Jared Huet
Another amazing business located in Dún Laoghaire is Avitor led by local business person Jared Huet. He is the founder and CTO of a very successful audiovisual and IT distribution business with a substantial turnover in the Ireland and the UK.
We believe Jared is the right person to tell us why Dún Laoghaire is a great place for businesses to locate in, so let’s hear what he has story.
His rapidly growing company is now in its sixth year of trading and their UK business has just celebrated its first-year anniversary.
When we asked him why he chose Dún Laoghaire as a destination for his business, Jared said: “Actually our main headquarters are in Glasnevin, but I’m a sixth generation Dún Laoghaire man so the town is very close to my heart. In 2017 I started questioning the value of the 60 minute commute each way to Glasnevin. It seemed to make sense to avoid the commute by taking an office above a shop on Lower George’s Street. So it reduced my commute from an hour and a half to just an 8 minute walk!”
While talking to his clients and business partners, Jared realised that many people share his experience. In the pandemic people experienced a better work-life balance and they don’t want to commute long distances anymore. If there is one silver lining to the pandemic, that could be a discovery of local hubs we might not have been aware of before. As Jared said, “Once I took the place in Dun Laoghaire I had a small local office I could go to any time I needed to focus on work, remote work doesn’t have to mean working from home.”
So in a way, Dún Laoghaire has benefitted from this new trend towards walking to work in a satellite office and the benefits the town can offer make this a very attractive option.
“Dún Laoghaire is amazing for being beside the sea and that’s great for a walk. A lot of people have told me, even if they have a meeting to do, or I suppose they’ve got a mind block, they’ve just had go for a walk on the pier. And that seems to help. And it’s great to have that on your doorstep. And even with the pandemic over, people don’t want to go into the city centre and do their commute. But if they have to, it’s a 15 minutes commute with a Dart. And that’s great for the companies.” Jared added.
Dún Laoghaire is also a great business destination for people who want to connect and cooperate with other businesses.
Jared added: “We put a lot of emphasis on supporting local businesses. Food shopping, or lunch naturally will be with some local providers. I discovered some great Italian restaurants and my favourite coffee/meeting spot is Two Beans a few doors down from my office.”
Our previous blog guest, Jennifer Carroll MacNeil, agrees with Jared. She also told us that having companies come to the town creates additional footfall and helps support local small traders, so this is the situation where everyone wins.
We asked Jared to share his thoughts about @Digital Dun Laoghaire’s vision for Dún Laoghaire to become Dublin’s remote working capital. He believes that it is a great idea, Dún Laoghaire could be a leader in remote working for Dublin as it has the commuting population, the transport links, the infrastructure and vacant retail space in the town that could be repurposed to coworking space like Glass Houses did.
“Vacant properties really need to convert into something usable and Chad Gilmer has shown how this can be done with vacant retail premises. This will more companies to move to the town and local restaurants and coffee shops will be supported by these new workers.”
The ferry terminal conversion into a co-working space is a hot topic. For years it was vacant. Jared shared his thoughts about the recent events.
“It’s great to see it as a potential coworking space. And wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a sea view as your office feature?”
Jared also shared plans for his own business.
“We’ve currently grown about 50% year on year.
Our town has a potential not only for filling the empty retail space with flexible office space, but also filling the empty spaces above the shops and converting them into the residential area so that people could actually live in the town.
As a sixth generation resident Jared is optimistic about the future for Ireland’s oldest suburb and looks forward to playing his part in this exciting future. He is happy to chat with any business owners that are considering relocating to our town, he can be reached on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredhuet/
