That Great Business Show

Rihanna’s knickers.

That’s where this episode starts.

From there, Conall Ó Móráin meets Lisa O’Riordan live at the RDS Finding Common Ground Festival to unpack one of the biggest unseen business opportunities in the world: Waste.

Her company is tackling single-use PPE — used in the tens of millions across healthcare and industry — and turning it into a circular, compostable solution.

But this is not a feel-good story.

It’s a hard-edged business reality:

Margins matter

Procurement blocks change

And “cheap” is still king

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€50 MILLION.

MULTIPLE ACQUISITIONS.

ONE PLAN TO BUILD IRELAND’S FIRST LUXURY EMPIRE.

This is not a startup story. This is a land grab. Ashley McDonnell — back on That Great Business Show and one of the tribe since Episode 181 — is building Vyko Group to buy, scale and globalise Irish fashion, beauty and luxury brands. She’s not launching a brand. She’s building a portfolio to compete with the biggest players in the world.

From working on Europe’s biggest IPO at Paco Rabanne owners Puig (how she got to work there is one of the best stories...)… to scanning 500 Irish brands… to lining up her first acquisitions — this is one of the most ambitious Irish business plays in years.

And we’ve been following it from the start.

In this episode:

• Why Ireland has never built a luxury group. Tony O'Reilly did try (Waterford Wedgewood), Don Carroll (Carroll's cigarettes) did try. As the Americans say, 'Third time is a charm'??
• How Vyko plans to scale Irish brands globally
• The smell of money Why fragrances are the secret weapon
• The real power of negotiating as a group
• What she learned inside LVMH, Dior, Google and Puig - she really has served her time
• 
  

Sponsored by another great brand name, De Facto Shaving Oil

No cans. No landfill. Just the best shave you’ll ever have.

DeFactoShave.com

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ON Episode 293 of That Great Business Show, recorded at the RDS Finding Common Ground Festival, Conall Ó Móráin speaks with Enda Buckley of Carbery Group.

This is not a farming story.

This is an energy story.

A profitability story.

A “what are we waiting for?” story.

Denmark is moving fast on biomethane — turning farm waste into gas and aiming for self-sufficiency by 2030.

Ireland?

We have the farms.

We have the feedstock.

We have the need.

But, according to Enda, we do not yet have the push.

And that is only the start.

In this episode:

• Why sustainability-focused farmers were about 28% more profitable
• How “green poo” could replace imported soya
• Why grass could become a human food ingredient
• The parish-level biorefinery model that could transform rural economies
• How biodiversity may become a revenue stream, not a regulation
• Why Ireland risks missing a major energy opportunity

This is about turning what we already have into something far more valuable.

This is real business.

Brought to you, as always, by De Facto Shaving Oil — the world’s finest shaving oil. Not a beard oil. It’s for shaving any and all of your bits.

DeFactoShave.com

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What keeps a GP practice running?

Not just doctors. Not just nurses.

It's the same for any business.

Cashflow. Systems. People who actually make it all work.

On Episode 292 of That Great Business Show, Conall Ó Móráin speaks with Rachel Bothwell, founder of GP Practice Ally — a business now supporting up to 75% of GP practices in Ireland.

This is a story about stepping in when everything could have fallen apart — and building something that became essential infrastructure.

Find out:

• How one small Irish company became critical to GP practices nationwide
• What actually breaks inside a GP business (and how to fix it)
• Why cashflow — not medicine — is often the biggest risk
• What every SME can learn from running a “mission-critical” business
• 
  

This is real business — messy, essential, and closer to home than you think.

Brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil. DeFactoShave.com.

business ireland, SME ireland, healthcare business, GP practices, entrepreneurship ireland, cashflow, small business growth, operations, scaling business, Irish business podcast

00:00 Intro — “75% of GPs??”

01:20 How Rachel stepped in

05:10 What actually goes wrong in GP practices

10:40 Cashflow crises nobody talks about

15:30 Scaling to national level

20:10 Lessons for every SME

25:00 Hire in a heartbeat

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“WHY IRELAND CAN’T BUILD HOUSES… EVEN WHEN WE HAVE THE MONEY”

Episode 291 — David Ward, Founder, Ward Personnel

Ireland has the money.

Ireland has the demand.

Ireland has the plans.

So why can’t we build houses?

On this episode of That Great Business Show, Conall Ó Móráin goes straight to the front line of Ireland’s construction crisis — with David Ward, founder of Ward Personnel, a €40M+ business supplying workers across Ireland and Europe.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

• We don’t have enough brickies, sparks, or chippies
• We’re competing with Europe for workers — and losing
• Irish builders are now exporting their expertise… just to survive
• 
  

And here’s the kicker:

Is this actually a growth story… or proof the system is broken?

David explains:

• Why Ireland cannot hit housing targets (no matter what politicians promise)
• Why Polish workers are no longer coming
• The real reason apprenticeships collapsed
• Why Irish construction firms are now following Big Tech across Europe

Plus:

• The chaos of running a 600+ workforce across multiple countries
• The truth about “messers” on site
• And why “compliance” is the only thing keeping the whole thing from falling apart

This is not theory.

