Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly

David Walsh is one of Ireland’s most renowned entrepreneurs. He co-founded Netwatch and as CEO grew it from a small start-up to a truly global organisation employing 560 staff and serving 250,000 customers across four continents, and a leader in proactive video monitoring. At Netwatch, he assembled a world class team and developed a unique culture that led to 68 quarters of continuous growth and impacted the lives of customers across the World. In 2019, he stepped down as chief executive of Netwatch having sold the majority of the company the year before to private equity firm Riverside, a deal that saw the company merge with businesses in Britain and the US to create the Netwatch Group. Rather than sitting on his laurels, he has since established another disruptive technology company called HaloCare with a vision to empower people to live independent and healthy lives at home for longer. It is a solution focused on care in the community for older people, those with long-term illnesses and those who wish to remain living independently in their own homes and need a little extra support. Through supportive technology that works seamlessly in the background, their clients have complete peace of mind when homecare or family carers cannot be there. This is the 35th episode with guest David Walsh, Chairman at Halo Care, in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

Conor McCarthy is an airline industry veteran with over 43 years of experience, a serial entrepreneur and has helped set up several airlines and aerospace companies worldwide. He is the founder of PlaneConsult, an aviation consultancy company, which has, over the past 19 years, worked in many airlines including easyJet, Qantas, Alaska Airlines, Copa, and Thai AirAsia. He has held roles in Aer Lingus Commuter, Ryanair (where he was responsible for the famous 25 minute turnaround, among other things), and is a Co-founder, shareholder, and former director of AirAsia and its affiliates in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and India. In 2009 Conor established Dublin Aerospace, parent company to Dublin Aerospace and Exeter Aerospace. Dublin Aerospace is now one of the world’s leading providers of Aerospace MRO services. Dublin Aerospace developed a state-of-the-art Landing Gear facility in Ashbourne, and started up Exeter Aerospace in the UK. Based primarily in Dublin, Ireland, Conor is also the Founder and Executive Chairman of Emerald Airlines, Ireland’s newest regional airline, and the exclusive operator of the Aer Lingus Regional network. This is the 34th episode with guest Conor McCarthy, Executive Chairman at Emerald Airlines & Dublin Aerospace, in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

Kim Mackenzie Doyle is an award winning product designer and has held significant roles in both the corporate and non-profit sectors, where she honed skills in leadership, strategic planning, product development and community engagement. With a passion for bridging the gap between industry and education, she is the founder of The B!G Idea, a pioneering non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering young people to tackle local and global challenges. The B!G Idea is a multi-award winning, free, creative thinking skills programme for transition year students which aims to fill a gap in our traditional education system that focusses on rote learning -  which doesn’t suit every student’s brain type or learning style. Businesses and employers need creative thinkers! Creative thinking is now a more sought-after skill than Big Data or technical literacy. It is a critical skill recognised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Forbes yet it’s not something we are taught in school. The B!G Idea has been instrumental in forging strong partnerships across borders, ensuring that young people across the island of Ireland receive the support and resources they need to thrive, and has garnered international recognition for its unique approach to education, focusing not just on academic success but also on real-world problem-solving and creativity. The team are dedicated to fostering a generation of socially conscious and empowered individuals, and this dedication is evident in every aspect of the programme. This is the 33rd episode with guest Kim MacKenzie-Doyle in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

Alan Lewis, ex-rugby player, who when his rugby career was cut short at an early stage with injury, turned to refereeing with notable success, and has now refereed at international level, at the 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cups. But he is even better known as the third most capped player in the history of Irish Cricket playing 121 times for his country between 1984 and 1997. He is one of only six players to have played more than 100 times for Ireland. Away from the sports field, although he got a college grade leaving cert, he had no appetite for university but did have a genuine interest in following his father’s footsteps into the insurance industry. He started with Hibernian insurance but within three years the sporting wanderlust took over and he headed off to Australia. An injury brought him home and eventually to LHW, a company co-founded by his father. He focused on the life side of the business and took over the company when father and other business partner retired, at a time when the industry was undergoing huge consolidation. Today, Alan is responsible for the strategic development of LHW. This is the 32nd episode with guest Alan Lewis in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

