That Great Business Show Podcast

WHO PAYS FOR LEINSTER RUGBY? | Philip Brady on the Business Behind the Blue Jersey | E316

585 views · 10h ago · 24:12

Guest: Philip Brady

Do you ever watch professional sport in Ireland and wonder who actually makes money? Who pays the players? Does a full stadium mean a profit? And when the money runs short, who picks up the bill? On Episode 316 of That Great Business Show, Conall Ó Móráin talks to Philip Brady, Senior Vice President of Leinster Rugby and Chair of its Commercial and Marketing Committee, about the business behind one of Ireland's biggest sporting institutions.

Topics: Who pays for Leinster Rugby? · Philip Brady and his two business worlds · How Leinster Rugby is structured · Philip's roots at Navan RFC · The 40-plus person executive committee · Where Leinster's money comes from

From Junior Cert to 300,000 Downloads. Meet Ireland's Teenage Tech Founders.

7.8K views · 1w ago · 35:35

They Skipped School to Tell 'That Great Business Show' About Their $500,000 Startup! What were YOU doing at 17? They started with a TY mini-company project at Rockwell College. Now they're targeting the Irish Junior and Leaving Cert markets, working with schools, raising investment and planning to break into America.

Topics: From Junior Cert procrastination to a business idea · Their first investor and mentor · Why Ireland is a test market · College or full-time entrepreneurship? · How Studytok makes money · The international expansion opportunity

A CRASH IS COMING? Top Economist Issues Stark Warning | Alan McQuaid

42K views · 2w ago · 35:10

Guest: Alan McQuaid

A major financial crash could be coming — and one of Ireland's most experienced economists believes the warning signs are already there. "I don't think this is going to end well." That's economist Alan McQuaid's extraordinary warning in this edition of That Great Business Show with Conall Ó Móráin.

SIX staff. €10 BILLION traded. How did they do it? | MartEye & Portershed E313

32K views · 3w ago · 34:41

SIX people. More than €10 BILLION traded through their platform. And now AMERICA. This is MartEye. Built in Galway. Used by more than 120 marts. And a business story worth hearing. Conall Ó Móráin meets MartEye’s Ciarán Feeney and Margaret Monaghan, alongside PorterShed CEO Mary Rodgers, to find out how they did it—and what happens next.

Topics: Six people, €10 billion traded—and America · Why PorterShed? · What MartEye actually does · Buying livestock from abroad · Turkeys, hunting rifles and Missouri · The American enquiry that opened a door

He Came Home With 80p. Now He Owns Republic of Work | Frank Brennan

23K views · 1mo ago · 35:37

Guest: Frank Brennan

Frank Brennan came home from Australia with 80p. Today he owns Republic of Work. Between those two points lies one of the least conventional business careers we've had on That Great Business Show. Frank talks to Conall Ó Móráin about failing his way through mechanical engineering, learning sales by facing 50 rejections a day in Australia, spending the 25 grand he'd saved, returning to Cork almost broke and walking into what was supposed to become an innovation hub.

Topics: Another bleeding overhead · Frank Brennan's very unconventional CV · Failing his way through engineering · Australia changes everything · 100% commission and door-to-door sales · Fifty rejections a day

€130K Short of Becoming a Pilot. Then He Built a €1M+ Business | Erik Jentetics

52K views · 1mo ago · 48:16

Guest: Erik Jentetics

Erik Jentetics was €130,000 short of the money he needed to become a pilot. His solution at 17? Start a business. Nine years later, Grafton Digital has passed €1m in gross revenue, Erik has bought a 39-year-old Irish technology company and, at 26, he wants to buy more.

Topics: How has he done all this by 26? · Arriving in Ireland without English · Starting a business at 17 · How Google became his IT teacher · €130,000 short of becoming a pilot · “Let's start a business”

She owed SIX FIGURES. Now she says she's worth SEVEN | Kel Galavan + Skin Formulas' Geraldine Jones

540 views · 1mo ago · 41:07

Kel Galavan once had six figures of debt. Then came a No Spend Year that cut her family's outgoings by €27,000. Now the woman behind Mrs Smart Money says she has a seven-figure net worth — and she's quietly building an Irish personal-finance app she wants to take across Europe.

