That Great Business Show

Twenty minutes. €100,000 cash. No equity handed over.That got our attention.Barry Sherry and his co-founder built their Monaghan-based energy business into a 20-person company working North and South.Then Barry spotted the Stelios North–South Business Cooperation Awards in his local newspaper.He reckoned they ticked the boxes.The application took about 20 minutes.Then came a Zoom. Then another Zoom — this one with Stelios Haji-Ioannou.Then, on a Saturday evening, Barry opened an email telling him they had won €100,000.And there’s another twist.Not long afterwards the company was acquired.Did winning the Stelios Award help?Barry says the eventual buyer had seen the business in the media, knew about the award and asked them about it. This is a very practical episode for any SME doing business North and South.Barry explains:exactly how they appliedwhat Stelios appeared to like about the businesswhy having a founder on each side of the border helpedwhy he sees Northern Ireland as an opportunity rather than an export markethow they built a business capable of being sold only three years after startingwhy clean management accounts made four-month due diligence possibleand the bizarre problem of people working on one side of the border being refused mortgages on the other.And there is €500,000 in cash available again in 2026.The 2026 Awards have one €150,000 Gold Award, two €100,000 Silver Awards and six €25,000 Bronze Awards. Applications close 7 September 2026, with the winners announced at Castle Leslie on 28 October. Barry’s advice?Apply.The worst they can say is no.The best they can say is €150,000.That Great Business Show is brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil — the world’s finest shaving oil, made in Mayo, sold worldwide.

George Clooney helped make the coffee pod glamorous.Unfortunately, the estimated 30 billion pods going into landfill every year are considerably less glamorous.Sofia Kalfa spent almost 20 years working with companies including Dell, PepsiCo, Wayfair and CRH. She then brought that corporate experience into Fzin Coffee, a growing Cork business taking on some of the biggest names in the global coffee industry.Fzin has developed an independently certified, bio-based and home-compostable coffee capsule that can go into a home compost heap, food bin, flowerpot or garden rather than joining the plastic and aluminium mountain.But this is not simply a sustainability story.Sofia explains:How Fzin built an 80-plus-product coffee and beverage portfolio.Why a customer told her that Fzin needed to be available through Musgrave.How she followed up through LinkedIn and effectively told Musgrave: “You have to list us.”Why seven business awards changed the type of people visiting the Fzin website.How a UK customer arrived shortly afterwards.Why she rejected the traditional van-and-sales-representative model.How she plans to build a national and international commission-based sales network.Why Fzin has avoided outside investment.How hotels could dramatically reduce the waste created by in-room coffee machines.There is also palm-oil-free drinking chocolate, coffee syrups moved from plastic into glass, grants, exports, rural Ireland, a Cork-via-Greece accent and a small Irish business refusing to wait for the giant competitors to change first.In HIRE IN A HEARTBEAT, Sofia chooses former Glanbia Group Managing Director and current CRH board member Siobhán Talbot — and offers her a completely blank sheet of paper.That Great Business Show with Conall O Morain is sponsored by De Facto® Shaving Oil, the world’s best all-natural shaving oil. No cans. No unnecessary waste. Made in Mayo and sold to the world.Listen on Acast, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts — and subscribe to the show on YouTube.

Vineta Bajaj interviews for another job every year.She is also Group CFO of Holland & Barrett.That may sound like a dangerous combination, but Vineta says interviewing is a muscle. Let it go soft and the day you genuinely need another job, your first few interviews will be dreadful.If you are in the corporate world, or want to understand that world, this is an essential episode.Born and raised in Limerick, she finished school at 16, entered the University of Limerick before she was old enough for the pub, taught piano and developed a teenage fascination with trading options in oil refinery companies. As you do.Since then, she has worked with KPMG, Kerry Group, Ocado and Rohlik Group before taking charge of the finances at Holland & Barrett, a company with over 1,200 stores globally.Vineta explains why you should never say “that’s not my job”, why “busy” often means ineffective, how she told a CFO that she wanted his job, and why you must ask directly for the career you want. She also reveals the extraordinary full-circle moment when she hired two of the men who once hired and managed her.Hire in a Heartbeat: Vineta attempts to dodge the compulsory name, admits her admiration for Michael O’Leary and ultimately chooses something more valuable—a leader with a genuine founder mindset.With thanks to De Facto Shaving Oil, the longstanding sponsor of That Great Business Show.

