That Great Business Show

E266 That Great Business Show

UCD Smurfit Business School, 'Podcast of the Year'

Can a thumbs-up cost you thousands? It can.

Partner Wendy Hederman (Mason Hayes & Curran) lays out, in plain English, how a quick WhatsApp, email or text can lock in a binding contract, why “subject to contract” won’t always save your skin, and how your employee’s casual message can bind the whole business.

Fast fixes for SMEs: approvals, authority, and the one line to add before you hit send.

Sponsored by De Facto Shaving Oil.

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EP265 — Cheaper grinds at scale + how a Wexford mixer takes on Coke & Fever-Tree

Part 1:Brendan Kavanagh (Grinds360) explains how a hybrid learning model can undercut traditional grinds: where €2,000 per subject becomes ~€1,000 for all 20 subjects, with live nightly classes, a huge on-demand library and student tracking. He shares year-one results (€1.8m) and how revenues hit €2.4m in just late summer, plus expansion to NI/UK and how SAT could bring them a million more students annually from Asia.

Part 2:Brendan Colbert (Poachers Drinks) on fighting global incumbents: shelf tactics, re-engineering the supply chain to reach 55–60% margins, landing premium accounts and pushing into Dunnes (≈45 stores)—with a Poachers Cola coming. And why they'll keep Gaeilge on their bottles when heading into the UK market.

Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil—made in Mayo, sold worldwide.

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Episode 264 That Great Business Show with Conall Ó Moráin

Now on video — watch this episode on YouTube.

Invest like the pros: JoinShuttle.com founders Rob Halligan & Scott Ashmore say they only list deals where a top fund is also investing — and they run their own multi-stage checks before anything goes live. A €250-a-year subscription opens the door. They’ve already backed six deals alongside around 20 funds, with more in the pipeline. They explain why founders welcome their community for more than just the cheque (though that helps!).

Why Pittsburgh, why now: Matt Smith of the Allegheny Conference makes a great case for Irish SMEs to test the US via The Steel City, Pittsburgh. Check out State corporate tax phasing from 9.9% toward 4.9%, some new incentives, and a playbook that connects you straight to CMU/Pitt talent (aka Big Brains particularly in AI and Robotics). Plus: it’s a logistics sweet spot — half a day’s drive to circa 40% of the US market — as well as a lower cost base than the US coasts.

This show is powered by De Facto Shaving Oil — made in Mayo, sold worldwide.

Follow us on LinkedIn for clips, extras and guest call-outs. And don’t miss the video version on YouTube (search That Great Business Show).

Nothing in this show is investment advice. Always do your own research and speak to a professional advisor.

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Episode 263 That Great Business Show with Conall O Móráin

Why Everyone Wants In to TCD - '...because there's no future for libraries in Florida'.

TCD Provost, Linda Doyle, on 'huge' U.S. Student Surge, Global Competition & The Future of Higher Ed

That Great Business Show — winner of the UCD Smurfit Business School ‘Podcast of the Year’ — takes a masterclass with Linda Doyle, Provost of Trinity College Dublin, for a wide-ranging and insightful conversation about the present and future of one of Europe’s most storied universities

With 4,500 staff and a student body that’s becoming more international every year, Doyle shares her vision for Trinity’s next chapter. She talks candidly about the challenges of running a world-class university, the need to compete globally for talent and resources, and the opportunities created by the big jump in American students applying to study at Trinity and the threat to academic freedom in the US. It's all a sign of how Dublin and Ireland are becoming more attractive in the global education marketplace.

This conversation is essential listening across faculties, research groups, professional services and others in 3rd Level education.

Proudly sponsored by De Facto Shaving Oil.

Listen now—and share with your Trinity (and other!) colleagues.

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E262 That Great Business Show

With thanks to De Facto Shaving Oil

Pubs are closing at record rates (150 a year since Covid), but Feargal Chambers of the Four Provinces Pub & Brewery is doing the opposite — expanding.

