Well Known Businessman Karl Fitzpatrick Elected as President of Wexford Chamber

PLAN TO ATTRACT NEW BUSINESSES TO WEXFORD

Well-known Wexford businessman Karl Fitzpatrick was elected as the President of Wexford Chamber at its 2015 Annual General Meeting.

Mr Fitzpatrick (38), Managing Director of Chevron Training & Recruitment on Anne Street, is one of the youngest Presidents in the Chamber’s 180 year history.

Welcoming Karl as President, Madeleine Quirke, CEO of Wexford Chamber said “Karl will bring new ideas to the Chamber and will, no doubt, build on the success the organisation has achieved to date. Wexford Chamber is one of the most active Chambers in the country and we will continue to influence local, regional and national issues as appropriate”.

Karl has been very active in business and community life in recent years. In addition to his training and recruitment business, he is the Master Franchisee for Bricks 4 Kidz Ireland while he also presents the “Business Matters” programme on South East Radio.

Mr. Fitzpatrick stated that “My goal as President of Wexford Chamber is to work with existing businesses to explore opportunities that will maximize their revenue potential and to use our available property portfolio to attract new businesses to Wexford,” he stated.

Access to credit continues to be a major challenge for businesses and Karl has identified over forty sources of finance for SME’s, including 25 independent finance providers. Wexford Chamber is currently developing a comprehensive guide to finance for SME’s which will be made available to all businesses. There are also plans to organise a Finance Expo in Wexford which will provide local business owners with an opportunity to meet with the complete range of finance providers.

Pointing out that according to the website daft.ie, there are over one hundred commercial properties for lease in Wexford town and his aim will be to work with local auctioneers to identify ideal businesses to occupy these buildings. In order to achieve this, he aims to reach out to both industry associations and other Chambers to promote these property solutions to their members.

Focusing on existing businesses, Mr Fitzpatrick said that through the Chamber he plans to introduce a series of workshops which will enable participants to develop new online sales channels through Amazon, eBay and e-tenders.

Mr. Fitzpatrick has succeeded Martin Doyle as President of Wexford Chamber and commended Martin on the great success that he has achieved for the Chamber during his tenure. The AGM also saw the election of Niall Reck of Graphedia as Vice President, in addition to the election of three new board members; Karen O’Connor of Datapac, Andrew Owen of Bank of Ireland and Catherine Murphy of PWC.

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