This is the reality of building — or not building — Ireland.

Brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil — the world’s best shaving oil. Not a beard oil. It’s for shaving. DeFactoShave.com.

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Welcome to Episode 290 of That Great Business Show.

This is not a comfortable listen.

Ireland — the poster child of global success — is quietly sitting on a knife edge. A handful of multinationals are driving the tax take. One peptide. One state in America. One shock away from a very rude awakening.

My guest is Neil McDonnell, CEO of ISME — and he’s not here to play nice.

We get into:

• The dangerous illusion of “paradox of plenty”
• €340 BILLION sitting idle while SMEs starve
• Why government knows the risks — and still does nothing
• The tax system that punishes Irish entrepreneurs but rolls out the red carpet for outsiders
• And the simple, practical fixes that could change everything — if anyone had the courage

This is real business.

Press the subscribe button.

Brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil — the world’s best shaving oil. Not a beard oil. A shaving oil. Made in Mayo. Sold worldwide. DeFactoShave.com.

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Ireland talks a big game on energy.

Wind.

Net zero.

Security of supply.

But scratch the surface… and the picture looks a lot less comfortable.

On Episode 289 of That Great Business Show, Conall Ó Móráin sits down with Duncan Osborne, CEO of Calor Gas Ireland, to ask a very simple question:

Are we actually prepared — or just pretending to be?

This is a hard conversation about:

• Ireland’s reliance on imported energy
• The reality behind renewable targets
• Storage — or lack of it
• Infrastructure delays
• And what happens if supply is disrupted

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Ireland is one of the most energy-dependent countries in Europe.

And very few people are saying it out loud.

This is not theory.

This is not policy waffle.

This is real-world energy — from someone operating inside the system.

Brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil — the world’s best shaving oil. Not a beard oil. DeFactoShave.com.

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Everyone talks about marketing.

Nobody talks about the warehouse.

And yet the warehouse is where e-commerce businesses either scale… or collapse.

You can build the most beautiful website in the world.

Spend a fortune on advertising.

Drive traffic through Shopify, Amazon, TikTok.

But if your warehouse can’t keep up?

You’re finished.

Orders late.

Customers furious.

Margins gone.

On Episode 288 of That Great Business Show, Conall Ó Móráin talks to Ciaran Crean, co-founder of WaveOMS and co-owner of MicksGarage.com, one of Ireland’s biggest online retailers.

Ciaran lives in the engine room of online retail — the messy, chaotic, expensive part that nobody puts on the glossy marketing slides.

And the numbers are eye-watering.

One company using his system cut warehouse staff from 6 to 2 and saved £8,000 every single month.

But the real shock?

Many warehouses in 2026 still operate like this:

• orders printed on paper

• workers walking the floor ticking boxes

• labels printed manually

• mistakes annoying 2–3% of customers

Yes. Really.

In this episode:

• The hidden chaos inside many warehouses

• Why most retailers underestimate logistics

• How bad warehouse systems destroy margins

• The critical role of barcodes in e-commerce

• Why efficiency beats marketing in online retail

• The one mistake Irish businesses keep making

If you sell anything online — or plan to — this conversation might save you a fortune.

That Great Business Show is proudly supported by De Facto Shaving Oil.

Not beard oil.

Shaving oil.

For shaving any and all of your bits.

DeFactoShave.com

Our Gentleman’s (and ladies’) Agreement is simple:

We do the work.

You hit subscribe.

Fair exchange.

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Most people think Olympic champions love sport.

Colin Jackson says something shocking on Episode 287 of That Great Business Show with Conall Ó Móráin.

He admits he didn’t even want to be in front of the camera… and he doesn’t really like sport the way people think he does.

Instead we talk about:

• how dreaming creates opportunity

• why aligning with winners matters

• the brutal lesson he learned at the Olympics

• why confidence can destroy you

• the real difference between champions and the rest of us

• what business leaders can learn from elite athletes

Jackson also tells the extraordinary story of crashing Daley Thompson’s Porsche and what the Olympic legend taught him about life.

This conversation was recorded live at the National Concert Hall with thanks to the Welsh Office at the British Embassy in Dublin.

Sponsored by De Facto Shaving Oil — the world’s best shaving oil. Not beard oil. For shaving all your bits.

They back us. You back them.

DeFactoShave.com

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We do the work. You hit subscribe. Fair exchange.

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Most business owners think profit means success.

It doesn’t.

ON Episode 286 of That Great Business Show, Conall Ó Móráin sits down with Caroline Kirrane, CFA, former Central Bank economist, and the person Irish executives call when they realise they’ve been nodding at spreadsheets they don’t understand.

This episode explains, in plain English:

• Why profit is not cash

• How fast growth can bankrupt you

• The silent danger of “bad revenue”

• Why Ryanair’s ruthless simplicity is a masterclass in strategy

• The real reason businesses run out of money while sales are booming

If you run a business in Ireland, the UK or anywhere with invoices and overdrafts, this episode could save you.

Sponsored by De Facto Shaving Oil — made in Mayo, sold to the world.

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