From zoology teacher to publican and brewer, his story is a masterclass in resilience, local loyalty, and turning community into a business superpower. Backed by GAA stars and iconic Dublin pub families, Feargal proves that with grit, vision, and hyper-local focus, you can not only survive in hospitality but thrive. Expect talk of salmonids, Irish language, the pub as community hub, and why resilience may be the most valuable pint you can pour.

The big takeaway? The pub is not finished! Keyword? Hyper-local.

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This week on That Great Business Show Episode 261 (with thanks to our brilliant sponsor De Facto Shaving Oil):

Every weekend in Ireland, players are getting knocked about—whether it’s the crunch of a rugby scrum, the thump of a GAA tackle, or a soccer header that rattles the skull. Concussions happen. Too many go unseen, unreported, untreated—and the damage can last a lifetime.

Enter Sports Impact Technologies, a young Irish start-up straight out of UCD Nova, with a world-first solution: a sensor, no bigger than a €1 coin, that tucks in behind the ear and flags head impacts as they happen. Instant alerts, right there on the pitch. That’s player welfare, redefined.

They’ve just raised €650,000 to take it global. We’ve got founder Eóin Tuohy in studio—the man on a mission to make undetected concussions history.

Want to hear how Ireland’s next sports tech game-changer is born? Hit the play button now. Encourage others by sharing.

Economists talk about cycles—booms, busts, peaks, troughs. But my 2nd guest is Jennie Haire,. She's talking about a cycle that’s a whole lot more personal. Jennie’s the founder of Gigi Supplements, the brand turning monthly cycles into big business with a smart, science-backed blend that women swear by.

She’s on her own growth curve too—fresh off the Going for Growth programme, with new funding in the bank, a brand on the rise, and a mission to prove that women’s health is good business.

Want to hear how she’s changing the game, cycle by cycle? Push the play button, baby.

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E260 That Great Business Show

UCD Smurfit 'Podcast of the Year'

Brian Kenny, CEO, Momntum

Laila is her name. She is 'owned' by very early stage startup Momntum. She's an AI chatbot. She remembers you, your foibles and your troubles. She brings chatbots to an absolutely different level. Clever lady she is, she even remembers that you may have mentioned your dog was sick the last time you called her number. When you ring back she's likely to ask after the dog. Bow WOW! Who'll use it? You will, because she makes it sound like your business cares. She'll save you money too and Momntum co-founder Brian Kenny goes through a real-life case study involving Sisu Clinic, where the savings are quite considerable. Laila can also do her business in 700 languages (including Gaeilge - we checked). The business is backed by ACT and Suir Valley Ventures.

His 'hire in a heartbeat', John Collison of Stripe. AND Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia.

Damien O’Brien, Managing Partner, SME Matters

Do you want to grow your business by 42% at a cost of just €275 a month? Of you course you do…you’d be mad not to.

Damien O’Brien, boss at SME Matters got on to us to tell us about a recent success where one of his NAMED clients said the peer to peer learning programme they run had yielded one company 42% growth in just months…so we had to know more.

His 'hire in a heartbeat', Paudi Roche and Geraldine Lavin (it's a bit of a cheat, 'cos they already work with him...)

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E259 That Great Business Show

With thanks to De Facto Shaving Oil, the world's finest.

The newspaper industry is 'existentially challenged'. So says Alan English, former editor of the Sunday Independent, Ireland's biggest selling newspaper.

Though he says that 'end of print is some way off', he does hint that newspaper may end up as a weekend leisure read. That could imply no weekdays editions. It could start with a 'shakeout' of the Irish market and Alan points the finger at UK tabloids in Ireland as being the weakest players in the market, faced with what terms 'the survival of the fittest'. He's not too hopeful about 'a lot of local titles' as well. Part of the problem is that 'it's extremely difficult to make digital pay at the local level'. Add to this the recent calamitous collapse in 'Google referrals' following Google's algorithmic change that has seen people just accepting Google's own answer to a search question.

