Nualight, A Bright Green Future!- A Green Entrepreneur Case-Study.
The following is an interview held in September 2009 between Liam Kelly, CEO of Nualight and Mike Collins of
The Coaching Partnership.
Mike Collins: "You started Nualight in 2004 - what made you feel that the marketplace was ready for this sort of technology?"
Liam Kelly: "The process of making white light using LEDs was very inefficient 10 or 15 years ago - then a few years ago the technology looked like it was getting to the stage where it was useful?.
MC: "I called you the "accidental green entrepreneur" - based on the fact that you very much came from the technology angle - and how the technology applied to a real and present problem in the retail sector. However, I noticed in going through your website that you are really green all the way through!"
LK: "There is a good match between what our customers want and how we want to project ourselves. We are primarily making fixtures which save energy, reduce maintenance, last a long time - and are good for the planet!"
"We are selling to customers whose own customers, the shoppers - are beginning to be more aware of green issues and like to buy from corporations that they feel are green. Our tagline is "Lighting the way to Greener Retailing". We do lighting, we allow our retail customers to save energy, and we also allow them to save money."
MC: "What attraction did the green aspect of what you are doing, if any, held for people who funded your company?"
LK: "The Original backers were the founders - they were interested in investing in the business from the beginning. The first BES (Business Expansion Scheme) investors got involved on the basis that there was a return on their money."
"Our first VC investors got involved on the basis that the business model would work. Now we make that business model much better by aligning it to green, but we are fundamentally green anyway. We're saving energy and that's our business. Our most recent venture investors are the ESB. It has a new fund called Novus Modus, which is tasked with investing in energy-related investments."
"Currently we're talking to other investors - and the investors we are talking to right now are investing in the green/clean-tech industries. A whole venture capital industry has developed in the last 5 - 10 years which is built around making investments in carbon-reducing, green technologies or clean technologies."
MC: "It seems like a happy coincidence that you found your technical product set aligning itself with green benefits?"
LK: "Not really. The reason we got into the business is because the technology has the potential to save energy. And therefore, there is a business case there, but there is also a green case. Saving energy is good!"
MC: "To what degree do you find yourself thinking this is the kind of business I really enjoying being in - because it has that green slant??
LK: "There is a lot of personal satisfaction in being involved with something that you can stand over as being good for the planet. There is a lot more personal satisfaction from that than from the neutral feeling you get from just making money for example."
MC: "When it comes to funding - what sorts of clean/green energies do think VCs are attracted to - both at the moment and over the next 2 years?"
LK: Well, there are all the usual big areas. There's energy production, wind energy, wave energy, solar energy - all that stuff. And then, ways of making those areas more efficient."
MC: "If you were tempted to get more involved in one of those areas as a personal investor, or for future personal involvement, where would you find yourself most attracted to?"
LK: "Well, I think you should always stick to what you understand - and I think I understand the production of light! In the production of energy, there is a lot of very interesting technology in the world at the moment in terms of energy generation and making that more efficient."
MC: "So, something within your area of expertise ? but also something that genuinely interests you!"
LK: "Yeah - those are the key things really. You need to be excited about what you are doing and you need to feel confident that you can make them work - and that they?ll be helpful to people."
MC: "What are Nualight's market ambitions for the future?"
LK: "Look forward 5 years - we are going to try and own the food retail space from the point of view of LED lighting - owning meaning being in the top one or two. We are going to develop into related areas e.g. our major retailers - the top 15 food retailers in Europe have 83,000 stores - and we have been working with all 15 of them over the last 3 years, aiming to get our products in. And, all of those guys have car parks for example - and carpark lighting is beginning to look viable for LED, so we're going to develop LED lighting for Car parks."
"But 50 - 60% of our business will be the food retailers. And that's a big market - I think the market for that will be 1 billion/year in 2014."
MC: "What level of support do you feel is out there at the moment for startup entrepreneurs?"
LK: "I think there is plenty of support out there for someone who wants to start something. The banks are a big negative at the moment - the banks may give you nothing. But the state agencies are very helpful."
"OK, you get people complaining about them, but they are often people who can't be bothered to do the fairly minimal amount of work that's required to get the agencies on your side and prepare proper business plans - or people who aren't prepared to see that they have dysfunctional business plans!"
"And then you have the BES schemes which are useful for people who need to invest money tax-efficiently. And the VC funds in Ireland don't have enough worthwhile projects to put their money into. But there are plenty of support opportunities for people to do things."
MC: "Thanks for your time Liam."
