That Great Business Show

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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Ireland talks a big game on energy.
Wind.
Net zero.
Security of supply.
But scratch the surface… and the picture looks a lot less comfortable.
On Episode 289 of That Great Business Show, Conall Ó Móráin sits down with Duncan Osborne, CEO of Calor Gas Ireland, to ask a very simple question:
Are we actually prepared — or just pretending to be?
This is a hard conversation about:
Ireland’s reliance on imported energy
The reality behind renewable targets
Storage — or lack of it
Infrastructure delays
And what happens if supply is disrupted
Because here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Ireland is one of the most energy-dependent countries in Europe.
And very few people are saying it out loud.
This is not theory.
This is not policy waffle.
This is real-world energy — from someone operating inside the system.
Brought to you by De Facto Shaving Oil — the world’s best shaving oil. Not a beard oil. DeFactoShave.com.
Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone talks about marketing.
Nobody talks about the warehouse.

And yet the warehouse is where e-commerce businesses either scale… or collapse.
You can build the most beautiful website in the world.
Spend a fortune on advertising.
Drive traffic through Shopify, Amazon, TikTok.
But if your warehouse can’t keep up?
You’re finished.
Orders late.
Customers furious.
Margins gone.

On Episode 288 of That Great Business Show, Conall Ó Móráin talks to Ciaran Crean, co-founder of WaveOMS and co-owner of MicksGarage.com, one of Ireland’s biggest online retailers.
Ciaran lives in the engine room of online retail — the messy, chaotic, expensive part that nobody puts on the glossy marketing slides.
And the numbers are eye-watering.

One company using his system cut warehouse staff from 6 to 2 and saved £8,000 every single month.
But the real shock?
Many warehouses in 2026 still operate like this:
• orders printed on paper
• workers walking the floor ticking boxes
• labels printed manually
• mistakes annoying 2–3% of customers
Yes. Really.
In this episode:
• The hidden chaos inside many warehouses
• Why most retailers underestimate logistics
• How bad warehouse systems destroy margins
• The critical role of barcodes in e-commerce
• Why efficiency beats marketing in online retail
• The one mistake Irish businesses keep making

If you sell anything online — or plan to — this conversation might save you a fortune.
That Great Business Show is proudly supported by De Facto Shaving Oil.
Not beard oil.
Shaving oil.
For shaving any and all of your bits.
DeFactoShave.com

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Most people think Olympic champions love sport.

Colin Jackson says something shocking on Episode 287 of That Great Business Show with Conall Ó Móráin.
He admits he didn’t even want to be in front of the camera… and he doesn’t really like sport the way people think he does.
Instead we talk about:
• how dreaming creates opportunity
• why aligning with winners matters
• the brutal lesson he learned at the Olympics
• why confidence can destroy you
• the real difference between champions and the rest of us
• what business leaders can learn from elite athletes

Jackson also tells the extraordinary story of crashing Daley Thompson’s Porsche and what the Olympic legend taught him about life.
This conversation was recorded live at the National Concert Hall with thanks to the Welsh Office at the British Embassy in Dublin.

Sponsored by De Facto Shaving Oil — the world’s best shaving oil. Not beard oil. For shaving all your bits.
They back us. You back them.
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Our Gentleman’s Agreement:
We do the work. You hit subscribe. Fair exchange.
Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most business owners think profit means success.
It doesn’t.

ON Episode 286 of That Great Business Show, Conall Ó Móráin sits down with Caroline Kirrane, CFA, former Central Bank economist, and the person Irish executives call when they realise they’ve been nodding at spreadsheets they don’t understand.

This episode explains, in plain English:
• Why profit is not cash
• How fast growth can bankrupt you
• The silent danger of “bad revenue”
• Why Ryanair’s ruthless simplicity is a masterclass in strategy
• The real reason businesses run out of money while sales are booming

If you run a business in Ireland, the UK or anywhere with invoices and overdrafts, this episode could save you.

Sponsored by De Facto Shaving Oil — made in Mayo, sold to the world.
Find all episodes at www.ThatGreatBusinessShow.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.