Well summer is definitely upon us, so the timing of this chat couldn’t be better. On this episode we have brothers Barry and Fergal Doyle who are co-owners of Arboretum. Barry is CEO and Fergal is chief commercial officer. Arboretum Home & Garden Heaven is a second generation, family-owned garden and lifestyle retailer. The multi award-winning business, founded in rural County Carlow in 1977 by horticulturist Rachel Doyle, is today a €14m turnover enterprise employing 200 people in three locations; the flagship store in Leighlinbridge, Carlow; Arboretum Kilquade, County Wicklow and Arboretum Urban Green. In recent weeks, Arboretum Kilquade has fully reopened following a €4.5 million redevelopment, creating 25 new jobs. Urban Green, located above Chapter’s bookshop on Parnell Street in Dublin, opened in May 2023 and offers a unique garden, house plant and lifestyle retail experience for city centre dwellers. Each of the venues has a high-quality in-house restaurant. As CEO, Barry develops Arboretum’s business strategies to support business growth and a key focus for him is customer service, always seeking to enhance the customer experience, both online and in the physical stores. Barry trained as a horticulturalist at the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin in Dublin and has a deep love of gardening and growing. Fergal is Chief Commercial Operator and oversees all financial aspects of the business and focusses on developing commercial strategies to support the business’ goals. He believes in the importance of fostering long-lasting, meaningful relationships with customers through a passionate and committed team. Sustainability is also a key focus for Fergal both operationally and in the product range Arboretum offers to customers. This is the 31st episode with guests Barry Doyle and Fergal Doyle in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

The 30th episode of ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’ is a little different to the norm! We recently staged the first in our ‘Next Step’ series of events in the magnificent surroundings of the old trading floor of The Irish Stock Exchange (Euronext) Building in Dublin, to an audience of business owners and entrepreneurs. Every entrepreneur reaches a point in the evolution of their business when they are faced with the crucial decision of the ‘Next Step’ on its growth pathway and how that will be funded. For some, selling the business to a larger company makes the most sense, but for others, taking on external capital to scale up the business is more appropriate – in some cases, that external financing comes in the form of taking the company public on the stock market. There is no one right answer, so with this event, we hoped to provide insights into each route from business people who have done it before. We had an excellent panel comprised of Dermot Crowley, CEO of Dalata Hotel Group plc, the largest hotel operator in Ireland and with a presence in the UK and continental Europe; Leo Mac Canna, CEO and Founder of Ocuco Ltd, a thriving multinational software company with thousands of customers worldwide, who recently had Accel-KKR invested €60m in the company to help fuel its global expansion; and Mark Little, founder and successful seller of the Storyful and Kinzen media businesses. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

Jody Fanagan joined the family business in 1987 as one of three in the 5th generation to run the company – the 6th generation is now also working there. He was made a director in 1994 and then became the Managing Director in 2013.  Fanagan’s is truly a family business established in 1819 and so has been providing excellence in funeral care to families in Dublin for two centuries, looking after 1 in every 4 funerals in the city. But is it not just one family business as the group now encompasses the Kirwans, Nichols and Carnegies funeral homes, which combined run 11 Funeral homes located throughout Dublin, employing almost 100 people. Their latest funeral home, located in Rathfarnham, opened in June 2018, is a 3000 sq. foot premises which incorporates a state-of-the-art operations and logistics centre. This represents a significant investment in the future success of the company. But the keen sports fan listening will also know that Jody is well known for another reason as his golfing cv is hugely impressive, boasting South and West of Ireland Championships, two appearances for the GB & Ireland team in matches against Europe, and of course a Walker Cup appearance in 1995 with three match wins including one against a certain Eldrick Woods aka Tiger! This golfing prowess has continued in later life with success in both the European and US Senior Amateur Opens, which will see him tee is up with the pros in the US Senior Open in 2024. This is the 29th episode with guest Jody Fanagan, Director at Fanagans Funeral Directors in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

