E21 That Great Business Show, Ireland's best business podcast2 mins. Bob Hamilton, founder IrishUrns.com , Ireland's biggest urner (!). Former Bank of Ireland banker Bob explains the size of the market he's after for his bespoke Irish handcrafted cremation urns. 30,000 people 'pass' in Ireland each year, too small a market for Bob, who has his eye on the 320,000 Irish Americans who die each year. He explains the extraordinary detail and internet searches he's gone into, to find and 'talk' to that market, what he learnt from Google workshops and how he worked his website from being on page 9 of search engines to being at no. 2 or 3 on the first page. Hard work does pay off. He also talks about the 10,000 memorial trees he's planting in the Naul, in North County Dublin. Bob's choice for our 'hire in a heartbeat' slot is inspirational speaker, Simon Sinek. Listen to find out why.22 mins. Gary Stokes, CEO, Microfinance Ireland (MFI) on how much money the Government sponsored, not-for-profit, lender has to give to micro-enterprises, how they've simplified the application paperwork, why he expects thousands of small business failures post-Covid, particularly in the hospitality industry, he tells why it's cheaper to get an MFI loan from the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), how the pillar banks are not seen by him as opposition, the gap in the market for loans between €25k - €50k and why he's hire Alan (Lord) Sugar in a heartbeat. 42 mins. Orla Walsh, director Specsavers Audiology, on the very interesting partnership model pioneered by UK based Specsavers founders, Doug and Mary Perkins, how Orla transitioned from ICU nurse to running an audiology business, what ICU nurse training brings to business practices (no room for mistakes!), the fantastic entry level opportunities for school leavers within the Specsavers 'family', where you can be paid to become an audiologist and how the model encourages staff 'partners' to take on a unit of their own. Orla's 'hire in a heartbeat' is Tony Robbins whom she heard speak at the Pendulum Summit some years ago, but hasn't forgotten the experience.59 mins. Wendy Slattery, co-founder of the Beauty Buddy app, aka the TripAdvisor for beauty products. Wendy explains why she believes her app is a world-winner, what the fascinating business model is (she has micro-influencers who get paid in product for their candid reviews), she shares the secret of how they have already had 20,000 downloads of their app, what they have to pay for each download, how soon they'll reach a critical mass of users, what they'll do with the €1 million they're currently raising and why Sheryl Sandberg would be her 'heartbeat hire' and maybe the ideal investor?Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related