Best Small/Medium Business in Northern Ireland

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Receiving the ‘Best Small/Medium Company’ accolade in the Belfast Telegraph NI Business Awards, was a testament to business growth, profitability and overall success in the past few years.

Last year alone, turnover grew by 20% and is on target to grow by an additional 30% this year. Ann McGregor, Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and member of the judging panel, remarked, “Companies in the SME Category are superb role models of the type of entrepreneurial, innovative and export driven business that Northern Ireland needs for faster economic growth. I am confident that these companies will go on to become industry leaders and thereby encourage others to follow the trails they are blazing”.

TG Eakin Ltd was also commended in two further categories in the Belfast Telegraph Business Awards. ‘Business Team of the Year ‘ recognised the people orientated approach to management and the excellent level of service delivered by the company. The commendation in ‘Exporting Achievement’ reflected on the company’s success since they began exporting in 1992. In the past 2 years exports have extended to seven new countries and in 2009 TG Eakin Ltd introduced its first “franchise” companies in Holland and Germany.

Both judging panels were hugely impressed by the success of TG Eakin Ltd as a whole. Among the key factors contributing to this success is the strong relationships built with their distributors, regular business planning, high employee morale, an innovative approach to manufacturing and an excellent service quality.

One of Ireland’s Best Managed Companies!

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TG Eakin Ltd has been named as one of Ireland’s ‘Best Managed’ companies in the prestigious Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards.

As one of only twenty companies who were chosen, our efforts were recognised at an awards gala dinner in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, which was attended by the Irish Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen T.D., on Friday 5th March 2010.

Now in it’s second year, the Awards Programme is open to companies from all 32 counties on the island of Ireland and is the only awards body that considers a business’ performance from every perspective.

The independent judging panel reviewed a broad range of criteria including strategy, capability, commitment, financial performance and growth potential across all key functions of the business. Given the turbulent economic environment, the judges recognised that business and management success can no longer simply be measured by increased sales, profit or turnover. For that reason, a holistic view of the company, performance in relation to competitors, and the industries specific factors were considered in order to determine management success.

Commenting on the winners of the Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards Programme, Pat Cullen, Managing Partner, Deloitte said, “To be recognised as a Best Managed Company is a tremendous achievement. Our judging panel takes an in-depth look at each company – therefore to be chosen as a winner is testament to the sound management practices that are being implemented across the entire business.”

David Latto, Head of Corporate Banking, Bank of Scotland (Ireland), and judging panel member added that, “The 20 winning companies are an inspiration for all Irish companies by managing to show great focus and dedication in what has been a difficult year”.

As identified by the judges, among the key factors contributing to the success of TG Eakin Ltd is the strong relationships built with our distributors, regular business planning, high employee morale, an innovative approach to manufacturing and an excellent level of service delivered by the company. This award is a true reflection on the skills and efforts of the company as a whole.

Swedish Nurses visit St Mark’s Hospital, London

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Åsa Gustavsson and Christina Schulz visited St. Mark’s Hospital in Harrow, North West London, on a research trip earlier this month along with our Swedish distributor Maud Jägerman of M Care.

Åsa and Christina, who are both stoma nurses in Linköping University Hospital in Southern Sweden, are trying to create a Fistula Centre of Excellence within their own hospital.

During their trip, they attended the Burdett Institute at St. Marks Hospital which provides education and carries out research into GI disorders and is also a Fistula Centre of Excellence in the UK.

The visit to London was funded by TG Eakin Ltd and arranged by Julia Williams, a Senior Lecturer in Gastrointestinal Nursing at the Burdett Institute of GI Nursing with King’s College, London and St. Mark’s Hospital, Harrow.

Jeremy Eakin, who met with the nurses during their visit said, “We are extremely grateful to the Burdett Institute for their help and support in hosting this visit for the Swedish nurses. In particular I would like to thank Julia Willams for her hospitality and for organising this event.

I know that Asa and Christina found this visit to St Marks hospital extremely beneficial and they learned a great deal during their visit. I wish them well in their efforts to make the University Hospital of Linköping a Fistula Centre of Excellence”.

Pictured (L-R) are Åsa Gustavsson, Maud Jägerman and Christina Schulz outside St Mark’s Hospital, Harrow

Knowledge Transfer Partnership Awards

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In November Dr Grace McGroggan, Research Supervisor within our R&D Department, was awarded ‘Highly Commended’ in the Knowledge Transfer Partnership Awards for Northern Ireland.

Grace joined TG Eakin Ltd in January 2006 and completed a 3 year research partnership together with Queen’s University Belfast after which she gained employment with the company. During this time Grace has developed Perform™ Solidifying Agent and more recently Surround™ Skin Protectors, as well as a number of other products that are in the latter stages of development.

The KTP Award was in recognition of the development of Cohesive™, which was launched in October 2008 and has been a successful addition to the eakin product range.

