The Ireland Canada Connection

The Business Council of Canada is one of Canada’s most influential business representative organisations. It represents the chief executives and heads of 150 leading Canadian businesses, employing 1.7 million Canadians and composed of every major industry across the country.

Goldy Hyder, the Council’s President and CEO, has a fascinating track record in business, public policy, and in the not for profit sector. He has such informed and passionate opinions about effective leadership, business strategy and global trade. In this interview we talk about:

·        His ties to Ireland, his trip to Dublin in 2019, and why the keynote speech he gave then is as relevant today as it was then

·        Driving the competitiveness of Canadian businesses 

·        Why trade is the solution to an impending global recession

·        How Eastern countries have managed Covid-19 more effectively than those in the West

·        His hope for what the new US Presidency might achieve for global trade and relations 

·        Why CETA has been a boost for businesses and why Ireland must ratify the agreement

·        The leadership mindset and policy-making in times of crisis

Eamonn McKee has become Ireland’s new Ambassador to Canada, Jamaica and The Bahamas. He previously held ambassadorial positions in Seoul and Israel and has spent the last 5 years as Director General of the Trade division at the Dept of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador McKee is also an avid reader of history and indeed loves writing about the subject too, which gives him a very interesting perspective on some of the biggest challenges that the world is facing right now.

In this episode of The Ireland Canada Connection, Ambassador Eamonn McKee joins Patrick Haughey of AudioBrand to talk about:

·       His priorities for his new role of Ambassador to Canada 

·       The importance of national brands and how to grow them 

·       Why Ireland thrives in a free-trade global environment

·       How business is all about relationships and personal connections, and why this makes organisations like the Ireland Canada Business Association so important 

·       The new wave of Irish emigrants making Canada their home

·       How an understanding of the past can help us make better decision in the present 

Joe Aherne founded the Leading Edge Group in 1995 in Cobh, Co Cork, and in 2009, decided it was time to internationalise. Joe chose Toronto, Canada as Leading Edge's first location outside of Ireland. 

In this episode of The Ireland Canada Connection, Joe tells Patrick Haughey all about the experience and what he learned from it, including:

Why he chose Canada over other countries on the list of potential locations 

The first steps he took – what worked and what he would do differently 

His advice for other Irish companies considering expanding into Canada

Canada’s response to the Covid-19 crisis and what other countries might learn from it

RxSource had planned to set up its EU base in the UK, but Brexit led the company to choose Ireland instead. RxSource, a global pharmaceutical wholesale distributor from Canada, set up operations in Ireland in 2016 and has been growing steadily since. Our guest on this episode of The Ireland Canada Connection is Sue Kelly, the company’s Director of Operations. Sue speaks about:

+Why Brexit led RxSource to choose Ireland over the UK

+What it has been like operating in Ireland and lessons learned

+Why strong regulation of the Pharma sector is so important 

+The impact of COVID-19 on the company and how it has adjusted 

+The experience of growing the team remotely 

The Ireland Canada Connection is brought to you by the Ireland Canada Business Association and is hosted by Patrick Haughey of audiobrand.ie. 

As a North American company, what is the key to successfully starting and growing operations in Ireland? Our guest on this episode of The Ireland Canada Connection is Kevin Elliott, Senior Vice President at Bank of Ireland Corporate and Treasury. In his current role, and previously with the IDA, Kevin has helped many companies from Canada and the US to establish operations and grow in Ireland. 

In this podcast, we tap into his extensive experience in this area and talk about:

+The most common questions that Canadian and US companies ask about Ireland when they’re thinking about setting up a base in the EU

+What are Ireland’s key selling points – but also what are the things the country needs to improve about the business environment

+Why COVID-19 is making more Canadian and US companies look at Ireland as an EU base 

+The key differences between Canadian and US companies when it comes to doing business, building relationships, and talking about their success. 

+What are the most important things about doing business in Canada and the US that Irish companies need to be aware of in order to successfully do business there. 

+The most exciting emerging businesses that Kevin is seeing right now 

The Ireland Canada Connection is brought to you by the Ireland Canada Business Association (ICBA). For more information on who we are and what we do, visit us at www.irelandcanada.com. 

The series is hosted by Patrick Haughey of www.audiobrand.ie 

Nikolay Malyarov is CEO of PressReader International and also its Chief Content Officer. Press reader is a Canadian company, a valued member of the ICBA, and a multinational with operations in Ireland. In this episode of The Ireland Canada Connection, Nikolay talks about how PressReader has been impacted by the Covid-19 crisis, how it has reacted, and he shared his advice for other companies about how to turn a challenge into an opportunity. Nikolay also talks about the future of news and journalism in a world of free content and social media. 

Former Canadian Ambassador to Ireland, Kevin Vickers, is our special guest on this episode of The Ireland Canada Connection. Always a great friend to the ICBA and supporter of the Association’s work, Kevin left his post in Ireland in 2019 to become leader of the Liberal Party of New Brunswick in Canada. 

In this interview Kevin talks about his time as Canadian Ambassador to Ireland, why he believes connectivity and relationship building are key to economic success, the great opportunities in cyber security and the green economy, and his decision to enter the political arena in New Brunswick.

We also explored more personal topics, such as his Irish roots, his time in the Canadian Mounties, and his road to recovery after he stopped a terrorist attack at the Canadian parliament building in 2014.  

Ireland and Canada are two countries with incredibly close ties – for over a century and a half the Irish have been making Canada their home, and today, almost 15% of the Canadian population claim Irish ancestry. 

And more recently, there’s been a wave of emigration from Canada into Ireland – this time in the form of multinational Canadian companies making Ireland the center point of their European and EMEA operations. 

Our shared history, culture and approach to business has seen the Ireland Canada relationship flourish – and the Ireland Canada Business Association is here to help that relationship continue to grow ever stronger in to the future.

The Ireland Canada Connection is a new podcast series featuring interviews with leaders in business, culture and public affairs from across Ireland and Canada. We’ll get to the heart of what makes this relationship tick, and hear insights and advice about how to succeed in business in both nations. 

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