Paul McCann first joined Grant Thornton in 2001, and over the next 11 years amassed extensive financial advisory experience. From 2012 -2017 he served two terms as Managing Partner navigating the firm through an accelerated growth period, expanding from 417 to 1,144 people, and growing revenues from €41m to €115.7m. Paul took over as CEO of Ergo in September 2021, bringing with him a reputation in corporate finance for an exceptional grasp of business value and strategies for sustainable growth. Ergo deliver high-quality and reliable IT services that add value and efficiency to their operations. They help their clients achieve their goals and overcome their pain points with their agile and customer-centric approach, empowering clients to embrace change and seize new opportunities with cutting-edge and scalable IT services. This is the 28th episode with guest Paul McCann, CEO at Ergo, in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

There cant be too many people listening to this that have never heard of the Guaranteed Irish mark. This year Guaranteed Irish celebrates 50 years supporting businesses in Ireland. Since it was first established in 1974 as a national symbol of trust and provenance for business in Ireland, Guaranteed Irish has welcomed over 2000 members. With that milestone, I am delighted to have the CEO of Guaranteed Irish, Brid O’Connell, here with me today. Brid had an unusual path to her current position as she initially studied Applied Chemistry, followed by Quality Management in UL. Not satisfied in her role as a Biochemist, she returned to college by night and studied for the next ten years in the areas of Marketing, Public Relations, Corporate Governance, and Leading and Managing Change. She worked for a time in the public sector (Limerick and Meath Local Authorities) before establishing her own business “Welcome Marketing”, a marketing and PR agency for Public sector clients. She was self-employed for over 15 years before in 2016 she appointed to the role of CEO of Guaranteed Irish Ltd and took up the reins of the organisation on 25th July of that year. This is the 27th episode with guest Brid O’Connell, CEO at Guaranteed Irish, in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

Niall Norton began his career training as an accountant and once qualified, followed this up with a stint in Deloitte Corporate Finance before taking up the reigns as CFO with Irish operations of O2, where he was responsible for financial control functions, business process re-design, strategy planning and wholesale. In Feb 2004 he joined Openet as CFO, a company extremely proud of its Irish heritage with a unique ethos that is harnessed to drive success and become a global player in the telecoms industry. In September 2006 he became CEO of the company and under his stewardship, it grew from a small Irish software company to a global international operation with revenues of circa $120m and employed more than 800 people. He remained in this position until August 2020 when the company was bought by US listed Amdocs, which provides software and services to the telecoms and media sectors globally. After the takeover, Niall was Division President and General Manager for Amdocs Networks. In this role, Niall had responsibility for rebooting the commercial strategy related to Amdocs portfolio of software and services for the network market domain. Niall was recognized in 2017 as one of the 100 influential people in telecoms by Global Telecoms Business. Earlier this year Niall Norton established Clever Communications, (“C-Comms”), a consulting company providing advisory services to client companies planning or undergoing scaling challenges. This is the 26th episode with guest Niall Norton, Adviser and Mentor, in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

For nearly 30 years Pamex has blazed a trail in the Irish Pharmaceutical industry. Its founder Tom Murphy was a leading figure in the pharma industry in the 1980’s and early 1990’s before being made redundant in 1994. Still in his early 40’s and with a young family he found himself on the dole at a time when unemployment in Ireland was at a record high. Using his industry knowledge and backed all the way by his wife, Mary, the couple started the business that has built up a diverse portfolio of products that have made an immeasurable difference to the health and wellbeing of countless Irish people. Its first brand, Total Shaving Solution, has been joined by names such as Carmex lip balm, Alforex biotics, Kin Dental, Thea eyecare, and many more, with the result that this company from Castlebar continues to punch above its weight. This is the 25th episode with guest Tom Murphy, Founder / Chairman Pamex Limited, in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

Derek Murray is one of the World’s leading independent experts on golf club technology and the true art of custom fitting and club making – a passion ignited over 25 years ago, following a visit to the custom fitting tour trucks at the Czech Open. Throughout his career Derek has worked with a ‘who’s who’ list of professional golfers like the late, great Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam, Michael Campbell, Sergio Garcia, Raphael Jacquelin, and countless other PGA and European Tour pros. Closer to home, he has helped Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Shane Lowry, Gary Murphy, and Seamus Power with their equipment decisions. Further afield, he designed and developed an exclusive, brand agnostic club fitting system and in-house club-fitting program focused on delivering not only a world class customer experience for the members of one of the world’s most exclusive golf clubs in Georgia, USA but also designed a best in class fitting kit to specifically suit the course and conditions of play all cross referenced with the demographic of player at the club. He is the founder of his family run business, ForeGolf, which is based at The Long Game Academy, Killeen Castle. This is the 24th episode with guest Derek Murray, Owner & Master Club Fitter at ForeGolf in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