SQUID has raised €10 million, reached almost 4,000 reward locations and now wants to turn loyalty points into real spending power.€85 billion is spent every year across the UK and Ireland trying to influence where consumers spend their money. Irish loyalty company SQUID has a rather disruptive suggestion: stop spending so much trying to buy people’s attention and put more of that money directly into their pockets.ON Episode 303 of That Great Business Show with Conall Ó Móráin, SQUID CEO Matthew Coffey and Chief of Staff Leah Deasy, explain how the company grew from personally pitching independent coffee shops to operating across almost 4,000 locations. SQUID has raised €10 million over time, employs approximately 28 people and says more than 1% of the UK and Irish population now uses its platform.We examine:Why SQUID believes rewards can outperform conventional advertisingHow three million rewards have already been claimedWhy free coffee remains a surprisingly powerful business toolHow the company makes moneyThe payment partnerships that could unlock European expansionIts planned €10 million-plus Series AWhether Revolut, Stripe or another payments giant could eventually come knockingHIRE IN A HEARTBEAT:Leah chooses Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins.Matthew chooses Stripe founders Patrick and John Collison.Sponsored by De Facto Shaving Oil. The world’s best all-natural shaving oil. Not a beard oil. Made in Mayo, sold worldwide. DeFactoShave.com

The banks said no. The ramen got funded.On Episode 302 of That Great Business Show with Conall Ó Móráin, we follow the money. Real money. SME money. The stuff every founder wants, needs, chases, curses and occasionally dreams about.Niall O’Grady, CEO of Linked Finance, explains how the company has put more than €400m into more than 5,000 Irish SMEs — and why speed matters when a business owner spots an opportunity. With him is Kevin Hughes, founder of Nomo Ramen in Dublin, who left a tech career, spent years obsessing over ramen, made hundreds of test bowls at home, was told “no” plenty of times, and still built the business.This is not theory.This is not “thought leadership.”This is money, noodles, risk, graft, landlords, lenders and the glorious madness of Irish SMEs.Hire in a Heartbeat:Kevin chooses Ivan Orkin, the New Yorker who became a ramen success in Tokyo and helped open up the secretive world of ramen recipes.Niall chooses John Teeling — and, even better, his grandmother Winifred Clifford, who ran a business in Clones and could apparently negotiate the legs off Hector Grey’s table.Sponsored by De Facto® the world's best all-natural shaving oil - shaving foam cans are sent to landfill. It's the law. De Facto is 100% recyclable. DeFactoShave.comListen in. Subscribe. Share it with an SME owner who needs money, speed, nerve, or a bowl of ramen.

Would you pay 80 cent for a cube of ice?Richie French, founder of The LXRY ICE Collection, says ice is no longer just frozen water. For premium bars, hotels, restaurants and events, it can be a luxury ingredient: crystal-clear, slow-melting, brandable and highly photographable.Conall asks whether this is serious business or a cocktail of nonsense. Richie explains the science, the margins, the branded ice stamps, the family business behind Pure Irish Ice, and why a 26-year-old Irish founder is thinking about ice 24/7.BTW, did you know certain supermarkets IMPORT ice from the UK?? Can you guess which ones?Richie’s Hire in a Heartbeat: Majken Bech-Bailey and Jordan Bailey, formerly of Aimsir.Sponsored by De Facto® the world's best all-natural shaving oil - shaving foam cans are sent to landfill. It's the law. De Facto is 100% recyclable. DeFactoShave.com

