EY Panel: Lonliness at the top

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

Down To Business with Bobby Kerr on Newstalk, sponsored by Bank of Ireland.

Emmet Oliver (0:08)

And it's that time of the year again, the announcement of this year's EY Entrepreneur of the Year competition is about two weeks away. So in the run-up, we're having some panel discussions on the life and times of being an entrepreneur. This week's topic discusses the possibility that an entrepreneur may have to face loneliness at some stage in their career. Of course, the book tends to stop with them. They have to make a number of tough calls, and they can't always necessarily get advice from other entrepreneurs who have been there and worn the t-shirt, so it can be an isolating road. So to discuss that and their business more generally, I have Robin Jones from Golden Bake. I have Brian Moloney, who is from the company StormHarvester, and I also have Antonia Hendron from the M50 Truck & Van Center. You're all very welcome, folks. Thanks for coming in. Morning, Amir. Antonia, you used to be a finalist in this competition. Gents are current finalists this year. So the big test is going to be introduce your businesses, first of all. So you've got 30 seconds here. OK, and I know business people struggle with this particular, but just introduce your business, starting with yourself, Antonia.

Antonia Hendron (1:05)

So good morning. Thank you for having me. So the M50 Truck & Van Center, we like to consider ourselves as the people who keep Ireland moving.

We sell, service and repair Mercedes-Benz buses, trucks and vans. We also carry out what's called the commercial vehicle road worthiness test, which is the NCT for trucks and vans on the road. So we keep Ireland moving in a safe way.

Emmet Oliver (1:29)

Great. In about 30 seconds. Perfect. Brian Moloney is the founder and CEO of StormHarvester. And what are they?

Brian Moloney (1:36)

So what are they?

We sell software to water utilities to help them manage their operations. So imagine software within the control system that's guiding trucks and vans of water utilities around the network to ensure that they have no downtime, they have no faults, there's no blockages or pollution events. So our big customers would be the big water utilities around the world. We work across seven different countries now. So think of the likes of Thames Water, Sydney Water, the big water utilities around the world.

Emmet Oliver (2:05)

Okay, very topical kind of a business, I suppose, with everything that's going on with climate change. And finally, Robin Jones, you're the owner and CEO of Golden Bake. I suppose the clue is in the name of the company, but tell us more.

Robin Jones (2:15)

Morning Emmet. Yeah, Golden Bake is a frozen bakery company. We specialize in puff pastry and cookie products.

We're probably best known for our hero product, which are Jam Bons, but also more recently, our new cookie brand, which is Cookie Cups. We're based in Coolock in Dublin. We employ approximately 150 people. We supply every retail and food service company in Ireland, and we've got customers in the UK, Europe, Middle East, and next year, we'll celebrate our 40th year in business.

Emmet Oliver (2:40)

Okay, thank you for that, and good luck to both of you, gents, in this year's competition. Now, a former finalist, Antonia, you are, we've been discussing in the intro just the loneliness aspect of being an entrepreneur. We know you have to make tough decisions, some of them won't be popular, and some of them may affect other people's lives and careers and so on. So is that just the nature of the beast in your opinion, or does it always have to be lonely, or can you get mentors and people around you?

Antonia Hendron (3:03)

Yeah, I'm a glass half full type of person. I do believe in mentor, mentors.

I've been part of the alumni since 2020, and for me personally, it has been invaluable. It's been a privilege to be part of it because there is a tribe of peers who are very, very like minded. And for me personally, I work in the motor industry, so it's predominantly male based. So for me, the female forum has been phenomenal. There's some serious business women in there with fantastic resilience, and they have helped me through some of my personal...

Emmet Oliver (3:37)

Did you seek those people out, or did they come to you, or how did it all come together?

Antonia Hendron (3:42)

You're meeting people in a totally different, very relaxed forum, so you naturally gravitate towards your tribe, and I've been very lucky to have some smashing people help me along my way.