at differing price points. “You have to be able to do some- thing with the soil,” Macdougald says. “When you’re in the gifts market, particu- larly in America, it needs to work right out of the box. People want the gift to do something, which is why we have our shamrock-growing kits.” The Auld Sod has deliberately targeted all Americans, not just those with Irish connections. “Sales to Americans either through American stores or online cus- tomers are five to one compared to Irish people. Most Americans would have Irish friends and our products, when they are not marketed alongside other Irish prod- ucts, stand out. When you sell into America you sell into America, not just one segment of America,” Macdougald explains. He also acknowledges that 2009 was a


particularly difficult year in which to launch a new business. “The business plans that this business was predicated on were made from 2006 to 2008, and the world has been turned on its head since. We’ve had a gale-force storm blowing in our face during the start-up phase of this venture, and no matter how well founded your plans were they would always be totally undermined by the reality when you go to implement them. In our case, plans and research were rendered totally useless by the macro-economic environ- ment,” he says.


Accountancy, Spring 2011 // 13


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