Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly

RKD is a leading international design and architecture practice with 113 years of heritage, redefining architecture through design-led solutions that balance scale with intimacy and precision with purpose. From transforming the Guinness Storehouse into the world's number one tourist attraction to designing LinkedIn's first purpose-built European headquarters, RKD delivers projects that are technically robust, visually stunning, and environmentally responsible.

With approximately 245 professionals working across seven countries and seven specialised sectors, RKD serves complex, global clients including Microsoft, Diageo, Equinix, MSD and Yahoo, thriving where ambition meets complexity across sectors that shape economies and communities; from data centres and life sciences to education, healthcare, and beyond.

David Petherbridge is RKD’s Managing Director. His practical economic sense and can‐do attitude create buildings and spaces for clients that form the physical manifestation of their organisational vision. He uses design responsibly as a force for positive change, helping clients to successfully navigate challenges in their real estate portfolios.

This is the 74th episode in the Davy podcast series ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’ with special guest David Petherbridge, Managing Director at RKD.

Neil Skeffington is the CEO and founder of Meath based Novelplast, an innovative PET plastic recycling company.  Beginning operations in late 2019, Neil’s passion for sustainability in  plastics and developing the circular economy has grown the company sales into a diverse range of industries, employing 60 people and becoming the largest PET recycling plant in Ireland by some distance. Neil has spent his career in the PET manufacturing industry both in Ireland and abroad, before setting his sights on developing recycling solutions for some of the world’s problem plastic materials.

Novelplast’s vision is to be a world leader in improving the sustainability of plastics by developing technologies that add value and create a better environment for future generations. Their process is leading the change in how polyester material is recycled and repurposed. They save 1000’s of tons of post-industrial and post - consumer pet materials  from landfill per year. The materials are cleaned and pelletised and a unique blend of additives is used to improve the mechanical and aesthetic properties of the end product, resulting in a viable alternative to using virgin PET material.Neil was an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist in 2023.

This is the 73rd episode in the Davy podcast series ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’ with special guest Neil Skeffington, CEO and Founder at Novelplast.

Colm Lyon is a payments and fintech entrepreneur with more than 30 years’ experience in financial services, spanning banking, payments infrastructure, regulation and digital transformation.
He founded Realex Payments in 2000, at an early stage of online commerce in Ireland and the UK. Realex grew rapidly alongside the rise of e-commerce and became one of Europe’s leading online payment service providers. 
By the time it was acquired by Global Payments in 2015, Realex was processing more than €35 billion in transactions annually for over 14,000 customers, including airlines, insurers, telecoms providers and major consumer brands.
Following the acquisition, Realex Financial Services was spun out and remained under Colm’s ownership. That business later became Fire Financial Services, now trading as Fire, and focuses on helping businesses digitise how they get paid and pay out. The company supports services including euro and sterling bank transfers, foreign exchange, open banking payments and debit card issuing, all built on its own in-house platform. Today, Fire processes billions in payments each year for thousands of business customers, including large financial institutions.
Alongside building businesses, Colm has been closely involved in shaping the wider payments ecosystem, and also invests in Irish and UK startups through his family office.

This is the 72nd episode in the Davy podcast series ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’ with special guest Colm Lyon, CEO and Founder at fire.com.

Village Vets is Ireland’s largest privately owned, vet-led veterinary group, delivering premium companion-animal care to communities across the country.
Founded on clinical excellence and local ownership, Village Vets has grown into a market-leading organisation caring for hundreds of thousands of pets every year, supported by a nationwide team of veterinary surgeons, nurses, animal care teams and specialists.
Alongside its clinics, Village Vets owns and operates Pawprints Crematorium, Ireland’s largest pet cremation service, supporting both the public and veterinary practices nationwide.

Charles Cosgrave is the CEO and owner of Village Vets, and one of the most experienced vet-entrepreneurs in the Irish veterinary sector. He began his veterinary career in a busy small-animal hospital in Limerick, followed by a year in a high-volume multisite practice in the UK, before joining Village Vets in 2003 — a business founded in 1980 by his father, Karl, who is also a Vet. Today, he leads the strategic development of the group, with responsibility for business growth, clinic expansion, and long-term platform strategy.

This is the 71st episode in the Davy podcast series ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’ with special guest Charles Cosgrave, CEO and Owner of Village Vets.

In 2020, Niamh Tallon co-founded Her Sport, a pioneering social enterprise dedicated to increasing visibility, participation and equality for girls and women in sport. Combining her background in business and marketing with a lifelong passion for sport, she recognised a significant gap in media coverage and role-modelling for female athletes in Ireland.

Rather than simply study the issue, she acted, alongside Mohammed Mahomed as her co-founder, building Her Sport into a dynamic platform offering digital content, educational workshops and community partnerships aimed at changing culture and retaining girls in sport.

Under Niamh’s leadership, Her Sport has grown its digital community significantly, expanded into schools and clubs with education programmes and forged collaborations with brands and organisations committed to driving gender equity in sport. She has been outspoken about the dropout rates of girls in sport and the need to amplify the female athlete voice.

This is the 70th episode in the Davy podcast series ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’ with special guest Niamh Tallon, Founder & CEO of Her Sport.