Topics: Six figures in debt. Seven figures now? · Geraldine Jones: five years later · Why ACORNS changes businesses · Kel's six-figure debt and the money problem · Why smart people are embarrassed about money · Geraldine: why she refused investors

Kidnapped. His Parents Never Knew. Until now. | Vince Lawson, Biotiful

188 views · 1mo ago · 41:32

Vince Lawson told me about being kidnapped. Afterwards, he told me he had never told his parents or children. To put it mildly, that second conversation stayed with me. In Episode 309 of That Great Business Show, Vince recounts being abducted in Tanzania—and how speaking some Swahili and finding common ground through football helped change the atmosphere in the van.

Topics: Episode opening · Meet Vince Lawson · How the Tanzania kidnapping happened · What goes through your mind? · Football, Swahili and finding common ground · The British roller-skating backstory

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42 views · 2mo ago · 6:05

He Lost 9 Hours Looking for Scissors. So He Went to Toyota for help | Frank Olden

557 views · 2mo ago · 34:34

Guest: Frank Olden

Pharmacist Frank Olden calculated he was losing nine working hours a year simply looking for scissors. So he went to Toyota to learn Lean management. Frank Olden runs Frank Olden Pharmacy in Cork and is a member of the Irish Pharmacy Union Pharmacy Practice Working Group. He first caught Conall Ó Móráin's attention during a presentation by him, at the IPU National Pharmacy Conference, about improving pharmacy processes.

Topics: Your business may be paying people twice · The scissors · Nine hours a year looking for them · The Toyota broom cupboard · From pharmacist to process obsessive · Why some quiet pharmacies feel chaotic

She Started on Her Parents’ Kitchen Counter. Now she's aiming for Selfridges | Gráinne Mullins

119 views · 2mo ago · 33:38

Guest: Gráinne Mullins

Gráinne Mullins started Grá Chocolates on her parents’ kitchen counter during Covid. Her first launch sold out in just over five minutes. Now she's in aiming for Selfridges. Before Grá Chocolates, Gráinne had worked in Michelin-starred kitchens and won Young Chef of the Year. Then Covid shut the restaurant world down.

Topics: €500,000 for SMEs · Meet Gráinne Mullins · Covid wipes out the plan · From kitchen counter to chocolate factory · The packaging lesson every business should hear · “I love a good disaster”

He Spent 20 Minutes Applying. Won €100,000. Then Sold His Company | Barry Sherry

469 views · 2mo ago · 27:36

Guest: Barry Sherry

Barry Sherry spent about 20 minutes applying for the Stelios North–South Business Cooperation Awards. His company won €100,000. Then the business was acquired. Barry co-founded a Monaghan-based energy business operating across all 32 counties. In this episode of That Great Business Show, he explains exactly how the Stelios application worked, what happened when he met Stelios Haji-Ioannou and what the €100,000 cash prize allowed the company to do.

Topics: €500,000 for SMEs · Meet Barry Sherry · The company has just been bought · A three-year-old company gets acquired · How they completed the deal in four months · The Stelios €100,000 story

Musgrave Didn’t Reply. So She Found the Buyer on LinkedIn.

95 views · 2mo ago · 3:13

Sofia Kalfa filled it in. Nothing. No reply. No buyer. No coffee pods appearing magically on supermarket shelves. Sofia found the person she believed could get Fzin Coffee into Musgrave and sent him a very direct message: “I’ve sent this. I’ve received no response. That’s a two-edged sword. Tell me about it.”

Musgrave Didn’t Reply. So She Found Them on LinkedIn.

71 views · 2mo ago · 3:13

Sofia Kalfa had already proved customers wanted Fzin Coffee’s home-compostable coffee pods. There was one problem. They wanted to buy through Musgrave. She filled in the official form. Nothing. Her pitch was not subtle: “We have a winner. People want to buy it. You have to list us.” Musgrave listed the product.

George Clooney Made Coffee Pods Sexy. Cork Business Owner, Sofia Kalfa, Is Cleaning Up

272 views · 3mo ago · 37:36

George Clooney made coffee pods sexy. Sofia Kalfa wants to stop billions of them going into landfill. After almost 20 years with Dell, PepsiCo, Wayfair and CRH, Sofia brought her corporate experience into Fzin Coffee, a Cork business selling certified home-compostable coffee capsules and an 80-plus-product sustainable beverage range.

Topics: George Clooney and the coffee-pod problem · Sofia Kalfa: Greece, Cork and corporate life · Joining the family coffee business · Exporting from Macroom · Why can’t the global giants change? · Can a coffee pod really go into the garden?