THERE has never been a better time to go into business in Ireland, according to Pat Delaney, the director of the Small Firms Association, and other local experts.

“You can borrow money more cheaply than at any time in the past 50 years,” said Delaney. “Inflation is very low by historical standards. The Irish economy is very strong and we are at a stage of full employment. Employees as consumers are spending money and are quite happy to do so.”

David Rath, the business strategy manager at Allied Irish Banks, added: “Ireland’s new-found wealth has fuelled business opportunity in the most unlikely of areas. Who would have envisaged start-ups in botox clinics or wedding organisers.”

The number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is at an all-time high. In 1995, there were 160,000 and today there are more than 300,000, according to Dermot Nolan, the head of business marketing at Bank of Ireland.

Every working day this year 80 businesses will be set up, so that by the end of the year there will be 20,000 new enterprises fighting it out, according to Bank of Ireland. Clearly they are encouraged by the fact that this is one of the easiest countries in which to get started.

Denmark and Ireland impose the lightest administrative procedures on start-ups, according to a recent report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Ireland also scores well in openness to competition.

So it’s a good time to become your own boss, but what areas are fuelling the boom? And in the SME sector, what’s hot and what’s not? “You have to think in terms of what people are spending their money on — and that’s quality of life and the home,” said Delaney.

Wexford-based Zocalo, an importer of furniture, was set up almost a decade ago and in that time turnover has increased from €250,000 to €10m. The firm started out importing Mexican pine furniture, though it now sources products in a number of other countries such as Indonesia.

“It was totally new to Ireland and we opened up a lot of new customers,” said Derek Keogh, the firm’s director. “At first, most people laughed at the product because it was perceived as being too rough, but the more upmarket stores saw it as a niche product. There was no grand plan. It was basically down to good instinct.”

Where once furniture retailers, such as Zocalo, would have also set up as a manufacturer, the trend is to import and distribute goods here that have been sourced in low-cost economies.

Mark Fielding, the chief executive of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME), says that such flexibility is important.

“A lot of our members have dropped the manufacturing and they are outsourcing it into the cheaper economies, but they are keeping their expertise in distribution and logistics.

“It’s difficult to compete with a low-cost country, so traditional manufacturing is changing, but it’s a slow process.”