Eamon Quinn Business Editor of The Irish Examiner joined John to chat through some of the business news from the week with Banking being the main story. Eamon chats through what is happening in the banking sector and the impacts on business.

John spoke with Brian O'Farrell, CEO of County Carlow Chamber of Commerce and John Hurley, CEO of Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce to hear how businesses are dealing with the continued restrictions and challenges,  as well as what the Chambers feel needs to be done to support local businesses.

Fiona O'Neill joined John on The Bottom Line last year to chat about her business "Jobs for Family Carers" and at the time Fiona spoke to John about being a Social Entrepreneur and being involved in the Ideas Academy with Social Entrepreneurs Ireland. This week as Social Entrepreneurs Ireland are looking for innovators to take part in their Spark Session on 11th March 2021, John caught up with Fiona to see how business is going and he also spoke with Hayley Kilgallon, Programme Lead at Social Entrepreneurs Ireland to find out more about the work they do and the programmes that are available to social entrepreneurs.

Starting and running a business can be a daunting and lonely path for people. To have someone to give advice and act as a sounding board can be a huge help when faced with the challenges that may arise, which is where the role of a mentor may be a great addition to a business. John spoke with Gabrielle Carroll, Business Advisor at Carlow Local Enterprise Office and to Ronan Murphy of Vision Green Consultancy. Gabrielle discussed the role of the mentor and the mentoring options available through the Local Enterprise Office and Ronan chatted about how he availed of mentoring and how it helped his organisation.

With thanks to O’Neill Foley, Produced by Deirdre Dromey.

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