A good stag or hen party depends on friends – stagit.ie
Eoghan Wallace
A good crowd of friends is the most important ingredient for a successful stag or hen party, reckons the young Kinnegad entrepreneur whose business, www.stagit.ie, has been nominated for an award.
Dean Gammell set up stagit.ie in the corner of his bedroom in April 2010, initially as an advertising website, and it has since branched out into providing packages for stag and hen parties. “I saw there was a similar company in the UK and there was nothing like it in Ireland so I thought I’d give it a go,” he explained.
Today the 26-year-old businessman employs five full-time staff (and is expanding) and more than 10,000 people have benefited from the services his online operation offers.
Dean’s flair for business began at the age of 13, when he was making birdhouses and selling them to his neighbours. He says he learned the importance of customer service and satisfaction the hard way after selling the birdhouse he had made and promised to his mother to a neighbour because he had run out of timber.
Stagit.ie offers a complete service in organising stag and hen parties in Ireland, the UK, Europe and America.
Asked what makes a great stag or hen party, Dean said “a good crowd of your friends”.
“For a lot of people, it’s about meeting up with friends that they wouldn’t have seen in a good while,” he says. “People tend to try that bit harder to make it for a stag weekend than a normal weekend away.”
According to his website, Mullingar is the seventh most popular destination in the country for stag parties. Dean highlights the dog track as a big attraction, plus paintballing for the stags and cocktail lessons for the hens.
It seems more people are having their stags and hens in Ireland rather than going abroad as many can’t get the days off work, Dean says.
Dean’s company is now branching out into golfing holidays, and looking to enter the UK market as well as establishing businesses abroad. He is also selling the online payment system, thegroupsystem.com, he developed with for www.Henit.ie.
“The system is bespoke and built over the course of two years with an investment of over €200,000,” said Dean. “No other company in the world has anything like it – the success and demand has been so great that we now sell our system to other companies.”
His other websites – www.experienceit.ie; www.semmybusiness.com; www.christmasbash.ie and www.golfaway.ie (currently being built) – are now well established and the turnover of Dean’s companies for 2013 is estimated be some €1.5m.
Westmeath County Enterprise Board has nominated Dean’s business to represent the county in the 2013 County and City Enterprise Board National Enterprise awards.
He will compete in the regionals against other businesses from the midlands in October, and if successful he will take on five other competitors for the top prize. He has also made it to the final three of the Midlands.ie Best in Business award.