NI start-ups gain inside track from tech giant Amazon

“Act like a Fortune 500 company”, that was the advice given to local start-ups and entrepreneurs at Amazon Web Services’ annual ‘Start-up Day’, hosted at the Game of Thrones Studio in Banbridge.

Focused on accelerating start-up innovation and growth, attendees heard from the Department for International Trade on programmes available for Northern Ireland firms as well as advice from Amazon Web Services on how to build a successful start-up.

Visitors to the event also heard from successful Northern Ireland businesses on best practice and what they would recommend to other tech-driven entrepreneurs.

One keynote speaker was Ellen Marks, agri tech manager at leading blockchain company, ubloquity.

With offices in Banbridge and Dublin, ubloquity is a far cry from a ‘typical’ start-up.

In less than 18 months, the company has signed an exclusive contract with Fujitsu to be its smart border blockchain partner and quadrupled in size, expanding from a local team of four to an international team of 16, with engineers in the Republic of Ireland, UK, Czech Republic, Romania and Spain.

Presenting at the Amazon Web Services event, Ellen highlighted the importance of a ‘values-led approach’ and ‘championing diverse thinking’.

She said: “At ubloquity, we embrace smart people and smart processes, focusing our limited resources on the things that matter. We’ve created a flexible, family friendly culture, where employees are well rewarded with the freedom to problem solve and work from home.

“This values-led approach extends to how we do business, and by championing diverse thinking we’ve been able to create a business model for our technology platform that means once it is built to solve a problem, it is replicable across the world, for every sector.

"As a company, we shy away from the stereotypical ‘start-up’ archetype and instead we embrace what it is we want to become. Our advice to local entrepreneurs is to be as professional as a Fortune 500 with the agility and flexibility of a start-up."