The Tribune

A Bahamian website executive recently joined board members and marketing professionals from the industry’s top companies in Irelend for a series of meetings.

Jason McDowall, chief executive and president of BahamasLocal.com, met industry colleagues in Dublin, which is home to the international and European headquarters for innovators such as Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Yahoo!, Apple, PayPal, Cisco Systems and Dropbox.

True to the Irish tradition, the first night involved a cocktail reception with the Honorary Consul General of Ireland, M. Finbar Hill, as he welcomed the group to Ireland.

The following day, the group met with executives from Adobe’s European head office followed by a meeting at Facebook’s worldwide headquarters.

“These were definitely the best meetings of the entire trip,” said Mr McDowall. “We were able to interact with them to really delve into the internal processes and secrets that make these companies so successful, especially in the case of Facebook.

“By the way, everything you’ve heard about the Facebook working environment is true: Writing on the walls, free food, free drinks, everything is free to staff members. The corporate culture at these organisations is pretty much ideal.”

Following a lunch hosted by IDA Ireland, the governing body responsible for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) and multinational corporations to Ireland’s low tax, pro-business environment, the group toured Trinity College, the city of Dublin and the Old Jameson Distillery for a private tasting with Anna Malmhake, chief executive of Pernod Ricard.

The group continued the three-day trip by having tea with the Lord Mayor of Dublin, attending a dinner reception at the Guinness Storehouse, and meeting privately with Richard Bruton, the Irish government’s minister for jobs, enterprise and innovation.

“Overall, I’d say that the trip proved to be very fruitful, as we were able to learn from the best practices of world-leading firms, which the team at BahamasLocal.com will definitely be borrowing from in the near future,” Mr McDowall said.

“International exposure such as this is always important for the continued development and evolution of an organisation. As an industry leader in the Bahamas, we always strive to be at the forefront of our field.”