That Great Business Show

€50 MILLION.
MULTIPLE ACQUISITIONS.
ONE PLAN TO BUILD IRELAND’S FIRST LUXURY EMPIRE.

This is not a startup story. This is a land grab. Ashley McDonnell — back on That Great Business Show and one of the tribe since Episode 181 — is building Vyko Group to buy, scale and globalise Irish fashion, beauty and luxury brands. She’s not launching a brand. She’s building a portfolio to compete with the biggest players in the world.

From working on Europe’s biggest IPO at Paco Rabanne owners Puig (how she got to work there is one of the best stories...)… to scanning 500 Irish brands… to lining up her first acquisitions — this is one of the most ambitious Irish business plays in years.

And we’ve been following it from the start.
In this episode:
Why Ireland has never built a luxury group. Tony O'Reilly did try (Waterford Wedgewood), Don Carroll (Carroll's cigarettes) did try. As the Americans say, 'Third time is a charm'??
How Vyko plans to scale Irish brands globally
The smell of money Why fragrances are the secret weapon
The real power of negotiating as a group
What she learned inside LVMH, Dior, Google and Puig - she really has served her time

Sponsored by another great brand name, De Facto Shaving Oil
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ON Episode 293 of That Great Business Show, recorded at the RDS Finding Common Ground Festival, Conall Ó Móráin speaks with Enda Buckley of Carbery Group.

This is not a farming story.
This is an energy story.
A profitability story.
A “what are we waiting for?” story.

Denmark is moving fast on biomethane — turning farm waste into gas and aiming for self-sufficiency by 2030.
Ireland?
We have the farms.
We have the feedstock.
We have the need.
But, according to Enda, we do not yet have the push.
And that is only the start.

In this episode:
Why sustainability-focused farmers were about 28% more profitable
How “green poo” could replace imported soya
Why grass could become a human food ingredient
The parish-level biorefinery model that could transform rural economies
How biodiversity may become a revenue stream, not a regulation
Why Ireland risks missing a major energy opportunity

This is about turning what we already have into something far more valuable.
This is real business.
Brought to you, as always, by De Facto Shaving Oil — the world’s finest shaving oil. Not a beard oil. It’s for shaving any and all of your bits.
DeFactoShave.com
Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com
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What keeps a GP practice running?
Not just doctors. Not just nurses.

It's the same for any business.
Cashflow. Systems. People who actually make it all work.

On Episode 292 of That Great Business Show, Conall Ó Móráin speaks with Rachel Bothwell, founder of GP Practice Ally — a business now supporting up to 75% of GP practices in Ireland.

This is a story about stepping in when everything could have fallen apart — and building something that became essential infrastructure.
Find out:
How one small Irish company became critical to GP practices nationwide
What actually breaks inside a GP business (and how to fix it)
Why cashflow — not medicine — is often the biggest risk
What every SME can learn from running a “mission-critical” business

This is real business — messy, essential, and closer to home than you think.

Brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil. DeFactoShave.com.

business ireland, SME ireland, healthcare business, GP practices, entrepreneurship ireland, cashflow, small business growth, operations, scaling business, Irish business podcast

Timestamps
00:00 Intro — “75% of GPs??”
01:20 How Rachel stepped in
05:10 What actually goes wrong in GP practices
10:40 Cashflow crises nobody talks about
15:30 Scaling to national level
20:10 Lessons for every SME
25:00 Hire in a heartbeat
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“WHY IRELAND CAN’T BUILD HOUSES… EVEN WHEN WE HAVE THE MONEY”

Episode 291 — David Ward, Founder, Ward Personnel
Ireland has the money.
Ireland has the demand.
Ireland has the plans.
So why can’t we build houses?
On this episode of That Great Business Show, Conall Ó Móráin goes straight to the front line of Ireland’s construction crisis — with David Ward, founder of Ward Personnel, a €40M+ business supplying workers across Ireland and Europe.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
We don’t have enough brickies, sparks, or chippies
We’re competing with Europe for workers — and losing
Irish builders are now exporting their expertise… just to survive

And here’s the kicker:
Is this actually a growth story… or proof the system is broken?
David explains:
Why Ireland cannot hit housing targets (no matter what politicians promise)
Why Polish workers are no longer coming
The real reason apprenticeships collapsed
Why Irish construction firms are now following Big Tech across Europe
Plus:
The chaos of running a 600+ workforce across multiple countries
The truth about “messers” on site
And why “compliance” is the only thing keeping the whole thing from falling apart
This is not theory.
This is the reality of building — or not building — Ireland.
Brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil — the world’s best shaving oil. Not a beard oil. It’s for shaving. DeFactoShave.com.
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Welcome to Episode 290 of That Great Business Show.

This is not a comfortable listen.
Ireland — the poster child of global success — is quietly sitting on a knife edge. A handful of multinationals are driving the tax take. One peptide. One state in America. One shock away from a very rude awakening.

My guest is Neil McDonnell, CEO of ISME — and he’s not here to play nice.
We get into:
The dangerous illusion of “paradox of plenty”
€340 BILLION sitting idle while SMEs starve
Why government knows the risks — and still does nothing
The tax system that punishes Irish entrepreneurs but rolls out the red carpet for outsiders
And the simple, practical fixes that could change everything — if anyone had the courage
This is real business.
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Brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil — the world’s best shaving oil. Not a beard oil. A shaving oil. Made in Mayo. Sold worldwide. DeFactoShave.com.
Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.