That Great Business Show

What does Dell do in Ireland now?Dell computers and Viagra once did a fair bit of the heavy lifting for Irish exports. Then Dell moved PC production to Poland and 1,900 Limerick jobs went. So what does the company actually do here today?Conall Ó Móráin asks Mark Hopkins, General Manager of Dell Technologies Ireland, how Dell went from the laptop on your kitchen table to the kit behind AI. Mark tells us what happened when Michael Dell asked his leadership team to imagine the company that could put Dell out of business, and how staff came back with more than 650 ideas for using AI.There’s a useful bit for anyone running a smaller business. Pick a job that costs you time or money. Work out what fixing it would be worth. Then decide what technology, if any, you need. You can do the first two with a pencil.Plus, how a visit to Dell in Limerick helped start a conversation that led to a £72m film studio outside Belfast, and who Mark would Hire in a Heartbeat. Conall guessed Michael Dell. He guessed wrong.Sponsored by De Facto Shaving Oil. The world’s best shaving oil. Not a beard oil. Made in Mayo, sold worldwide. DeFactoShave.com.Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whose Side Is HR On When the Boss Is Wrong? | Caroline ReidyThe boss signs the cheques. You’ve got a complaint about the boss. So whose side is HR on?I put that to Caroline Reidy, founder of The HR Suite and now Head of NFP HR Solutions, part of NFP, an Aon company. Then I asked what happens when the boss is the one getting it wrong. It can happen, you know.We get into the promotion that can cost you your best employee, why job candidates are vanishing before the interview, what Caroline is seeing as AI changes graduate work, and where she’d tell a young person to look for opportunity.There’s a business story here too. Caroline built The HR Suite in Kerry and sold it to NFP. Who did she ring for advice during the sale? Two women from Going for Growth, and Paula Fitzsimons. We talk about what she got from the programme and why she came back as a Lead Entrepreneur.Hire in a Heartbeat: Caroline would take a hungry, curious MTU graduate. The course they did matters less to her than what they’ve done along the way.Going for Growth applications close on 27 November. It’s free for those selected. Details at https://goingforgrowth.com/That Great Business Show with Conall Ó Móráin is sponsored by De Facto Shaving Oil. The world’s best shaving oil. Not a beard oil. Made in Mayo, sold worldwide. https://defactoshave.com/Follow the show and send this one to somebody who’s ever sat outside an interview room wondering where everybody was.Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WHO PAYS FOR LEINSTER RUGBY? WHAT'S THE SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY CONNECTION? AND HOW DO YOU GET AN IRISH CREAM LIQUEUR ONTO AMERICAN SHELVES?Philip Brady, Senior Vice President of Leinster Rugby, joins Conall Ó Móráin to talk about the business behind the blue jersey — from sponsorship and ticket revenue to governance, growth and the Syracuse University partnership.Philip also talks about Coole Swan, the Irish cream liqueur business he shares with his wife Mary, and the challenge of building an Irish brand in the huge American market. Plus, who would he hire in a heartbeat? Former Leinster star Jordie Barrett.THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY DE FACTO SHAVING OIL - Made in Mayo and sold around the world, De Facto is an all-natural shaving oil designed to give you a better shave. It's not beard oil — it's shaving oil. Discover the product at https://defactoshave.com.Please support the companies that support independent Irish business podcasting.Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

E315: STILL IN SCHOOL. 300,000 DOWNLOADS. A $500,000 FUNDRAISE. AND NO PLANS FOR COLLEGE?What the hell were YOU doing when you were 17?Paddy Corcoran and Seán Cahill were supposed to be studying for their Junior Cert. Instead, they were scrolling through TikTok.Then they had an idea. What if studying were as addictive as TikTok?Fast-forward to today. Their Studytok app has recorded 300,000 downloads of its original global version, their TikTok account has attracted over 100,000 followers, and the lads are raising $500,000 to build an international education business.Oh, and they're still in sixth year.They actually took "time out" (eh, they bunked out) of school to come and talk to me. That's dedication. Or truancy. I'll leave that between them and their teachers.From Rockwell College (where it all began) in Tipperary to investor meetings in New York, these two have already travelled further in business than many people three times their age. They're now at school in Dublin to keep the techbro mo going...Their mentor and first investor, Erik Jentetics, introduced them to me. He spotted something rather special.We talk about:Turning a TY mini-company project into a serious technology business.How one TikTok video attracted 2.3 million views.Why Ireland is their testing ground before taking on America.How AI can turn ordinary study notes into interactive quizzes and exam practice.Why they're charging schools €25 per student per year.Raising $500,000 while preparing for the Leaving Cert.Why Paddy might never go to college (I told him he should, that should come back to haunt me) while Seán has his eye on engineering and robotics.The extraordinary importance of mentors, investors and taking advice.And, of course, who they'd hire in a heartbeat.Their choices? A former Duolingo product chief and a brilliant American consumer-brand marketer. These lads have done their homework. Some of it, anyway.They're looking for introductions to people in the American education sector. If you're connected to US schools, education technology or investors, have a listen and see if you can help them.Studytok: https://studytok.comThat Great Business Show is brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil. Made in Mayo, sold around the world. No horrible foam. Just a very good shave.https://defactoshave.comSubscribe, follow and share That Great Business Show. We find the interesting businesses. We ask the questions. You get the benefit. That's our gentlemen's and ladies' agreement.Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I DON'T THINK THIS IS GOING TO END WELL."That's not some social media doomsayer, a crypto enthusiast talking up his latest bet, or an internet financial guru selling a course.That's Alan McQuaid - an economist with more than 30 years' experience in financial markets, who has worked with the Department of Finance, Merrion Stockbrokers and Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland.A man who has seen a financial crisis or two.And he believes we're heading for serious trouble."We're set up for a big fall."On this edition of That Great Business Show, Alan joins Conall Ó Móráin for a conversation that becomes increasingly worrying as it unfolds.We're talking about bond markets, but before you switch off at the very mention of the word BONDS, listen to this.The bond markets affect the interest on your mortgage, the money available to build houses, the ability of businesses to expand, the security of jobs and, potentially, the value of your pension.And Alan thinks the warning lights are flashing.Government borrowing is getting out of hand. Inflation is proving troublesome. Investors are demanding higher returns to lend money. And the world's stock markets may not yet have understood the danger.Alan thinks interest rates could go higher over the next 12 to 18 months. He fears that share prices could fall sharply. And he believes Ireland is much more vulnerable to an international financial shock than many people realise.A podcast colleague who's in the process of buying a house and arranging a mortgage, was genuinely worried when he heard this discussion.We can understand why.Among the questions we ask:Is another financial crash on the way?Could mortgage rates jump again?Why are the bond markets so nervous?What happens if China or Japan starts selling more US government debt?Are shares dangerously overpriced?Could the data-centre borrowing boom become another problem?Would Irish house prices tumble?Should savers be looking at gold, silver, government bonds or bank deposits?And does Ireland have a far bigger financial problem than the Government would like us to believe?Alan has strong opinions. You may agree with him. You may disagree very strongly.But you should hear what he has to say.Because there's one thing he cannot tell us.WHEN.He believes a major fall is coming. But he doesn't know when.And, as he cheerfully points out, if he did know, he'd be somewhere else making millions.An extraordinary conversation with an economist who isn't afraid to say what he thinks.Guest: Alan McQuaid, independent economist.Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-mcquaid-b6278884/Hosted by Conall Ó Móráin.That Great Business Show is proudly supported by De Facto Shaving Oil, made in Mayo, sold worldwide. A shaving oil, not a beard oil. No foam needed. Just a great shave.https://defactoshave.com/Please follow That Great Business Show, share this episode with a friend, and join our business community of 23,000-plus and growing.Subscribe. Build the tribe. And stay safe out there.Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SIX people. More than 120 marts. Over €10 BILLION worth of livestock and related products traded through their platform.And now they’re taking on America.How on earth does a team that small build something that big?Conall Ó Móráin meets Ciarán Feeney and Margaret Monaghan of MartEye, alongside Mary Rodgers, CEO of Galway’s PorterShed—the startup hub helping ambitious businesses make the connections to grow.When Covid shut the marts, MartEye had TWO WEEKS to build a working product. Customers needed it. Customers paid. And they’ve been building ever since.Today, farmers can bid from their children’s football matches. A buyer in New York can buy cattle for a farm in Tipperary. And an unexpected enquiry from Missouri has opened the door to America’s sale barns.Margaret’s first American trip? Turkeys, the Amish community and a table full of hunting rifles. Not quite the welcome she’d imagined.We get into:• Getting customers paying before the product was “fully baked”.• The American opportunity: roughly 1,100 sale barns, according to Ciarán.• Why MartEye has declined approaches from industry investors.• The reality of supporting customers at THREE in the morning.• Why PorterShed protects its engineers—and makes introductions count.• The microphone mistake that broadcast Margaret into an Italian auction.• And selling Michael O’Leary’s pedigree Angus cattle.Customers. Cash. Control. And an Irish business with its eyes on a much bigger market.Brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil—the world’s best shaving oil. Not beard oil. SHAVING oil.https://defactoshave.comThey back us. You back them, please.Follow That Great Business Show. Subscribe, share and build the tribe.Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Frank Brennan failed his way through three years of mechanical engineering.His words, not ours.So he went to Australia, took a 100%-commission door-to-door sales job, learned to survive 50 rejections a day, saved 25 grand — and then spent the lot travelling.He arrived home in Cork with 80p in his pocket.Excellent financial planning.Then he walked into an empty building on Cork's South Mall where a man was planning an innovation hub. There was no proper Wi-Fi. No desks. No team. No coffee dock. But there were 14 tonnes of IKEA furniture arriving the following morning.Frank's response?