The worst deal ever done globally in the newspaper industry? Alan says it was the 2005 purchase of the Leinster Leader Group by Johnston Press for €138.6 million (titles included Leinster Leader, Limerick Leader, Offaly Express, Dundalk Democrat, Express and others). By April 2014, Johnston sold its 14 regional newspapers in the Republic of Ireland to Iconic Newspapers Limited, led by Malcolm Denmark, for around €8.5 million. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Distribution is a major problem. Newspapers are competing with chocolate bars etc for selling space. Innovation in this area appears to have failed. Alan tells a great story about two ninety-year-olds when he was looking for a copy of the Napa Register newspaper while on holidays in California.

Alan, who only recently retired, says 'he has another gig in him'

His 'hire in a heartbeat'? Vincent Browne!!! ('the best journalist Ireland has produced in my lifetime' says Alan)

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E258 That Great Business Show

UCD Smurfit, 'Podcast of the Year'.

David Malone, CEO, Irish League of Credit Unions, new SME loans from your Credit Union.

New rules mean Credit Unions can treble the amount they lend to businesses.

You could end up lending money to yourself, as every borrower must become a CU member (but David is very, very keen to bust the myth that you can only borrow if you have money already on deposit. ( Not True!). Average lending to business is €35,000 but can rise to €500,000.

You can say 'no' to computer as they want to see you, if it suits, in person, in their branches. They say their USP is being local and wanting to understand your business.

From October you'll have instant payments from your CU account, worldwide.

They have a very successful lending initiative with the agricultural sector and they want to replicate that with other sectors now.

He wants to hire John Hume, Derry Credit Union founder and Nobel Prize winner (RIP) as his 'hire in a heartbeat'.

Feargal O'Sullivan, The Morrison Legacy Foundation

Around 45,000 Irish people got 'Morrison Visas' back in the early 1990's thanks to US Congressman Bruce Morrison. This was a lifeline for many. Now, some of those recipients want to say 'Thanks' to Bruce Morrison at a Big Bash at the spectacular Rainbow Rooms at the Top of the Rock in Manhattan. They want to collect the stories of those who came to the States on those unique visas, to tell their story. If you are one of them, you can write your personal story on their website Morrison Legacy dot com. However, if you are one of those who 'done good' from your time now or previously in the US, on the back of a Morrison visa, you can say a bigger thank you by buying a ticket to the event. If you've done really, really well from your time in the States, or what you learnt during your time in the States, you can break out the wallet and take a Top Table for Ten, for $50,000. It promises to be one hell of a night.

Feargal's 'hire in a heartbeat'? Barrack Obama. (Feargal was quite coy about who might rock up on the night. Barrack???)

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Episode 257 That Great Business Show with Conall O Morain

UCD Smurfit Business School, 'Podcast of the Year'

'Moving away from media'

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Irish Management Institute, the IMI, annual conference was THE BIG business event in Ireland. Think Tech Summit, before tech. Held in Killarney every year it would attract 800 top executives who strutted their brilliance there. If you were invited to speak at the IMI conference, you HAD ARRIVED.

However, the Financial Crisis along with Covid, did for the Big Conference, when 800 attendees became more like 80. Things were financially tight, accumulating losses in the order of €5million. Owned by University College Dublin, it was sold not so long ago to the Business Post Group, owner of the eponymous newspaper, as well as a polling company and an events company.

There are plenty of options for business education, anywhere from UCD Smurfit (our favourite since they gave us that award!) to 'in person' or online at world renowned business schools like Harvard or INSEAD. So, why the Business Post, and why the IMI? 

Who better to answer than Colm O’Reilly, COO of the Business Post, and Shane O’Sullivan, CEO of the IMI.

Regular listeners know what we think of bankers. If you haven't heard us on the subject, do listen back to Episode 254 when we had a chat with Mary O’Dea of the IOB, formerly the Institute of Bankers. Spoiler alert. At least we kept it civil!

Our 2nd guest is Gary Grimes doesn’t run a bank — and that’s the point. He’s founder of Simplí Finance.

In a world where SMEs are ghosted by the pillar banks, where it’s too often ‘computer says no’,  Gary and his team can step in with non-bank finance — stock loans, working capital, the lot — particularly when you don’t even know such options exist. However, that finance can come at a price.

With thanks to De Facto Shaving Oil, the world's best. Great for shaving. Great for your skin. Great for your pocket.

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