ThinkBusiness.ie

John Kennedy talks to Greg Dooley about how he brought the popular board game 30 Seconds to Ireland. Due in part to the pandemic sales of the game in Ireland rocketed with as many as 30,000 sold before Christmas 2020. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for start-ups and SMEs in Ireland. If you want to start and grow a business, ThinkBusiness .

Is the writing on the wall for the annual review? Because of the Covid crisis managers have had to adapt to a new way of managing their teams remotely. I talk to Frank Scott-Lennon from HR for Better Workplaces and his daughter Sinead who have authored a new pocketbook Performance Conversations, which addresses how managers can collaborate with their employees on their future and individual develo...

Many workplaces owe their endurance through Covid and beyond to the intrinsic link that is broadband, allowing their workers to keep the lights on. Despite this, some would argue that Ireland’s broadband infrastructure is still not up to scratch. I talk to Paul Connell, CEO of Pure Telecom, about Ireland’s broadband journey and the realities of scaling a telecoms business. Visit www.thinkbusiness....

Beginning life as a pure-play accountancy software business, Big Red Cloud evolved to the cloud in 2012 and today has more than 75,000 customers across the UK and Ireland. ThinkBusiness talks to CEO Marc O’Dwyer about growing his business, the importance of the cloud and what lies ahead for Irish SMEs. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for start-ups and SMEs in Ireland. If you...

ThinkBusiness talks to 256 Content CEO Karen Hesse about why content marketing is the future of marketing and publishing. 256 Content recently won three international awards at the Content Marketing Institute's annual award event. It was also identified as the CMI's agency of the year globally. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for start-ups and SMEs in Ireland. If yo...

ThinkBusiness talks to Samantha Kelly, also known as Tweeting Goddess and founder of the Women’s Inspire Network, who as a single mother started and sold her first business Funky Goddess before going on to keep inspiring women founders. She talks about entrepreneurship, diversity, and social media. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for start-ups and SMEs in Ireland. If you want...

ThinkBusiness talks to Barry Kennedy, CEO of Irish Manufacturing Research which operates research facilities in Dublin and Mullingar. He talks about the value for money and return on investment that Irish Manufacturing Research has delivered so far for the Irish economy, how Ireland is home to a community of amazing tier-1 manufacturers but he warns if we are not careful Ireland’s manufacturing se...

Google Ireland has committed to supporting 60,000 Irish SMEs as they embark on recovery from the financial impacts of COVID-19. On this episode of the ThinkBusiness podcast, we chat to Alice Mansergh, who is the director of small business at Google, as she tells us about the Grow with Google initiative and the trends she is seeing in Ireland at the moment. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news...

In what was its ninth acquisition Irish digital transformation agency Granite Digital recently acquired creative marketing agency Connector for an undisclosed sum and setting the firm on a road to €10m in revenues. Co-founder Conor Buckley tells John Kennedy how the company grew from a small office in west Cork to a scaled up business with offices in Dublin, Cork city and Limerick, and how Irish S...

A decision to expand into the UK four years ago prove to be an astute business decision for Dublin tech firm Data Solutions. Its operations there now account for 50pc of the overall business. But with a no-deal Brexit looking likely, what does the future look like for the company. MD Michael O’Hara tells John Kennedy how he intends to navigate the Brexit headwinds. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for m...

Expleo managing director in Ireland Phil Codd talks with John Kennedy about the collaboration with NearForm that saw Ireland produce a world-leading contact tracing app for Covid-19, the creation of a €100,000 fund for SMEs and why Covid-19 has been the perfect storm for businesses to embrace digital transformation. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for start-ups and SMEs in Ir...

Led by Claire Finn, Lighthouse Studios in Kilkenny is a 2D animation studio based at the Hogwarths-like building that is Kieran’s College. Lighthouse employs 165 people and is currently working on major productions including ‘The Cuphead Show’ for Netflix as well as productions for other major platforms including Warner Bros and Disney, to name a few. Finn talks to John Kennedy about Ireland’s thr...

