Ibec Podcasts

Tesco is Ireland’s largest private sector employer, with 13,000 employees across the country. Kari Daniels has led the company since September 2018. However, as most CEOs will attest,  the style of leadership required for the role has evolved rapidly in recent months.  

In this episode of Ibec Voices, Kari Daniels talks to Ibec’s Siobhan Masterson about leading Ireland’s largest private sector employer through a pandemic, balancing the twin roles of CEO and Mother to 13 and 11 year old boys, and Tesco Ireland’s future. 

 We also hear from Arnold Dillon, Director of Retail Ireland, about the retail sector’s current challenges, priorities, and asks of government. 

Thank you for listening. To explore all of Ibec's podcast offering, visit here.  Make sure to follow Ibec Podcasts to stay up to date with new episodes.

Covid strategies have two phases - the suppression and the release.  

In the context of where Ireland and much of the northern hemisphere finds itself ten months into this pandemic, this episode of Ibec Voices examines Ireland’s strategy to date in its fight against Covid-19. Ireland’s National Covid Strategy proposes release through national levels 5 to 1 on activities and sectoral reopenings. The Zero Covid strategy is more zonal in release, advocating for reopening by areas that are green zones in conjunction with a robust test track and trace system.

We take a look at an alternative strategy to crush the virus and restore greater social and economic activity while we await mass vaccination programmes to take effect.

Our guest is Yaneer Bar-Yam, President of the New England Systems Institute. Yaneer’s work has concerned itself with global pandemics for over 15 years including contributing to the response protocols which successfully stopped the outbreak of Ebola in Africa in 2014.

Yaneer is an MIT-trained physicist and complexity scientist and he has been following Ireland’s experience with the Covid pandemic and the response by Government and its stakeholders. He is also Founder of the endcoronavirus.org network. 

Thank you for listening. To explore all of Ibec's podcast offering, visit here.  Make sure to follow Ibec Podcasts to stay up to date with new episodes.

As a country, as a society, as an economy, we’ve always risen to a challenge. The devastation COVID-19 has dealt the world will test Ireland in a way we have never experienced before.

Meeting this challenge will take big ideas, brave thinking and a bold approach – all of which Ibec has brought to bear in our campaign for Budget 2021.

In this episode of Ibec Voices, Ibec’s Fergal O’Brien and Gerard Brady outline the campaign’s key calls to action.

We also hear from Colin Hunt, CEO of AIB and Chair of Ibec’s Economics and Taxation Policy Committee, on the current economic landscape, the future of work and why sustainability and business success can go hand-in-hand. 

Thank you for listening. To explore all of Ibec's podcast offering, visit here.  Make sure to follow Ibec Podcasts to stay up to date with new episodes.

Ireland’s Hospitality industry has evolved at an incredible pace in recent years. Traditionally associated with pubs, restaurants, and hotels, the sector has widened its reach rapidly and now includes new, valuable drivers including festivals, activity-based tourism, cultural and food experiences, and much more.  

This evolution has turned hospitality into a critical cog in the Irish economy, representing over €4bn in spend, and accounting for one fifth of all private sector employment. It has also become far more interconnected with other sectors than before, creating a complex ecosystem involving industries including Technology, Agrifood and the Sharing Economy. 

In this episode of Ibec Voices, Siobhan Masterson of Ibec puts forward the case for an entire rebrand of the Irish hospitality sector, to acknowledge its recent transformation and repositioning within the overall economy. In this context, the Hospitality Industry will become ‘ The Experience Economy’. 

Also, Siobhan Talbot, CEO of Glanbia, joins Ibec CEO Danny McCoy for a conversation about the global growth of Glanbia, food’s new position on the value chain, and the interconnectivity of AgriFood and Hospitality. 

Ibec Voices is hosted by Patrick Haughey of AudioBrand 

Thank you for listening. To explore all of Ibec's podcast offering, visit here.  Make sure to follow Ibec Podcasts to stay up to date with new episodes.

The recent July Stimulus package was the largest in the history of the State and is an important step in rebooting the economy. Our attention must now be on safely bringing people and vibrancy back into commercial districts, offices, towns and cities. 

