Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly

In 2005, Master Butcher Paddy O Leary and son David opened the first factory outlet butcher shop in Ireland and the Dublin Meat Company came into existence. They quickly became renowned great value products and a commitment to innovation without ever compromising on taste or quality. As the years have unfolded, my guest today, Brian O Leary joined, and together the family noticed a shift in eating...

After formative years at Deloitte, DCC, Nestlé, Uniq, and Northern Foods—where he oversaw multi-site operations and delivered dramatic turnarounds—Garry was appointed CEO of Mezzan Holding in 2011, becoming the first non-family member to lead the Kuwait-based conglomerate. Mezzan Holding is one of the Gulf region’s leading diversified conglomerates, with deep roots in food, healthcare, and consume...

Sandyford Business District (SBD) is a Business Improvement District representing 1,000 companies, covering industries like IT and Communication, MedTech, Fintech, Energy tech, Automotive tech, Education and Childcare, Hospitality, Retail and Leisure. It is home to marquee names like Mastercard, Microsoft, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Meta, Google, BNP Paribas, AIB, Avant Money and Cubic Telecom...

After completing a Graduate program in Marketing, Marc O’Dwyer began his sales career at Allied Irish Banks, Pitney Bowes and Panasonic, before succumbing to his entrepreneurial spirit in 1992 when he 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...

Hard as it might be taking over from your dad to run a family business, it must be even more difficult to follow in his footsteps to a senior position in another company or corporation – but that is what Niall Cogley did when he became Head of Sport for RTE. Then in 2004 he left the state broadcaster to become co-founder and CEO of Setanta Sports Ireland, a position he held for 6 years before acce...

When John Travers completed his Engineering degree he began working with Shell International, operating a major oil asset in the Netherlands. He subsequently went on to work at Shell Technology Ventures, commercialising new technologies for the global energy market. Next there was a stint with McKinsey working closely with CEOs, company boards and governments in multinational oil majors, before br...

Ken Cahill is an active investor, independent board member, and advisor in the healthcare and technology sectors. He was the CEO and co-founder of SilverCloud Health, which he successfully scaled into the leading digital mental health platform with offices in Boston, Dublin, and London. Under his leadership, SilverCloud delivered clinically validated digital therapeutic care programs to over 1.5 m...

In the shifting landscape of modern work, freelancing has become a global movement. While digital marketplaces connecting businesses with freelance talent are emerging worldwide, Ireland has its own distinctive answer: The Indie List. Born during the uncertainty of the 2020 pandemic, what founders Úna Herlihy and Peter McPartlin created, has grown into a sophisticated talent platform hosting over...

This week’s episode is something a little different. We recently hosted a Venture Funding Forum with the guys in Delta Partners to an audience of over 70 people in the amazing surroundings of Euronext in Dublin. This exclusive event featured three exceptional founders who have successfully navigated the challenging path from start-up to successful exit, with insights into the rapidly evolving land...

Alan Andrews is widely regarded as a cafe and coffee expert and features prominently in both radio and print media. He created Coffee Culture in 2009, which specialised in Coffee Education and Training. He travelled around the country helping aspiring and new cafe owners with their business development and growth. In 2015, Alan bought The Old Barracks in Birdhill which is a place for the coffee cu...

Tom Hefferon began his entrepreneurial journey in 1977, and since then, he has led multiple businesses before eventually forming Kefron with his business partner, Michael Kearns. Together, they launched Nesta, the first self-storage centre in Ireland. Over the next 20 years, Kefron saw large growth through the expansion of their Nesta facilities, as well as new ventures such as Shred-It and Two Me...

When Anthony Gallagher started Petstop 30 years ago, dogs in Ireland were kept outside and got scraps. Now, the dog – or the cat or the fish – is absolutely a member of the family.” The €500m+ pet market is three times the size of the baby market in Ireland, and globally, the pet sector is expected to reach €400bn by 2030 – that’s bigger than recorded music or gaming. His career has spanned the gr...

