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South East Cancer Trust

Big Red Cloud is delighted to announce that South East Cancer Trust has been nominated to receive a €5,000 donation in support of its continuing efforts to support and help people who have been affected by cancer in the North Wexford, South Wicklow and South Carlow areas.

South East Cancer Trust has been nominated by Edel Roche to receive a €5,000 donation. Edel took part in the Big Red Cloud Sponsor for a Day Charity competition and as the winner, she was invited to nominate a charity of her choice to receive the €5,000 cash prize.

Roches – Edel, Nicole and Pat with Marc O’Dwyer

Edel nominated South East Cancer Trust as her charity of choice. Cancer has had a big impact on Edel’s family in 2014 as her father was diagnosed with cancer and underwent major surgery.

“What an amazing gift from God, I knew in my heart and soul that God had given this wonderful gift to help lift the pain of the sadness we are all feeling,” said Edel. “I cannot thank MyCharity.ie and the Big Red Cloud enough for this amazing gift. I know that this money will help other families suffering and struggling to deal with cancer.”

South East Cancer Trust was set up in 1986 and over the past twenty seven years has provided a range of support services and financial contributions for essential equipment to organisations and people who have been affected by cancer in the North Wexford, South Wicklow and South Carlow areas.

Edel Roche, Marc O’Dywer, Linda Dunne

Linda Dunne is the chairperson for the South East Cancer Trust and was delighted with the news of the donation. According to Linda, “it allows the trust to provide the support that is so much needed. No one ever expects cancer to end up on their own doorstep and when we can, it’s an honour and privilege to help out and to provide support. The reality is that it’s always timely because there is always a need.”

Here at Big Red Cloud we were bowled over by the response to the competition and also by our winner, Edel Roche. In nominating South East Cancer Trust Edel also told us about her journey and how cancer has impacted her family, in particular, her father Pat. Edel’s story came at us out of the blue and brought home the reality of the old truism that ‘your health is your wealth.’

“This all started when we were shortlisted for the Bank of Ireland Sponsor for a Day competition,” said Marc O’Dwyer, CEO at Big Red Cloud. “The winning company would have their name on the Leinster Rugby jersey for a European Champions Cup game and the winner would be the company with the most votes. So, we sat down and brainstormed ideas and ways to generate publicity for our campaign and in turn, we hoped, lots of votes.”

“One of the ideas,” O’Dwyer adds, “was to offer a member charity of MyCharity.ie the opportunity to win €5,000. All they had to do was get their own supporters to vote for Big Red Cloud in the Sponsor for a Day competition and forward their confirmation email and they were entered into the draw to nominate their charity for the €5,000 prize. We had a great response and thanks to Niall Devine, the MyCharity.ie CEO for his support throughout the competition.”

Marc O'Dwyer

After completing a Graduate program in Marketing, Marc’s impressive sales career began at Allied Irish Banks, Pitney Bowes and Panasonic where he received numerous Irish and European sales performance awards and consistently exceeded targets and expectations. In 1992, Marc’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to set up his own business, Irish International Sales (IIS). Initially, this company was a reseller for Take 5 Accounts and Payroll software. Within four years, IIS became the largest reseller of Take 5 in Ireland, acquiring four other Take 5 resellers. He also found time to set up two mobile phone shops under the Cellular World brand and a web design company offering website design services for small businesses. In 2001, he bought the majority share in a small Irish software business, Big Red Book. At that time, the company was losing money. The company became profitable within two months, and Marc then acquired a payroll company to compliment Big Red Books Accounting products. In 2003, IIS were appointed as Channel Partners with SAP for their new SME product, SAP Business One. Marc sold his Take 5 business and concentrated on developing this new market for SAP As a result, by 2007, IIS was recognised as the largest Channel Partner for SAP in EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). In 2008, the IIS Sales Manager bought the Company from Marc in an MBO. He launched Big red cloud in June 2012, the online version of big red book, to date the company successfully converts 59% of trials into sales and the number of customers is growing rapidly. Marc continues to run both Big Red Book and Big Red Cloud which now support 75,000 businesses. He is a very keen sportsman, having played rugby for 20 years, represented Leinster at under 16 and under 20 levels, and league squash with Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club for 10 years. Marc has competed in 11 Marathons, including the London and Boston Marathons, and has completed several Triathlons and Half Ironman races. He has also completed six Ironman Races in Austria(x2), Frankfurt (Germany), Nice (France) , Mallorca (Spain) and Copenhagen (Denmark)