Congratulating Grace on her success, Jeremy Eakin commented, “This is an excellent achievement for Grace and extremely well deserved. Since joining the company, Grace has really embraced all of the challenges which have been handed to her and has been pivotal in helping with our new product development program. Already some of her new developments have successfully been brought to market and I am pleased to say there is much more in the pipeline, including one significant project which should come to market within the next 24 months.”

Also employed with the company through the KTP programme is Matthew Wilson, who is on his second year of the research partnership and doing extensive analysis into urostomy care. We will keep you updated on further developments and findings.

Dr Grace McGroggan (pictured above) from TG Eakin Ltd accepting her award from Carol Keery, Director of Innovation, Research and Technology for Invest NI.

Young Enterprise NI

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In January, Jeremy Eakin and Jenny Mcilroy were invited to attend a Young Enterprise NI Mock Interview Event, having assisted with this event for the past few years now.

YENI is an enterprise education charity who organise events for thousands of pupils each year to help them gain an insight into business and prepare them for employment.

This event was designed to train young people for pending interview situations, where Jeremy and Jenny acted as the interview panel.

Once again the event was a huge success and YENI thanked TG Eakin Ltd for our continued support with local schools.

Welcoming New Distributors

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Steri…way have taken over distribution of Eakin products in Czech Republic from September 2009. EuroMedical Distribution Group are a new distribution channel in Romania.

A warm welcome to 2 new distributors who have joined us recently.

Both companies are distributing the whole range of eakin products including Cohesive® Seals, SLIMS®, Cohesive® Paste, Wound Pouches, Pelican Pouches and accessory products.

Mary Rickard visited Romania in September to provide training to EuroMedical staff and to introduce nurses and representatives from the ostomy field to the Eakin products which are entirely new to Romania.

The group also took part in a ‘Cohesive® Mouldability’ competition where they were required to mould an animal from an eakin Cohesive® Seal, to emphasise how mouldable the Cohesive® products are.

Pictured above is Mary Rickard of TG Eakin Ltd with members of EuroMedical staff.

Wound Care Congress, Denmark

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In October, our Danish distributor Focuscare, organized a hugely successful Wound Care Congress in Kolding.

The main focus of the event was on Fistula and Wound Pouches and it attracted around 150 attendees.

Guest speakers at the event were Dr Niels Quist and Jette Kundal, who are both experts within this field.

Congratulations are extended to Focuscare for their excellent organization of the event.
Pictured above is the guest speaker Dr Niels Quist, presenting at the Wound Care Congress.

National ET Congress, Finland

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On 22nd – 23rd October, TG Eakin Ltd attended the National ET Congress in Finland, with our Finnish distributor B Braun.

Braun was also the major sponsors of the event and organised an 80’s themed evening function which was thoroughly enjoyed by all!

At the congress we introduced our brand new product ‘Surround™’, a Skin Protector that offers complete leakage prevention by providing a waterproof and bacterial barrier for the skin, with multiple end uses. We ran a competition with the nurses to trial the product and give us their valued feedback, with the winner to receive a digital camera.

Pictured (L-R): Katja Tammi and Arja Airosto of B Braun exhibiting at the National ET Congress in Finland

SASA Congress, South Africa

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In August, our South African distributor Manta Medical, exhibited at the SASA Congress in Cape Town – a joint conference with healthcare professionals in stoma therapy, Colorectal and Gastro.

At the Congress we launched eakin Perform™ and eakin Cohesive® Paste and were also joint sponsors of the SASA dinner on the opening evening, held at Ratanga Junction Theme Park.

Jeremy Eakin, who attended the Congress, said, “This was an excellent conference to attend and we were extremely pleased to be able to sponsor the opening dinner for SASA (The South African Stomal Therapy Association). The South African Stomal Therapy nurses do a wonderful job dealing with such a diverse range of patients. They face additional challenges not experienced in other countries such as the extreme number of trauma wounds and the high incidence of AIDS and HIV Positive patients. In South Africa there is a lower rate of stoma patients compared to other European and North American countries, however they have more than their share of high output fistulas and wounds. SASA should be very proud of their patient care, dedication and achievements”.

Pictured: Elize Fouche from Manta Medical and Jeremy Eakin at the SASA Congress.

ECET 2009 Review

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TG Eakin Limited had another successful year at ECET in Porto earlier this summer. On display we had our extensive range of Pelican Pouches, Wound Pouches and the Cohesive® range.

As always we received a lot of positive feedback on the products and it is great to hear first-hand how the products are being used and the subsequent benefits for the patients. Of particular interest to nurses were the Paediatric and Convex Pelican Pouches.

Our competition to win a ‘Trip to Ireland’ was very well received and the lucky winner was Claudia Tienderen from Holland who came to visit us whilst on her visit to Northern Ireland in October.

Pictured: Competition winners Claudia Van Tienderen and Elma Faasse visit TG Eakin Ltd.