"I don't believe we can trust the gambling industry." As his book on corporate culture See-Saw is published, Fintan Drury looks back on his own career and his time on the board of Anglo Irish bank and chair of Paddy Power. It has been an extraordinary career and in this interview with Dion Fanning, he discusses representing Brian Kerr, his early career in journalism and why his career left him with a feeling of angst.
“We need to get out of this immediate impact – my house, my farm, my car – and start thinking about the climate crisis for what it is: A global threat, very much like coronavirus”
The past week has thrown more information at us about the accelerating climate change crisis than we can perhaps handle. To make sense of it – and figure out what to do next – John Reynolds, who has covered some of the most innovative Irish businesses in this space for The Currency, suggested a podcast with our Chief Economics Writer Stephen Kinsella, Innovation and Disruption Columnist Sinéad O'Sullivan and Senior Correspondent Thomas Hubert. This is how the discussion went.
Jacob Claflin spent his career traveling in the payments industry, both between companies and countries. In 2016, he decided he was finished working for somebody else, and founded Cambrist, an Irish fintech specialising in streamlining cross border payments. Now, the American-born chief executive has his eyes set on international expansion.
In this podcast with Devin Sean Martin, Claflin talks about his own entrepreneurial journey, and how a trip around Europe changed his life. From winning customers to securing finance, he talks about his battle to get his start-up off the ground and explains the impact of Covid on his business.
John Connell's 'The Cow Book' was a critical and popular success. The second part of the trilogy 'The Running Book' examines the interior life of the runner and its similarities to that of a writer. Running also keeps Connell in the present and in this interview with Dion Fanning he talks about success, solitude and the reason that people need to keep talking about mental health.
Thomas Ennis believes that the city centre will rebound strongly as restrictions ease and vaccinations increase – it is why the retailer opened yet another city centre convenience store just last week. In a podcast with Ian Kehoe, the Dublin businessman, who has a network of 12 stores in the heart of Dublin, explains the rationale for his optimism, but also outlines his fears about the rise in crime in Dublin. Ennis also reveals how he built a chain of seven Spar stores, three Maxol petrol stations, a post office and a Fudi outlet from scratch, and talks about navigating the group through the crisis. He also reflects on his own business philosophy, the future of retail and why he would not like to have worked for himself in the early days of his career.
Fabien Peyaud pitched the idea of Herdwatch to his employer, farm employment co-op FRS, a decade ago. Investing in a cloud-based farm management app was a gamble at the time, but the product is now a market leader across the UK and Ireland and preparing to launch on the continent. With ever-growing compliance obligations and major environmental challenges for agriculture, the French-born chief executive expects the Co Tipperary firm to hit 50 employees this year.
“If there is going to be a level playing field, it needs to be level across all different aspects. There is no doubt that big countries have lots of advantages over smaller countries like Ireland.”
As managing partner of KPMG, Seamus Hand is at the coalface of Irish business, working with both multinationals and domestic companies. In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, he explains why Ireland is taking the right approach to corporate tax reform and gives his outlook on the future of the office in a post-pandemic world. The accountant also talks about the future of aviation and retail, and reveals why he is concerned that the recovery could be hampered by businesses being unable to access the right pool of talent.
Jenni Timony started her first catering company at the age of 18 and grew it to turn over €3.5 million with 35 staff – only to face liquidation during the 2008 crash. By contrast, the more recent Covid-19 crisis has been positive for her new business, FitPink. Timony’s brand of comfortable activewear has been surfing the wave of online shopping and lockdown fashion. She tells Thomas Hubert about the lessons she learned from her first venture, her plans for expansion and why she never considered locating her business anywhere but in Donegal.
“We have the greatest anti doping scandal of all time in Russia. It was not a sport that was organising that, that was an institutionalised system, within a country”
Irishman James Fitzgerald is managing the World Anti Doping Agency's (WADA) communications. With the Olympics taking place behind closed doors, it will be a trying time for competitors. Many are also critical of WADA and want more to be done to cut out doping. Fitzgerald talks about the challenges of fighting a war which will never be won and defends WADA from its critics.
“So, what does that mean about our place in the world? I think the last decade has been probably a real twilight of illusions or delusions we might have had.”
Ed Brophy has served as chief of staff to a tánaiste and chief advisor to a finance minister. Having just stepped away from politics, he talts to Stephen Kinsella on the intersection of power and policy, and the crises that defined the decade: the bailout, Brexit and Covid.
Ross Frenett was always fascinated by political extremism. It led him to join the army, to work as a war correspondent, and eventually to co-found Moonshot. Moonshot monitors, analyses and influences extremist behaviour online. It uses digital ad campaigns to present political extremists with an alternative point of view. Frenett talks about life in the internet's sewer, why Ireland's extremists are idiosyncratic, Ireland's responsibility as a hub of the global internet, and how to reach those who have been sucked into conspiracy theories.
