This week Chris has been looking at two very different businesses, one aimed at storytelling and creativity and getting children away from screens, and the other which is a luxury hotel and spa gifting platform that is rapidly expanding.
First up, Fudge and Gandol is a new Donegal-based children’s creativity company built around storytelling.
Founded by Ballyshannon mum Julie Dowling, it all stemmed from a bedtime routine and telling stories to her own children. That routine led to the creation of a full set of Story Cards.
And so the idea was hatched that other families could try the same idea. Each pack includes illustrated characters, locations and “story sparks” from Myrndale, a gentle and fantasy world inspired by the Irish countryside. Children pick a few cards and shape the plot in their own way, telling it aloud, writing it down or acting it out.
Julie, who is a manager of an innovation centre in Sligo works says their motto is ‘screens off, imaginations on’.
Meanwhile, a Wicklow based Irish start-up has seen a huge growth in its voucher sales in the luxury hotel gifting market.
Founded by Adrienne Stewart and Zoë Byrne, the company claims to have the world’s most flexible luxury hotel gift voucher. In fact the voucher is redeemable at over 10,000 premium hotels – including ones in Donegal – and across some 75 countries. Adrienne joined Chris to give some more details.
You can hear the full programme now:
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