Forming successful partnerships can be significantly beneficial, particularly in a business context. When a person shares your aspirations and simultaneously inspires higher levels of innovation, it aids the growth of a budding establishment. Conversely, some can find certain partnerships rather daunting, as indicated by the amused reaction from Karl O’Connor and Sylvia Ridgeway, co-founders of The Nightmare Realm and partners in life. Launched in 2009, the Nightmare Realm is a Halloween-themed experience which greatly exceeded its initial scope in Kerry, gathering an extensive fan base and securing the title of Most Entertaining Horror Experience at the EU Travel Awards.
The experience first became popular in Tralee in 2009, as it offered a considerably more thrilling Halloween encounter than any of its competitors. Eventually, the event became a staple of October festivities in Cork before relocating to Dublin in 2016. Here, it continues to entertain both tourists and locals each year. The event is infamous for forcing visitors to confront their deepest fears – from possessed jesters to gory monsters and infested prison cells.
O’Connor explains that their unique formula for fear focuses on immersing the audience in interactive and unforgettable events. He fondly recalls tales of spooky apparitions and Halloween lore from his childhood in the Irish countryside, and credits these stories as the source of his passion for inducing fear. These initial storytellers, he says, were the country’s original scare entertainers, inspiring him to follow in their footsteps but on a grander scale.
Their venture at the historic Fruit and Vegetable Market in Dublin solidified their reputation as the early pioneers of indoor fear parks in Ireland. The occasion has not only become a must-visit for locals but has also drawn the likes of celebrities such as Machine Gun Kelly, Megan Fox, Brooklyn Beckham, Little Mix, Christian Convery, Jack Raynor, and numerous sport icons.
With continued innovation and a commitment to delivering unparalleled scary and immersive experiences, they aim to secure their position as industry leaders in the scare attraction sector.
Immersing visitors in a broadened Victorian-era Halloween Town is an experience that showcases fright labyrinths including Sundown Manor, The Shriekers, Death Row 2 and Dead Carnival. The attraction has not only won the EU Travel Awards Trophy, but also claimed the coveted Europe’s Best Scream Park title, Unilad’s prestigious number one Halloween event in the world accolade, along with the highly respected Best Independent European Haunt honour at the European Scare Awards.
The Nightmare Realm is made possible by an extensive team comprising of over 100 artists, along with a diverse backstage crew. Fully devised and crafted from inception to execution by O’Connor and Ridgeway, this extensive venture requires a whole 11 months of groundwork and is finally brought to life in a span of three weeks.
The event’s annual triumph owes a lot to the emphasis on entertainment and interaction. “We constantly strive to enhance the spectacle and elevate it in every possible way,” shares Ridgeway.
Switching from its previous venue at the RDS to the City Market has brought about substantial enlargement of the spectacle. “We’ve achieved our long-standing ambition of becoming a scream park, something we always wanted to present to our supporters,” she notes.
Receiving recognition like the world’s No.1 Halloween Event not only benefits the venture but also broadens its reach to a larger audience, observes Ridgeway. “Being adjudged the best by your own industry peers means the most, and while these honours are a delightful surprise, they bring along the responsibility of perpetuating high standards for our patrons,” she adds.
Working a year ahead, O’Connor and Ridgeway are often engaged in planning for the next iteration even as the current one unfolds. “Listening to feedback and understanding what the audience anticipates for the upcoming event is essential,” says O’Connor. “Our involvement spans across every domain – sets, design, uniforms, promotion, filming, building, training our actors and leading a hundred-strong team. We strongly endorse the mantra ‘always a lesson, never a failure’. Mental resilience has been critical in maintaining dominance,” she expresses. A novel approach towards tackling issues of succession.
The increasing number of family-owned business proprietors nearing the end of their working lives is causing demographic changes and causing a shift across all industries. In fact, in Germany, this phenomenon affects over 31 per cent of the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is a trend that is also noticeable in Ireland. Rob Forsyth, cognizant of this predicament, launched Elevate Capital in early 2024 in an attempt to help out.
Forsyth’s strategy is to take over a prosperous Irish SME and ensure a smooth transition for the outgoing owner, while servicing the business for continuous growth. This strategy is termed entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA). In ETAs an SME or family-owned business is bought by an individual, backed by a small group of financiers. In the wake of the purchase, the individual takes charge as the ‘owner-operator,’ explains Forsyth.
This idea was first introduced at Stanford Business School in the 1980s and is now common in Europe and the US, being promoted in MBA courses. Nevertheless, the UK and Ireland are largely unfamiliar with this practice.
As someone who grew up immersed in a family business, Forsyth had learned early on about the trials and triumphs of running a family business. His upbringing sparked an interest in generating employment and meeting customer needs. After starting his career as an accountant with KPMG, Forsyth has worked in various global companies, in roles spanning strategy, finance, and operations.
Recognising the changing demographic pattern and the consequent business opportunity, Forsyth then launched Elevate Capital with an aim to use his corporate knowledge to help the right Irish SME through acquisition, either full or partial.
However, as Forsyth points out, not every family business has potential successors. In these cases, the choices often narrow down to either selling to a rival, selling to private equity, or in the worst-case scenario, shutting down altogether.
For the owner who is considering retirement, the available options may not always be ideal. This is where ETA, in conjunction with Elevate Capital, can provide a solution that may be more attractive to the seller.
Forsyth is a strong advocate of the wider societal influence of ETA. “Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plays a pivotal role in the Irish economy, but it’s imperative that the small-to-medium (SME) sector prospers for Ireland’s future financial prosperity,” he asserts. By pairing experienced individuals with established businesses, ETA does more than merely pave the way for transactions – it nurtures a robust and self-reliant Irish economy.”
There’s also significant macroeconomic advantage to acknowledge. The effectiveness of ETA is reflected in its revenues. According to data from Stanford Business School, the typical investor sees a yield of 35 per cent, which significantly surpasses the revenue from public market returns. Check out more at elevatecapital.ie.