Episode 60 That Great Business Show, Paul Galvin talks everything but football, Des McCarthy, MicroFinance Ireland has plans, Rosemary Steen, CEO Design & Crafts Council Ireland, designing 'timber' electricity grid pylons

That Great Business Show

2.00" Paul Galvin, Kerry GAA legend, as you've never heard him before. He tells how his continuing 8 year collaboration with Dunnes Stores started, how he hand delivered his autobiography to Dunnes supremo Margaret Heffernan. After ten years of teaching he grew tired of the repetition, he was no longer enthused. He was, however, always enthused by design, even a simple Mitre football he looked at as a 'lovely object of design'. He says he's probably a frustrated architect and he has a BIG interest in 'bio-architecture', something he learnt about from a Netflix series called 'Abstract' and Israeli architect called Neri Oxman. based at MIT. He looks at stadia on Google Maps, and draws inspiration from their beautiful shapes.

He he makes a connection between the GAA and Dunnes Stores, as part of the Irish cultural heritage. The first connection was made when he sent his book, 'In my own words' to GAA fan Margaret Heffernan on the instigation of Irish Independent journalist Bairbre Power.

Comparing Paul Galvin with another Dunnes Stores brand, Paul Costello, Paul G. says he has no plans to expand outside men's clothing and footwear, where he says there's plenty of space to expand. However he does mention 3D mugs and references Kerry based 3D printers WAZP who previously joined TeamGBS.

19.00" Paul talks about 'his club', his newly launched 'side hustle', the Keohane Athletic Club. He explains how the concept works and how GAA clubs may be able to make money from selling Keohane designs to club members.

Another, recent, source of inspiration for Paul is the art of former Roscommon GAA player, turned artist, Neil Patrick Collins.

His 'hire in a heartbeat'? Ashley McDonnell of Barcelona based Puig the he met through film maker Perry Ogden. Find out why.

And 'Ireland's most bearded man', Paul, has some very nice things to say about podcast sponsor, De Facto Shave.

33.00" Des McCarthy, CEO of MicroFinance Ireland wants micro-businesses, (sub 10 employees, sub €2m turnover and/or self-employed) to know that MFI has cheaper money available, to a maximum of €25,000 in unsecured lending. But first he discusses poor financial literacy in Ireland amongst both small and medium sized firms. Mentoring is part of the lending package, paid for by MFI. Covid loan performance is better than expected, he says. He was very encouraged that MFI saw a lot of new companies being started during Covid, across all sectors. He explains how they deal with unsecured loans. He also talks about MFI's future. His 'hire in a heartbeat'? Elwin Groenevelt CEO of Netherlands based Qredits

58.00" Rosemary Steen, CEO, Design and Craft Council of Ireland.

On Episode 15 of TGBS Tony Smurfit referenced the number of designers that his company, Smurfit Kappa has inhouse. Rosemary makes the pitch for other businesses to hire more designers, 'good for business'. She discusses 'Pylon of the Month' . According to a Grant Thornton report design employment could recognise significantly, by up to 40k, by 2025. She explains what supports the sector needs to ensure this growth. She tells us about what design did to an incinerator in Denmark.

Her 'hire in a heartbeat', an incredible woman called Teresa Elder, former Vodafone Ireland CEO

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