Crew Digital CEO Niamh Costello. Image: Martina Regan
Costello discusses the objectives of Crew, the career journey that led her to this leadership position and the goal of building a community for creative tech entrepreneurs in the west of Ireland.
Niamh Costello has spent the last three years leading Galway’s Creative Enterprise West (Crew), which aims to boost Ireland’s creative digital enterprise sector.
The organisation is a collaboration between various groups including Atlantic Technological University and the Western Development Commission, and is supported by Enterprise Ireland. The overall goal is to develop and scale up creative digital entrepreneurs and their businesses along the Atlantic Economic Corridor.
Costello took the role with more than 20 years of leadership experience, including nearly eight years as a manager in the Galway Technology Centre – now known as Platform94. Crew is currently focused on building a hub to provide a shared space for businesses in the creative digital enterprise sector.
This hub is scheduled to be constructed later this year and will also be part of the Vodafone-Siro GigaBitHub initiative, which will give it access to reliable broadband speeds.
“Spearheading the growth of Crew has meant assembling a dynamic team and strategic partnerships, fostering knowledge of the creative technologies industries, and expanding the vision for Crew’s role in supporting the creative tech ecosystem,” Costello said. “A critical aspect of the job involves fostering collaborations, acting as an advocate for start-ups and looking for opportunities that can propel the growth of our members.
“We want to create an environment that supports the development of the creative tech sector and accelerates the growth of our individual members. It’s also important to us to support the diligent work of other organisations in the creative tech industries to raise the profile of our sector overall.”
Growing a creative community
Costello said the creative technologies industry is one of the world’s fastest growing sector and that Crew is working on a strategy to “capitalise” on that fact, as the industry presents both “high-quality employment opportunities” and serves as a “catalyst for innovation”.
“The first step is to proactively build a collaborative community,” she said. “The establishment of the Crew Innovation and Enterprise Hub is a physical example of that commitment.
“The hub is designed to attract top talent, partner with academia to enhance the pipeline of skilled graduates and incubate indigenous start-ups. We are proud to be a part of the Connected Hubs – the National Hub Network – allowing us to work closely with a network of like-minded organisations.”
The Crew hub will provide individual office spaces, co-working spaces and hot desks for 160 people working in this sector, along with accelerator programmes and wider outreach services across the Atlantic region. The facility will be located on the Galway city campus of Atlantic Technological University, one mile from Galway city centre.
As well as creating a community, Costello said Crew aims to elevate the profile of Ireland’s creative tech sector and plans to attract more foreign direct investment by “showcasing the potential” in Ireland.
“We have ambitious aims for the next five years,” Costello said. “These include witnessing the growth of successful creative tech start-ups and their seamless integration into supporting existing SMEs. We want to foster a culture of creative problem solving, collaboration and innovation.
“We plan to facilitate partnerships with international and European Union projects, fostering co-productions and enhancing the global impact of the Irish creative tech community.”
Costello also said that staying on top of emerging technology trends is “possibly the biggest challenge” faced by Crew currently.
“With the rapid pace of technological advancements, it is really important that we stay informed so Crew supports out members in responding to the change,” she said. “We do this by offering capacity building programmes, advocacy and creating meaningful connections.”
Moving to the west
Costello brought a varied background of experience to Crew when she took the reins three years ago, with previous experience in Platform94, Aró Digital Strategy, Oracle and various other roles. She is also trained in the hospitality industry, which helped her get “direct experience” of the challenges faced by start-ups and entrepreneurs.
“Moving to my current leadership role and launching Crew amid the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic presented an amazing opportunity,” Costello said. “I saw the chance to contribute meaningfully to the growth and success of Crew, and the impact of the creative tech ecosystem.”
Costello said one of the biggest personal risks she ever took was leaving the hospitality sector and Dublin, to build both a career and a family in the west of Ireland. She said that building a support network “both personally and professionally” is very important to her.
“It’s quite a timely reflection, given that many have made decisions to re-establish their careers outside of major centres, as a response to the pandemic,” she said.
“We have had many candid conversations with Crew members about this, and I think the shared experience of taking that risk can help to underpin our community. Having a ‘home’ in a hub, and a ready built community – both professional and personal – can be a significant factor in helping people make the change. Whether that’s a geographic change or changing sectors or companies. Talking to my colleagues in Connected Hubs across Ireland, it’s been quite a trend.”
Finding the right balance in a team
While leading Crew, Costello said one of the goals is ensuring that the creative tech sector is “accessible and inclusive”. The organisation has partnered on European projects exploring gender balance in creative entrepreneurship and is working with members to remove “barriers for participation”.
From her various leadership experience, Costello believes that the best way to get the most out of a team is through “empowerment”, establishing trust and offering support so they can deliver on their roles.
“Building a team, I look at finding a complementary balance of everyone’s unique experience and skill sets,” Costello said. “I expect everyone on the team to embrace Crew’s mission, and to manage their responsibilities in a way that furthers Crew’s vision and goals.”
Despite her extensive experience, Costello is still humble about her own skills and said time management is a particular skill she wants to build upon in the future.
“Embracing the start-up ethos, I often remind myself daily that ‘done is better than perfect’”, Costello said. “You have to acknowledge the importance of progress over perfection in a fast-paced environment. However, refining my time-management skills would undoubtedly give me a boost.”
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