Richard Curran is a journalist, broadcaster and author. He is the presenter of The Business radio show on RTE Radio One and also Dragons Den on RTE Television. He is a columnist with the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent.Richard has been a business journalist for 25 years and is a former deputy editor of The Sunday Business Post and former business editor of the Irish Independent. He has co-written two books, one on Irish entrepreneurs and the other on the collapse of Irish Nationwide Building Society. He has also made several television documentaries for RTE including, Future Shock: Property Crash in 2007 and The Battle For Rural Ireland in 2015.
Show more
Graham Byrne is MD of Cardinal Capital. With over 20 years financial services industry, Graham has been directly involved in Irish SME’s which have supplied goods and services in Ireland and overseas. The largest concentration of Graham’s involvement is in providing funding directly to Irish SME’s.
In 2005, Graham started Bibby Financial Services Ireland (BFS). In that period up to 2013, BFS Ireland provided over 200m in funding, serviced over 500 customers and was responsible for maintaining and creating over 5,000 jobs. BFS Ireland was award winning in the industry and won business of the year 2012 and 2013. Graham then took up the Chief Commercial Officer role for the European region tasked with restructuring 14 operating companies to increase customer service delivery and increase availability of credit to EU SME’s. Graham successfully started new businesses in Czech, Slovakia and the Netherlands. The business grew to reach 2,500 clients providing over 900m of funding to clients.
In 2016, Graham joined Cardinal Capital Group in Ireland to create a new funding force in the Irish market for SME’s. Their 3 year plan is to deploy 600m of credit into the Irish market by way of debt to 500 businesses. The vision for Cardinal is to set up the newest business banking force directly to the SME market.
Pat has nearly 50 years of experience in the hotel industry, having embarked upon his career in 1969 with Ryan Hotels plc. He left Ryan’s Hotel plc in 1989 to join Jurys Hotel Group plc as General Manager of its flagship Dublin hotel, the Ballsbridge Hotel. He was appointed Operations Director and to the Main Board of Jurys Hotel Group plc in 1994 and, subsequently, had responsibility for the integration of the Doyle Hotel Group following the acquisition of that company by Jurys in 1999. In 2000, he became Chief Executive Officer of Jurys Doyle Hotel Group plc, a position he held until 2006. Pat then worked as an independent consultant until August 2007. Pat founded Dalata Hotel Group Ltd in February 2007 and became Chief Executive Officer of the company in August 2007. Dalata Hotel Group plc listed on both Dublin and London Stock Exchanges in March 2014. He is a non-executive director of a number of private companies. He was appointed Deputy President of IBEC in September 2018 and will take up the role of President in September 2019 (Irish Business and Employers Confederation) Pat has held a number of non-executive positions within the hospitality and other industries, including state and public company entities. He was formerly a director of EBS Building Society, Greencore Group plc and Whitfield Private Hospital Waterford. Pat has served as National President of the Irish Hotels Federation, was a Member of the National Tourism Council (Ireland) and a Member of the Irish Tourism Review Group (2003).
Show more
David Meade is a world-class international corporate speaker, performer and TV personality with a renowned reputation for helping organisations work more effectively. His mindreading, and mentalist skills impress and baffle worldwide audiences making his entertainment and keynotes hard to forget. His sought-after services are applicable to any industry, engagement, or occasion. David always guarantees a highly energetic, fun and engaging session.
Show more
Emmanuel has joined daa 6 months ago to manage all assets and related
maintenance services for the Dublin and Cork airports.
Emmanuel has joined daa 6 months ago to manage all assets and related
maintenance services for the Dublin and Cork airports.
He has 20 years experience in Procurement and supplier management
accorss various industries (Telco, financial services, FMCG.)
Diarmuid Murphy is the Simply Better Brand Manager for Dunnes Stores. With over 25 years of retail experience he joined the company in July 2000 managing the food hall in their St. Stephen Green store. Since then Diarmuid has a number of years buying experience across different food categories within Dunnes Stores and now leads their award winning Simply Better food collection since it was relaunched in 2013.