In this episode of Ibec Voices, Siobhan Masterson speaks with Frank Gleeson, President and CEO of Aramark Northern Europe, about the reopening of the Irish economy. A global provider of food through brands like Avoca and facilities and property management, Aramark operates ‘wherever people work, rest and play’.  In his role in Aramark, Frank Gleeson has a clear view of how important returning to work is to preserve the ecosystems that are central to economic revival. 

Also, Sharon Higgins, Director of Members Services at Ibec, talks about examples of creative pivots, accelerated digital transformation, community action and some of the positive leadership and action by businesses that we have seen throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Thank you for listening. To explore all of Ibec's podcast offering, visit here.  Make sure to follow Ibec Podcasts to stay up to date with new episodes.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of the Irish economy. They are the engine of employment and development across the country, forming part of the fabric of every community. But, as the sector most heavily impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown, many SMEs are facing a very uncertain future. 

In this episode of Ibec Voices, we make the case for dramatic intervention by government to save these businesses. Ger Brady, Chief Economist at Ibec, drills into the economics at play, analyses how other countries are supporting their SME sectors, and puts forward a number of specific actions that must be taken by government as soon as possible in order to avoid the mass closure of small and medium enterprises. 

Jonathan Hackett, CEO of Botany Weaving, tells Siobhan Masterson the fascinating story of turning his family owned company from a small clothing manufacturer into an international player, supplying fabrics to some of the world’s biggest airlines. He describes the impact of COVID-19 on his company, and how the generous supports that other governments are giving their own SME sectors, are putting Botany Weaving at a competitive disadvantage. 

Finally, Rebecca Harrison of Fishers of Newtownmountkennedy and Geraldine Magnier of Idiro Analytics describe how they are reopening their doors, government supports to date and those required going forward, and the incredible resilience of entrepreneurs. 

Thank you for listening. To explore all of Ibec's podcast offering, visit here.  Make sure to follow Ibec Podcasts to stay up to date with new episodes.

“Do whatever it takes to fix our economy, we must bring all the artillery to play” – In this episode of Ibec Voices, Fergal O’Brien and Siobhan Masterson of Ibec outline a €15bn “plan of scale” to reboot and reimagine the Irish economy.

Andrew Lowe, co-founder of Element Pictures, talks about the business of Cannes Film Festival, making Normal People and the show’s role in showcasing Irish culture, and the post-COVID-19 world of film and TV production.

And Noel Keeley, CEO of Musgrave Group (SuperValu, Centra, MarketPlace, La Rousse Foods), describes the company’s strategy during COVID-19, the importance of developing a digital offering as part of the overall customer experience (CX), and effective leadership at a time of crisis.

Thank you for listening. To explore all of Ibec's podcast offering, visit here.  Make sure to follow Ibec Podcasts to stay up to date with new episodes.

Right now, millions of working couples now find themselves juggling their two careers, their relationship, and for some their kids too, under one roof 24/7. In this episode of Ibec on Covid-19 we are joined by Jennifer Petriglieri, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD and author of ‘Couples that Work: How Dual-Career Couples can Thrive in Love and Work’.

Jennifer has just launched a free online video series ‘Couples that Work @ Home: The Survival Series’, designed to help working couples to survive and thrive in this challenging situation. In this episode, Jennifer gives clear and practical advice to these couples and also their employers about how to successfully manage the situation. We highly recommend watching Jennifer’s video series after listening – www.jpetriglieri.com

Thank you for listening. To explore all of Ibec's podcast offering, visit here.

Covid-19 is having a significant impact on liquidity in the economy. In this episode of Ibec on Covid-19, Fergal O’Brien, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Ibec, outlines how the government can support business at this time and ensure a faster economic recovery. Topics covered:

The cashflow and liquidity issues facing businesses today;

Why Ireland is falling behind internationally in the provision of liquidity supports;

Freezing rates, zero interest loans, cash injections, and other clear, ambitious solutions;

The cost of implementing this plan – and the cost of not doing it.

Thank you for listening. To explore all of Ibec's podcast offering, visit here.

Dr Kara McGann, Head of Social Policy at Ibec, outlines the steps employees and employers can take to protect their mental health and wellbeing at a time of crisis. We cover:

The most common causes of stress and concern;

The impact of ‘fake news’ on social media;

Filtering out the bad news and letting in the good;

The most powerful ways you can communicate with employees;

Appreciating the emerging spirit of resilience, camaraderie and care in our communities. 

Thank you for listening. To explore all of Ibec's podcast offering, visit here.