The small Firms Association (SFA), the group that represents small businesses in Ireland, is set to bring the SFA Better Business Show to Cork to assist small firms maximise their potential and access advice. The show will visit Cork on Wednesday 24 February and take place in the Clarion Hotel for a lunch session from 1pm - 2:30pm and an evening session from 6.30pm – 8pm. Over 10,000 small businesses attended the previous Better Business Shows, and the 2010 event will build on this success.

The Business Travel Survey was launched this week in a joint initiative between Cork Airport and Cork Chamber. The survey will assess the demand for air services from Cork Airport to the UK, Continental Europe and the East Coast of the United States. Conor Healy, Chief Executive of the Chamber, said: "This survey assesses the business travel needs of companies throughout the region, and will help enhance the business case for new and additional direct air services from Cork Airport.

A Cork based call centre, Call Management, has been awarded a contract from UK Company Cho Yung, who sell weight loss tea products from China over the internet. The contract will create an additional 2,000 inbound calls per week, and will generate approximately €75,000 in revenue per annum and will see Call Management appoint two new agents to their team of 25 staff.

Cork Chamber has welcomed the recent announcement by the Minister for Transport that the M20 Cork to Limerick and the N25 Carrigtwohill to Midleton road schemes will both proceed to Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) stage in 2010. The Chamber also acknowledged the work done by the National Roads Authority, Cork County Council and their consultants in bringing both projects to this stage.

Two Cork companies have made the shortlist for the All-island Innovation Awards announced recently. The awards, a joint initiative between The Irish Times and InterTradeIreland, recognise scientific advancements, new manufacturing processes, streamlining of referral process for patients and innovative retail service in business and award one business with the title of Innovation of the Year.

Kinsale Distribution Company (KDC), one of Ireland's leading distributor of fair trade products, has signed a deal with the UK's leading fairtrade organisation, Traidcraft to distribute a further 70 fairtrade products to retailers in Ireland. The deal is worth more than €500,000 and comes in time for Fair Trade Fortnight 2010 which runs from 22 February to 7 March.

One of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world has teamed up with a Cork company to the tune of $1m. The Minister for Trade and Commerce, Billy Kelleher TD, recently announced that ProSys Sampling Systems, based in Cork has agreed a US$1m contract to design and manufacture high containment isolators for an American company’s United States headquarters.

Tourism in Cork will turn the corner in 2010, according to Failte Ireland. Following a difficult season in 2009, the Irish tourism industry is relatively more optimistic about its prospects for this coming year, with almost two thirds of operators expecting that business in 2010 will be similar or better than in 2009 according to the latest Fáilte Ireland research. This message was reinforced at this year’s annual Tourism in the South West Industry Briefing held recently in the Maryborough House Hotel, Douglas, Cork.

Vice- President of EMC, Bob Savage, has been with the company since the 1988 establishment of the data storage and management campus in Ovens. "When we started manufacturing we only had a staff of 32. I have watched it evolve under the EMC ethos and team innovation," said the Glounthaune man and Managing Director of the Cork campus, where 1,600 people are now employed.

Cork had the second-highest number of company formations in the last quarter of 2009, new statistics reveal. The figures released by ICC Formations reveal that the economic downturn may be slightly easing with the total number of new companies formed in the last quarter of 2009 increasing by six per cent nationally compared to the same period in 2008.