Simply Better is their premium award winning food brand presented as part of the Dunnes Stores private label brands. In 2018 & 2019 Simply Better won the ‘Own Label Brand of the Year’ Award at the Food & Drink Business Awards and was heralded as the Christmas Brand of the Year at the Irish Quality Food Awards having won six out of the seven Christmas Q Awards.
Miena’s Nougat is a soft, slightly chewy, not too sweet nougat, packed with fruits and nuts to give it, its distinctive taste. Miena Started the business in 2012, making nougat in her home kitchen and sold it at Marley Park on Saturdays. In 2013, she converted her large garage into a purpose build nougat kitchen and launched Miena’s Nougat at Gifted that Christmas.
In 2014 Avoca was the first of many retailers to stock the product. At Bloom 2016 she met the Simply Better team and it was the beginning of the business’ transformation. By September that year Miena’s nougat was available in a few Dunnes Stores, and within a year we started producing nougat under the Simply Better Brand, and before the year end our nougat was available nationwide. The company has grown significantly since then and has won a contract with Harrods in the UK.
Grant Gilmore is a senior Operations Manager with InterTradeIreland, the cross-border Trade and Business Development Body.
His current remit is managing Go2Tender, which is the bodies award winning support programme for small companies seeking to take advantage of the All Island Public Procurement market. Grant’s previous roles include managing the BREXIT Advisory Service, delivering collaborative programmes and developing cross border business networks.
Prior to joining InterTradeIreland, Grant worked in Local Government development services and manufacturing/Textile industry.
Rose O’Sullivan is an energetic and dynamic chartered accountant who works as a Strategic Financial Analyst with Fexco specialising in M&A, Innovation and commercial modelling for new products. With experience in Healthcare, renewables and financial services, Rose is passionate about learning and sharing her skills and knowledge with others both professionally and through voluntary community work.
Show more
Gráinne Lennon works as a collaborations broker with InterTradeIreland. Her responsibilities include running the Horizon 2020 north/south support programme, secretariat for the US-Ireland R&D partnership and exploring new opportunities for all island and cross border collaboration that will result in mutual economic benefit for Ireland and Northern Ireland. Prior to this, she managed InterTradeIreland’s Funding for Growth programme, which aims to assist companies become investor and funding ready. Gráinne has a wide range of experience gained from working in an executive capacity with a number of SME’s across the island. Her skills stretch from business planning to raising finance and financial control. She has worked with early stage/start up businesses and more established ventures. Gráinne is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland.
Show more
Declan is co-founder of the Hatchery of Ideas, who have launched some truly innovative companies. In 2016 Declan set up Zoan BioMed, specialising in medical-grade coral material for bone healing and repair.
Zoan's sustainably reared coral self-assemble mineral rich and integrally strong structures, and do so to a natural blueprint. This blueprint mirrors that of human bone making the coral ideal as a bone grafting material. The biomemitic capabilities of the technology platform, to bio-engineer a self assembly process, are truly exciting. The company is guided by the sector’s move to increasingly incorporate biologic solutions for better patient outcomes, shorter hospital stays and faster healing rates.
Zoan Biomed was awarded Emerging MedTech Company of the Year, 2017 by the Irish Medtech Association and chosen as a Best Emerging New Businesses in the SFA Business Awards 2018.
Other companies from the Hatchery of Ideas include Connemara Food Ventures, a food ingredients company specialising in functionality and wellness and Advance Science.
Killian is the Head of SME Banking at PTSB. He is a business lending specialist, having previously held senior roles with AIB and the National Asset Management Agency. In addition to financing business, Killian has specialised in strategic planning, credit risk and operational excellence. He guest lectures at post-graduate level on value generation and economic activity. Killian is a Certified Bank Director and holds a Bachelor of Finance Services Degree (UCD), an Executive MBA (Ashridge Business School UK) and a Diploma in Organisational Behaviour (IMI).
Show more