“I'll start tomorrow.”That business became Republic of Work. The early years were brutal. Start-ups, Frank discovered, don't necessarily have any money. EY arriving looking for space for 30 people gave the business breathing room. Today Frank owns Republic of Work, has expanded it by another 7,500 sq ft and says one of the world's biggest gaming companies has taken its fifth floor on a two-year deal. We talk sales, rejection, risk, remote working, Cork, community, the future of the office, why Irish businesspeople insist everything is “flying” when it absolutely isn't — and the person Frank would ultimately most like to hire.His wife.That Great Business Show — Real Business. Real lessons.That Great Business Show is backed by our great pals at De Facto Shaving Oil, made in Mayo and sold to the world.Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EP 311: €130,000 Short of Becoming a Pilot. So He Built a €1m+ Business | Erik JenteticsHe was €130,000 short of becoming a pilot. So Erik Jentetics decided to become a businessman.He was 17.He and two school friends started by Googling how to buy a domain. They put €6,000 between them into Grafton Digital, knocked on doors looking for customers and, in one early pitch, confidently told a prospective client that yes, of course they charged VAT. They walked out and had to find out what VAT actually was.Then came the less funny bit. At 19, Covid hit a business heavily exposed to hospitality. Contracts disappeared. Erik had to help lay off more than eight people. Then a whiteboard session changed the company. Web development was producing the best revenue per employee. They dropped much of the rest, hired three students to cold-call businesses and, at their peak, were taking about 50 website orders a week.Then they moved into apps.Then software.By late 2022/early 2023, Grafton Digital had passed €1 million in gross revenue.At 25, Erik bought a 39-year-old Irish technology business.Now 26, with more than 50 people across his businesses, he wants to buy more Irish technology companies. His particular target: smaller, family-owned businesses whose founders are looking for an exit.There's New York too. Erik explains why Grafton's first American expansion actually damaged its Irish business, why Irish executives need to “cut the blarney” when selling in the US, how he finances acquisitions, and why he doesn't want to raise an enormous fund and lose control.He also says some of New York's most influential and wealthy families invested in him last year — and reveals that Grafton Digital has just signed a two-year digital transformation deal with a US corporation with more than 3,000 retail outlets, with another major airline customer announcement to come.And his Hire in a Heartbeat?John D. Rockefeller.At 26.Of course it is.That Great Business Show, Episode 311. Real Business. Real lessons.Brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil, made in Mayo and sold worldwide. No foam. No nonsense. Just a few drops and shave.Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Six figures in debt.Then Kel Galavan did something fairly extreme. She put her family through a No Spend Year and cut their annual outgoings by €27,000.Today, Mrs Smart Money says she has a seven-figure net worth.Naturally, I wanted to know how.Where did the money actually come from? How much difference did the No Spend Year make? Why can intelligent people earn very good salaries and still have absolutely no idea where their money goes? And why does Ireland remain so uncomfortable talking about investing?Then Kel drops something else into the conversation.She's building a personal-finance app in Ireland that she believes can eventually be rolled out across Europe — and this one, she says, will need funding.Also back at the table is Geraldine Jones of Skin Formulas.When Geraldine joined us five years ago, Skin Formulas was bootstrapped and she was thinking about Britain and perhaps outside investment.She never took the investment.Instead, she kept control.Today there are 170+ stockists, a flagship store in Nenagh, a 2,500 sq ft warehouse, B Corp certification, manufacturing relationships in Britain, Korea and Turkey, European expansion underway — and Dublin Airport is next.Oh, and Geraldine has just recruited someone who was selling for Trinny Woodall.Not a bad five years.The common denominator?Both women came through ACORNS, the extraordinary programme for female entrepreneurs in rural Ireland.Applications for ACORNS 12 close 18 September 2026.And, inevitably, we finish with Hire in a Heartbeat.Geraldine wants Emma Grede.Kel wants…her husband.She eventually even tells me his name.Kel Galavan — Mrs Smart MoneyGeraldine Jones — Skin FormulasThat Great Business Show with Conall Ó Móráin.Made in Ireland. Listened to everywhere.With thanks to our magnificent supporters at De Facto Shaving Oil — made in Mayo, sold worldwide. No foam. No nonsense.Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

E309 That Great Business Show with Conall O MorainI thought the kidnapping was the revelation. Then I asked about his family.After our interview, Vince Lawson told me he had never told his parents. His children hadn’t been told either. Almost none of his work colleagues knew.In Episode 309 of That Great Business Show, he describes being bundled into a van in Tanzania, threatened with machetes and driven into the darkness. He explains how patchy Swahili and a conversation about football helped change the atmosphere.Then we get down to business.Vince’s career includes Fever-Tree, itsu and now Biotiful Gut Health, where he is Chief Marketing Officer. We discuss:• Twice the price. Half the size. Why customers still bought.• The difference between a passing fad and a business with staying power.• Wellness overload—and the opportunity in making things simpler.• Why customers saying something matters doesn’t mean they’ll buy it.• Biotiful’s plans for growth in Ireland.Plus British roller-skating medals, six years completing a three-year degree, and Hire in a Heartbeat.Supported by De Facto Shaving Oil, made in Mayo: defactoshave.com.Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.