Episode 300: Emma Jane Clarke, Martinstown Lodge: Leadership Coaching With Horses, No Saddles, No Cowboys, No HidingWhat happens when a senior executive walks into an arena with a horse and discovers the horse is not impressed by their title, their car, their bonus, their LinkedIn bio or their carefully manufactured air of command?That is the business Emma Jane Clarke has built at Martinstown Lodge in Co. Meath.No horse riding. No cowboy tricks. No corporate away-day nonsense with beanbags, beach balls or frostbite. This is equine-centred leadership development, where horses are used to help leaders and teams see how they really show up.Emma Jane is no flake. Far from it. She was a senior leader in a government agency, managed large teams and multimillion-euro portfolios, and before that was the only female harvesting foreman in the UK forestry sector. Then, after a major accident left her in a wheelchair, she went after the dream: a farm, horses and a business helping people get out of their own way.On Episode 300 of That Great Business Show with Conall O Morain, Emma Jane explains:Why horses are brutally honest leadership mirrors Why senior managers cannot bluff a horse Why your thoughts are not necessarily reality Why checking in too much can interrupt the flow of a team Why confidence, presence and trust matter more than title Why some CEOs need less PowerPoint and more paddock Why no one, absolutely no one, gets to play cowboyShe also explains the business model, the client base, the expansion potential, the international ambition and why this strange-sounding idea is already working with serious companies.And in Hire in a Heartbeat, Emma Jane chooses Steve Bartlett, Jay Shetty and, best of all, her 89-year-old mother Dorothy Clarke, who recently started her own podcast. That is competition. Family competition. The worst kind.Brought to you, as always, by De Facto Shaving Oil. The world’s best shaving oil. Not a beard oil. DeFactoShave.com

She Got Into Tesco... Then One Rogue Zero Nearly Blew It Up | Erica Sheehan, HomespunReal business. Real lessons. Listen to us — or learn the hard way.Everybody loves a success story.Few sees the panic behind it.This week on That Great Business Show, Erica Sheehan returns three years after her first appearance to reveal what really happened behind Homespun's growth.The headlines look great:• Tesco listings• SuperValu success• Amazon UK sales• New product launches• Growing retail footprintThe reality?• Five years searching for the right manufacturer• A supplier pulling out after months of development work• A coconut oil shortage threatening production (Monaghan seems to be a good source of coconut oil!)• Thousands of online orders arriving overnight after one influencer mention• A Tesco launch nearly derailed because of a single rogue digit in a barcodeThis is entrepreneurship without the Instagram filter.Erica also reveals how a chance encounter in Avoca led her to the manufacturer who finally cracked the code, why Amazon is far harder to sell on than most people imagine, and the advice she received from the late, great Ray Coyle of Tayto.Sponsored by De Facto® the world's best all-natural shaving oil — shaving foam cans are sent to landfill. It's the law. De Facto is 100% recyclable. DeFactoShave.com.HIRE IN A HEARTBEATErica's picks:• Katie McNally (Craigavon) — content creator who helps bring the Homespun brand to life online.• Ian Dobbie — veteran food industry advisor and mentor whose experience has helped Erica navigate growth and avoid costly mistakes.

They built a fried chicken restaurant. Then accidentally built a sauce empire.Most couples argue about whose turn it is to empty the dishwasher.Sofie Rooney and Garrett FitzGerald argue about chicken.And somehow that turned into Chimac — one of Ireland's most talked-about restaurant brands and now a fast-growing food business stocked in Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Selfridges, Whole Foods and beyond.On this episode:How a trip to South Korea changed their livesWhy Sophie got scurvy from eating too much fried chicken (true!)The restaurant that nearly broke themThe US distributor disaster that left them strandedHow they went from packing sauce bottles in their sitting room to exporting internationallyWhy food businesses are brutally difficultWhy they still think it's worth itAnd yes, Garrett also explains why Ireland should become a global ham superpower.This is business at its messiest, tastiest and most entertaining.Their 'hire in a heartbeat'? Sophie went for Fiona Fitzpatrick, founder of Brand Growth Heroes and former Nestlé, Gü and Japoni executive. Sophie describes her as one of the most insightful consumer-brand strategists she has encountered and would hire her to help Chimac scale internationally.Garrett chose William Exner, a former Chimac team member from Brazil. Garrett highlighted his intelligence, work ethic, adaptability and positive attitude, describing him as someone he would hire again immediately. Brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil. The world's best shaving oil. Not a beard oil. A shaving oil. DeFactoShave.comOur Gentleman’s (and ladies’) Agreement is simple: we do the work, you hit subscribe. Fair exchange.