Pupils from St Fiach’s N.S. were invited to experience life behind the factory walls of the Briody Holdings Group, a Bedroom Furniture manufacturing plant in Ballinacree, Oldcastle, on Wednesday 8 March last. The idea grew from an invitation by school Principal, Dr Ann Noelle Bennett to the Briody family asking if they would like to speak to the pupils about entrepreneurship in rural Ireland. ‘As part of the Junior Entrepreneur Project, it is vitally important to recognise enterprising skills and be able to recognise entrepreneurs locally, nationally and internationally’, she says, adding ‘it was an Irish-French economist, Richard Cantillion, who first introduced the word Entrepreneur in 1723’. After some discussion it was decided that a tour of the facilities, which include Briody Holdings Ltd, Briody Bedding Ltd, Bona Vista Ltd and Deerpark Upholstery Ltd would be of greater educational benefit than a half hour lecture in the classroom.
The Briody Group, established by the late Benny Briody and his wife Brid, employ 90 people across their four companies in the small townland of Ballinacree in North-West Meath. After humble beginnings in 1974 employing 3 people including Benny himself, the Group is now run by the next generation of the Briodys’, Bridget, Martin, Brendan and David, manufacturing bedroom furniture and mattresses for the national market. Recognition of the high quality product synonymous with the Briody name came in 2015 when Harvey Norman awarded the Group ‘Bedroom Supplier of the Year’. Briody Bedding Ltd won the Small to Medium Enterprise Award in the Manufacturing Category in last year’s Meath Business and Tourism Awards and were Highly Commended in this year’s Small Firm’s Association National Business Awards.
The Briody Group have always been very supportive of St Fiach’s N.S, a six teacher school with 95 children enrolled for the current year. ‘Our father Benny served on the Board of Management when we all attended the school and the Companies provided sponsorship for various events and sports teams throughout the years. Six of his seven grandchildren attend the school currently and so when I was approached by Dr Bennett and asked to promote the entrepreneurship shown by him back in 1974 I didn’t hesitate’ says Martin, ‘but I’m not one for public speaking so after a few discussions with the rest of the family the idea of a tour came about.’
‘The tour involved pupils in 5th and 6th class and aimed to give an insight into what it takes to start and run a successful business, explains Martin. ‘We wanted to show not only how our various products are manufactured and make the children aware of what they sleep on every night, but to also instil in them the realisation that every person in a workplace is as important to the process as the next. It is also important to teach our children the importance of local business, particularly to rural Ireland’.
The tour began in the Pocket Spring Production facility. All Spring Units used in Briody Bedding products are made by sister company, Deerpark Upholstery Ltd, with a workforce of 10 producing up to 350 Pocket Spring and 750 Bonnell Open Coil Units per week. Following the process of production, the pupils then visited Briody Bedding Ltd where they were introduced to the various components used in building a Mattress, Divan Base and Headboard. They also got a lesson in logistics and learned the work behind getting the finished product from factory to customer on time. The staff operate a ‘just in time’ manufacturing policy meaning all products are made to order reducing the need to hold stock. The final factory tour was of Bona Vista Ltd where the staff produce top quality Bedroom Furniture including Bedframes, Lockers, Wardrobes and Chests of Drawers. Finally, the pupils got a behind the scenes look with a tour of the office facilities and were the first visitors to the newly refurbished Boardroom. We would like to give a special thanks to Kathryn Cooke and Barry Kevin for organising the event and making sure it ran smoothly on the day.
The Briody family were clearly impressed by the children, remarking that ‘the enthusiasm shown by the pupils was encouraging and there is no doubt that the vision and drive our father had 40 years ago remains alive and well in the new generation of students of St Fiach’s, Ballinacree. We look forward to welcoming some of them to our workforce when the time comes, and indeed working with those who take the rewarding and exciting path of entrepreneurship’.
‘We really appreciated the warm welcome and care shown to us on our visit’, said Dr Bennett. ‘So many pupils have familial connections that it was wonderful for them to see the roles played by everyone in all stages of the process. They could appreciate the need for creativity, problem solving and other skills necessary for a successful business and most importantly, teamwork.’
Government Minister and TD for the Meath West constituency, Damien English also attended the event.