John Kennedy talks to Alan Swan, creator of Oldernotover.com, a newsletter and podcast series aimed at inspiring people in their 30s and 40s who are pondering changing career. So far, he has interviewed Jack Reacher author Lee Child and Richard E Grant, to name a few. Swan calls for a more positive attitude to ageing and career development. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for...

John Kennedy talks to Leonora O’Brien, founder of Irish software company PharmaPod which has developed a platform to reduce medication errors for patients. Close to raising €3.5m in funding the company has created a secure application that enables pharmacists to record and share medication-related incidents and cut down on medical mistakes Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for...

John Kennedy talks to Daithí de Buitléir, co-founder of Borradh, a business network of Irish speakers from all levels and sectors of the Irish business world, locally and globally, from SME owners and directors to corporates. He explains how the filter of business in the 21st century could prove pivotal in preserving and growing Ireland’s national language and identity. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie...

John Kennedy talks to Thrifty founder Rónán Ó Dálaigh who is leading the digital transformation of the charity shop sector, helping traditional charity shops sell everything from fashion to books in a dynamic and sustainable way. Like many sectors of business, the charity shop sector was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic but thanks to Thriftify these businesses can now serve the public online. Vis...

When it comes to golf, Ireland has a rich history in the sport – producing some of the best players in the world, including Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry. But away the course, innovation plays a hugely important role within the game. On this episode of the podcast, we speak to Dean Klatt, founder of Seed Golf, a Carlow-based company producing golf balls that’s popularity is rapi...

John Kennedy talks with Dr Sarah Bourke, CEO of an Irish company called Skytek whose technology is used on the International Space Station, about how Irish technology is playing a role in space exploration and how her company’s technology has a myriad of further uses, including in areas like insurance and risk. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for start-ups and SMEs in Ireland...

John Kennedy talks with Tracy Sweeney, a visual artist in Mayo about the importance of fostering a creative sector in Ireland’s regions and how she has managed to cultivate a global online business selling her art. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for start-ups and SMEs in Ireland. If you want to start and grow a business, ThinkBusiness .

A young Irish precision engineer one day decided to impress a girl by making her a ring. This propelled act him to becoming one of Ireland’s pre-eminent jewellery designers and goldsmiths. John Kennedy talks to Nigel O’Reilly about fostering skilled craft and artisan industries in regional Ireland and his collaborations with renowned designers and the fashion industries in Europe and New York, inc...

Despite being a beginner in the world of tech, Brendan Kiely co-founded software company ThinScale in 2013 with his brother-in-law and has successfully guided the company from day one, experiencing 20pc annual growth year-on-year. He gives John Kennedy some valuable insights on entrepreneurship, scaling companies and the future of work as remote working is here to stay. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie...

COVID-19 has has an impact on every employee and organisation in Ireland, with new ways of working being established over the last four months. One this episode of the podcast, we are joined by Ruben Hamilius, the co-founder and managing director of Business Games, an international corporate events agency that helps businesses realise their strategic objectives through experiential and game-based...

John Kennedy talks to Norman Crowley, arguably Ireland’s answer to Elon Musk. As well as making his fortune from successful tech exits and a passion for driving the future of electric cars through his business Electrifi, the similarities end there. Through his global ventures Crowley Carbon and Cool Planet Crowley has a vision for a safer, greener planet and as a consummate entrepreneur has built...

John Kennedy talks to Sarah Daly from Creative Spark, Breanndan Casey from The Mill and Thomas McEvoy from Louth LEO about how the M1 Corridor region holds the key to new ways of working in the new normal. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for start-ups and SMEs in Ireland. If you want to start and grow a business, ThinkBusiness .

John Kennedy talks to Dr Rich Ferrie, director of UCC Innovation. Rich oversees GatewayUCC which has 55 spinout and start-up companies that employ 330 people full-time, IGNITE which has worked with 100 start-ups and UCC Consulting which is just about to launch. Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for start-ups and SMEs in Ireland. If you want to start and grow a business, ThinkBu...