When Harry Maharaj completed his Mechanical Engineering degree he got a ‘lucky’ call – his words, not mine – from a recruiter who found my CV online and asked would he consider moving away from engineering and going for an institutional equity sales role in Davy. Eight years later, having built strong client relations in Europe and US, he quit the job, moved home to Kilkenny, and started in the family business, Kilkenny Architectural Salvage.   Founded by his father to harness a long standing passion of his in the world of salvage, the business has just celebrated its 25th birthday. The company started originally building up stock by attending auctions, dealing with other salvage yards and buying from everyday people who had items to sell. Since then it has evolved and while they still buy from those original sources, they now have an extensive network of people and businesses who they deal with. They work very closely with some of the top hotels, restaurants and bars around Ireland, and also import items from the UK, Europe and even further afield. Robin's three sons (Paul, Harry and Conor) all left their jobs in Dublin to move home to join the business in the last 5 years which has had a huge impact on the scale of the business in particular with bringing the business online through social media – they have 80k followers and have found it a great way to bring the world of salvage to the next generation. This is the 23rd episode with guest Harry Maharaj, Director at Kilkenny Architectural Salvage & Antiques, in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'.   This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

There can’t be too many people, certainly in Dublin, who haven’t heard of Fitzpatrick’s Castle Hotel in Killiney. And while the building itself has a very long history dating all the way back to 1740, its current incarnation began in 1970 when Paddy and Eithne Fitzpatrick fulfilled a lifetime ambition by buying Killiney Castle and its grounds. They initially opened 1 room at a time, eventually reaching 13 rooms in the original castle, before embarking on a massive expansion plan over the 1975 to 1995 period that saw the property grow by 100 rooms, a fitness centre, and conference and meeting spaces. The group then expanded to open hotels in Bunratty, New York, and Chicago before splitting into separate ownership when Paddy died. The Fitzpatrick Castle hotel has been in the ownership of Paddy and Eithne’s daughter since 2005 and has been operating for over 50 years. Sitting in front of me are Mark and Joseph Scott Lennon – the current generation of operators. Mark has over 20 years of hospitality experience and took over running Fitzpatrick’s Castle in 2012. He has international experience working in Vancouver and New York and is heavily involved in the Irish Hotel Federation as a current member of the national council. Joseph has 14 years hospitality experience packed with international destinations like St Vincent, the Grenadines, New York, and Dubai. He has been hotel manager at Fitzpatrick Castle for the last two years.  This is the 22nd episode with guests Mark and Joseph Scott Lennon, Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.

Having spent 5 years as an Audit and Risk Senior with Deloitte Ireland, Mike Tonery moved to the role of CFO for the Aryzta/Wendy’s joint venture, before beginning his healthcare odyssey. In 2006 he became Senior Financial Controller for the Mater Private Hospital, transforming the finance function to meet the new requirements of the board, syndicate of lending banks, insurers, private equity investors and the development of a new hospital strategy. In 2015 he moved to the Mater Private Cork as CFO before joining the Bon Secours Hospital in September of that year as CEO. The hospital employs circa 600 personnel, who, together with leading consultants work in partnership to provide the highest standard of Advanced Medicine Exceptional Care to over 30,000 patients each year.  Then in July 2022, Mike took up his current role as CEO of Trinity Care, which provides the highest standards of quality, person-centred nursing home care for residential, convalescent, respite and rehabilitative services across Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Louth, Wicklow, Kilkenny & Cavan. Mike is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Business Management and has completed programmes in Clinic Leadership, Pensions for Finance Directors, Debt Financing Training and Negotiation Skills Training.  Mike graduated from IMI with a Masters in Leadership in 2022. This is the 21st episode with guest Mike Tonery, CEO at Trinity Care in the Davy podcast series 'Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly'. This podcast brings you insightful conversation between Aidan Donnelly and entrepreneurs and business owners/management with their own unique story to tell. If you like what you hear, please like, share and subscribe.