Tomás O’Leary is a visionary leader driving transformation in the software industry. As the Founder and CEO of Origina, he has revolutionized independent software maintenance, providing enterprise customers with a reliable alternative to vendor support. Origina is a software maintenance vendor and are the independent software maintenance and support provider that pairs their clients with dedicated...

Jac Dunne is CEO of Dimply and brings over 30 years of financial services and fintech expertise, backed by an MBA from Dublin Business School. Throughout her career, Jac has held senior roles at prestigious institutions, including HSBC, Bank of New York (BNY), Bank of America (BOA), and Confluence Technologies, where she held global positions and developed and executed transformative strategies. H...

Loretta Dignam has pioneered menopause in Ireland. As founder and CEO, she opened the doors to The Menopause Hub, Ireland's first and only dedicated peri/menopause clinic in January 2019. This was one of only two clinics in the world dedicated to menopause.  The Menopause Hub is a centre of excellence, and now has three clinics in Ireland, and Ireland’s first Menopause App, which is available for...

Founded in 2016, ZOMA’s team of creative experts specialise in digital strategy, web design, branding, content creation, and performance marketing. ZOMA's journey began humbly, with its founders working from a small attic space fuelled by passion and determination. Armed with little more than laptops, whiteboards and big ideas, they sought to challenge traditional marketing norms by offering innov...

Sara Savidge has a deep understanding of domestic, regional and global payment systems, solutions, infrastructure, strategic partnerships and regulatory frameworks with over 25 years’ experience of driving sustainable growth and building high-performance teams across a range of institutions in the payment industry including Fiserv, Transfermate, RBS, and Barclays. Sara is now the CEO of the Fexco...

Echelon Data Centres is an international data centre infrastructure developer providing large-scale assets to support the growing global demand for data and computing resources – sustainably, responsibly and with due regard for the environment. It currently has six facilities in Ireland and the UK – either online or under development – with a combined potential capacity of around 800MW. Their infr...

Bronwyn Brophy has over 25 years’ experience in the MedTech industry having also worked for Thermo Fisher Scientific, Medtronic, Covidien, and Johnson & Johnson in a number of senior roles around the globe covering businesses including general surgery, women’s health, gastroenterology, cardiology and oncology. She is now the CEO of the Vitrolife Group, a world leading provider of medical devic...

Larissa Feeney started out working in hospitality, took a job as a receptionist in an accounting firm and studied for her accountancy qualifications in her spare time.  Fast forward to today and she is CEO of Kinore.com , one of Ireland’s Top 20 accountancy practices, which is leading a disruption of the financial sector by establishing the country’s first online, remote-first finance and business...

James Costello, is Managing Director of Label Tech Dublin, one of Ireland’s largest independent producers of high-quality labels. With over 30 years of experience in the label printing industry, James has grown Label Tech into the thriving company it is today through his commitment to cutting-edge technology and investment in people. Label Tech has built its reputation on delivering innovative, su...

Quinlan’s Kerry Fish, based in Cahersiveen, have become famous for providing the very best Wild, Organic and Superior Smoked Salmon and fresh seafood to customers across the world. The operation was originally started by Danish company called Rainbow who were really ahead of their time with trawlers, fish meal plant, mink farm to use waste etc but went burst soon after and some local fishermen inc...

Davy bring you something special for the 40th episode of ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’. We recently staged the second in our ‘Next Step, Sell it, Scale it, IPO it!’ series of events in the historical and picturesque House of Lords in Bank of Ireland, College Green, Dublin, to an audience of business owners and entrepreneurs. We had some fantastic speakers join us for an insightful conver...

Maria Mahon has extensive business experience in leadership positions in the media, technology and service industries. Maria brings a unique blend of international entrepreneurial and leadership experience to the companies she works with at executive, board and advisory level. She has previously held the position of Marketing Director for Dublin’s leading music Radio Station, 98FM working with the...

Sandra Healy is an Engineer, an Organisational Psychologist and NLP Master Practitioner. Sandra's career spanned 20 years in the global telecoms industry and five years at Dublin City University where she established the DCU Centre of Excellence for Diversity & Inclusion. In 2020, Sandra spun inclusio out of DCU. Over the past 18 years, Sandra has championed and driven diversity and inclusion...