The Big Interview | Business Post

The Big Interview

James Ives of Xocean: ‘The ocean is an important asset to the globe; it needs to be managed’

The sailor and engineer has hit the zeitgeist by developing an unmanned surface vessel that can collect marine data for clients in the oil, gas and burgeoning renewable energy sector

The Big Interview

Mary Sadlier of Coole Swan: ‘You have to earn your right to be on the shelves’

The chief executive of Coole Swan has just started the premium liqueur in the on-trade here, while a steady distribution strategy has the product expanding state by state in America

The Big Interview

‘2023 is a pivotal year’ – Ireland’s climate tsar on how to avert environmental disaster

Marie Donnelly, chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council, on rising sea levels and why she’s ‘cautiously optimistic about agriculture’

The Big Interview

Peter Stapleton of Maples on how ‘the original disruptor’ has grown

Peter Stapleton, Ireland managing partner of international law firm Maples Group, says the corporate tax regime is only ‘one piece of the puzzle’ why firms locate here

The Big Interview

‘The customer is always right? That’s the biggest pile of shite I’ve ever heard’ – Jack McGarry of the Dead Rabbit, NYC

The maverick Irish founder of the world’s most awarded pub stands up for his staff, providing health insurance, education and a career path. But he has a zero-drinking policy, knowing only too well the addictive dangers of working in hospitality

The Big Interview

‘You’re either a doomsayer or an advocate’ – Patricia Scanlon, Ireland’s AI ambassador

Tasked with forming an artificial intelligence taskforce, SoapBox Labs founder says Ireland needs to move fast to keep up with the pace of development

The Big Interview

‘It’s not easy working a four-day week ... I’m getting better at saying no’ – Dale Whelehan, 4 Day Week Global

The behavioural scientist and chief executive of non-profit says workers can be more productive if the time they spend on the clock reduces

The Big Interview

‘Disney popped up and said, ‘Look, we’ve got Ratatouille, would you guys look at it?’’ – Colm O’Farrell, Deluxe Group

The entertainment space is on the up, but for the specialist fit-out company chair who works with some of the world’s biggest theme parks, there’s no drama

The Big Interview

‘I wanted to do something in health but I didn’t want to be a doctor’: Ochre Bio founder Jack O’Meara

The start-up’s chief executive has gone from improv comedy to pitching Silicon Valley’s elite in bid to find liver disease therapy

The Big Interview

‘I said I’d stay in the civil service a year – I left 37 years later’: Julie O’Neill, PTSB chair

The former government Secretary General Julie O’Neill on her 'encore’ role as the chairwoman of Permanent TSB after serving on the board for six years

The Big Interview

‘The tech industry is based on monetising surveillance’ – Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal

The head of a company that offers private communications unlike those owned by data-harvesting Big Tech firms, Whittaker says the famous stand she made against Google while working there has made her wary of so much power being concentrated in the hands of a few

The Big Interview

Avril Stanley: ‘I was like, okay honey, we gotta build a ship, and the ship was Body & Soul’

The founder of Body & Soul in Ireland is planning this summer’s event and says that while the festival may grow again, it will never become so big that it loses sight of what is important

The Big Interview

‘EV targets won’t be achieved without grants’ – Joe Duffy Group boss on the new reality for car sales

Gavin Hydes, chief executive of the Joe Duffy Group for the past 18 years, has built the once mid-size car dealership to a company that’s on track to exceed half a billion euro in revenues this year. His secret? Putting the customer in the driving seat

The Big Interview

‘We offer customers a crystal ball into what’s happening’ – Barry Conlon, co-founder of supply chain firm Overhaul

Overhaul, the supply chain software company that Barry Conlon co-founded, is bringing more science to a business that was traditionally more often seen as an inexact art

The Big Interview

Bus Eireann chief executive: ‘cultural mindshift needed to get people out of cars’

Stephen Kent says that weaning people away from cars and on to public transport is his main ambition

The Big Interview

‘I only see good things at the moment’ – Irish Whiskey Association chair James Doherty on a booming industry

As the value of whiskey exports exceeds €1 billion, the founder of Sliabh Liag Distillers and chair of the Irish Whiskey Association says there is more growth to come

The Big Interview

‘For our HQ, I was always going to have to be talked out of Ireland’ – Leo Sheridan, Advanced Clinical

Leo Sheridan’s Advanced Clinical, which carries out research trials on new drugs, is expanding into Ireland and the Chicago entrepreneur plans to bring the company’s new international headquarters to Dublin

The Big Interview

‘This is a zero-waste facility. Every part of the insect is valuable’ – Alvan Hunt, Hexafly

Alvan Hunt of Hexafly creates sustainable animal feed and fertiliser using flies that feed off food waste – and is closing a €40 million funding round to take his ideas even further

Editor’s picks: Sit down with the best of our big reads

Our editors handpick the best writing in this week’s Business Post – including the inside story of Budget 2023 and the man who helps Premier League stars with their money

The Big Interview

‘Kane and Sterling have been wearing this device since they were kids’ – Seán O’Connor, StatSports

The co-founder of the rising tech company StatSports spotted the potential of technology to revolutionise performance in sport and the health of athletes. Now his investors include some of the world’s biggest stars