The South African design and digital advisory agency is set to expand its team in Ireland with an investment of more than €1m.
Design and digital advisory company Lucky Beard is investing more than €1m in its European headquarters in Dublin.
The South African agency is set to expand its Irish team with the recruitment of 10 new staff members as it helps businesses in the country adapt to the post-Covid working world.
Founded in 2015, Lucky Beard has since grown to a company of 65 people working across brand, strategy, product and experience design services. Its Irish base, which opened in 2017, currently employs 18 people.
New hires in 2021 will be across the areas of user experience and digital product design, catering to such Irish clients as 123.ie, the Institute of Banking, Aryza and Irish Life.
Two of Lucky Beard’s founders, Adam Oberem and James Nelson, relocated to Ireland under the Government’s Start-up Entrepreneur Programme. They previously set up a full-service digital agency in South Africa in 1999, which was acquired by WPP 10 years later.
Commenting on the opportunities opening up in the post-pandemic economy, Oberem, who is Lucky Beard’s CEO, said: “There is a massive opportunity for organisations in Ireland to capitalise on this next normal and dramatically improve their performance and growth with clever digital innovation.
“By bolstering Lucky Beard’s team of skilled designers, strategists and engineers, we aim to help businesses take advantage of our global experience in delivering disruptive and agile digital transformation solutions.
“The pandemic has put digitisation at the forefront, most notably in sectors like retail, healthcare, fintech, edtech and telco. Those who have acted early and were willing to experiment are seeing the greatest success.”
The company’s Dublin team is based on Harcourt Street, where it is led by managing director for Ireland, Elaine Devereux. It also has offices in London, Johannesburg and Pretoria.
“Lucky Beard is all about co-creation with our partners,” Devereux said. “We are small by design and intend to remain that way. By blending both the advisory and product design arms of the business, we are able to help companies realise meaningful and impactful change quickly.”
To learn more about jobs at Lucky Beard, visit its careers page here.
