Ed Guiney, co-founder and CEO of Element Pictures, has spent his career blending creative instinct with strategic acumen to shape one of Europe’s most influential film and television production companies. From early days making student shorts at Trinity College Dublin to producing globally acclaimed works like Room, The Favourite, and Normal People, Guiney’s journey is rooted in a deep love of storytelling and a clear understanding of how to bring it to market.
In this episode of Arts Matters, Guiney tells Alison Cowzer that he sees intellectual property ownership as the cornerstone of a sustainable industry and is a strong advocate for supporting emerging writers through initiatives like the Story House festival. While others speculate on the impact of AI, Guiney remains confident in the irreplaceable value of human creativity.
The growth fund BGF made its first investment in the Irish market in 2019. It has followed it up with a dozen more deals, deploying a total of €97.5 million in the Irish market. Backed by Isif, AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank, it has €250 million in capital to invest.
In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, the head of BGF in Ireland Leo Casey talks about the type of companies the firm is willing to back, the sectors it prefers, and the size of the check it can write. In addition, the former IBI corporate financier talks about the slowdown in dealmaking this year, frothy valuations and the headwinds facing the economy.
Co Limerick-based Nick Cotter is the winner of this year's Global Student Entrepreneur Awards for the solution developed to reduce chemical use in livestock by Cotter Agritech, the latest strand in a farm-based business sustaining two generations of his family and several employees. From running a marketing survey in his primary school for his first firewood business to selling organic lamb to Adare Manor and keeping a cool head when approached by venture capitalists, he tells Thomas Hubert what drives him to juggle business, college and life – and why it could only have happened on a farm.
The car bomb that killed Darya Dugina may have been intended for her father Aleksandr Dugin, a figure who may or may not have Vladimir Putin's ear but who has articulated a vision of the Russian nation which justifies the invasion of Ukraine. Journalist and documentary-maker Johnny O'Reilly talks to Dion Fanning from Kyiv about Dugin's importance if any and how the war is now playing out on the frontline in Ukraine.
Two years ago, Mike McGrath and Martin Fitzgerald put their money in their own pockets and developed a minimum viable product, before launching it to the market last year. Today, their Cork-based company, Kwayga, has 50,000 suppliers listed on its platform and is operating in 50 countries.
The business, an online platform that matches buyers and sellers in the food and beverage sector, initially targeted the European market but it is now gaining momentum in the US and Canada. In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, McGrath talks about the genesis of the business, the growing problem of supply chain disruption, and raising funds to scale internationally.
Kevin O'Brien is one of the great figures from the golden age of Irish cricket. A 50-ball century against England in 2011 catapulted him to the forefront of people's minds but he was there on all the great days. After announcing his retirement, he spoke to Dion Fanning about his disappointment in how it ended.
Deciphex, the virtual diagnostics company led by academic turned entrepreneur Donal O'Shea, is applying Artificial Intelligence algorithms to pathology, a discipline that hasn't changed much in its physicality over the last century. In this podcast, he talks to Rosanna Cooney about speeding up the diagnostic process and presenting pathologists with an alternate career path.
In this podcast Jonathan Wilson talks to Dion Fanning about his new book on Jack and Bobby Charlton. In his post playing career Jack became a huge figure, while Bobby became an emblem of the glory and tragedy of Manchester United. He was an old fashioned figure, to whom, as Wilson says in this podcast, the career of George Best could almost seem like a personal rebuke. But he also became a wealthy man.
WeHaveChefs is constructing a fast-track corridor between the kitchens of south-east Asia and the restaurants of Ireland to plug the gaping hole that Covid-19 left in the hospitality industry. In this podcast, Paddy Lynn, the business's co-founder, talks to Rosanna Cooney about streamlining the process and what the government can do to help the industry survive.
Sean O'Driscoll has written an extraordinarily detailed book on the life of Rose Dugdale. Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber is centred around the many interviews Dugdale did with the author, who speaks to Dion Fanning about her contradictions, earning her trust and being savaged on Liveline for the book.
Adriaan Palm, the ambassador of the Netherlands to Ireland, says that almost every meeting he has with Irish officials and citizens throws up questions on his country’s ability to adopt cycling and other sustainable transport options. In this far-reaching interview on Dutch-Irish economic relations, he reveals that environmental issues have taken over from corporation tax and Brexit at the top of the diplomatic agenda and discusses investment from the Netherlands in Ireland, including the new €200 million cheese joint venture between Glanbia Co-op and Royal A-Ware in Co Kilkenny.
