Down To Business

Bobby talks to Damien McCarthy of HR Buddy about some awful trends and buzzwords like "Quiet Quitting" and "Desk Bombing".

For years, John Lowe‘s handbook has helped thousands of people get to grips with the basics of budgeting, learning how to save cash in all areas of their life, and importantly, what to do with it to maximise their return. Now, Money Doctors is back for its 18th edition to give Ireland’s consumers and business owners the tips they need to make the most of 2023. Bobby chats to John to find out more.

Bobby chats to renowned Economist Moore McDowell to get his thoughts on the economic year ahead.

Bobby talks to Brendan Courtney and Sonya Lennon about their creative partnership.

Bobby talks to GP Dr. Mark Rowe about his book ‘The Vitality Mark: Your Prescription for Feeling Energised, Invigorated, Enthusiastic and Optimistic Each Day’.

In a special Industry Review Bobby chats to three people who might help you get yourself right for 2023. Joining Bobby is Louisa Meehan of Woodview HRM, Fitness expert Lesley Giltinan, and Ciara Conlon who is a productivity coach.

Bobby talks to Norah Casey, Bob Hoffman, and Stephen O’Leary about the stories of the year that exercised them the most.

To top off a wonderful year and the final show before Christmas, Bobby is joined in conversation with singer-songwriter, Ultan Conlon.

With just a few hours to go until the big day, it is only fitting that the final industry review of the year is geared towards ensuring your Christmas Day meal runs smoothly. Joining Bobby is Ali Dunworth, food and travel writer, Derry Clarke, award-winning chef, and Oisin Davis of Great Irish Beverages.

Every year Bobby takes a stroll down Grafton Street to get a sense of the mood on one of the busiest days in the retail calendar. This year is no different, as he popped into a few shops, and chatted with business owners, to find out how things were going.

While the Christmas music may be blaring around your house and Christmas cheer filling the streets of your local town, for some Christmas is a more trying time. To cover that sentiment is Ian O’Doherty of the Irish Independent.

For many years, Pat Shortt was offered all sorts of things to use his song 'The Jumbo Breakfast Roll'. While he turned down those offers, he has now teamed up with food business Hosted Kitchens, who launched Ireland's first virtual breakfast brand together. Pat and Sean Murray of Hosted Kitchens join Bobby to tell him how it all works.

Joining Bobby in the Executive Chair is Lorna Conn, CEO of Cpl.

In the post-Covid era leaders, organisations worldwide are increasingly recognizing the value that coaching can add to improve company productivity and performance. But in the competitive field where each coach expert presents their unique approach, is there a place for some “magic"? Rosie Nice, coach, founder of ESB Training and author of the book 'The Magic Happens in the Silence: A guide to the art of reflective coaching' joins Bobby to discuss.

Ireland is home to hundreds of golf courses, including a third of the world's natural links courses. We boast some incredible offerings in some of the most breathtaking locations, so it's no wonder that player numbers have swelled to over 500,000 in the last two years. But do those numbers tell the full story? Joining Bobby to talk through the world of golf and some of the businesses around the sport is: - Anne McCormack, Chief Operations Officer at Golf Ireland - Off the Ball’s Nathan Murphy who is also the presenter of the Golf Weekly Podcast - Peter Lawrie of Spawell Golf Academy - Marty Carr of Carr Golf Travel

Resident tech guru Andy O’Donoghue stops by to recommend some of his top-pick tech gifts for your Christmas stockings.

Submitting maintenance issues with the Snapfix mobile app is as easy as taking a photo or video. Bobby is joined by its CEO and Founder, Paul McCarthy, as well as Sinead Boyle, Rooms Manager at Haddington House, to find out how this new app could be the future for managing a building.

Newstalk’s Kieran Cuddihy, is currently somewhere near the North Pole where he's sussing out how Santa's preparations are going. He took a call from Bobby to chat about how things are looking ahead of the big event on December 25th

Joining Bobby in the Executive Chair is Pat Phelan, Chairman of weight loss from 'Limbo'

All good managers and leaders are concerned about productivity on their teams but what happens when managers begin to worry that their staff aren’t doing enough? In his updated edition of 'The Creative Thinking Handbook: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Problem Solving in Business', Chris Griffiths offers advice on “productivity paranoia”- a new phenomenon in our post-pandemic world, and how that may be affecting your next big breakthrough. Chris joins Bobby to discuss. Chris Griffiths is the founder of www.Ayoa.com, the leading mind-mapping app transforming the way we work and learn.

Christmas preparations are likely well underway with hams and turkeys being ordered, bottles of wine being stocked, and prezzies being bought. It’s a time of bounty, and here in Ireland, we have an incredible array of products made by homegrown talent to choose from. To find out a little bit more about some of the kinds of food producers we have at our disposal here Bobby is joined by: ● Sarah Kiely of Sadie’s Kitchen ● Giselle Makinde of Cream of the Crop ● Aisling Cullen of Thanks Plants ● James Burke is Network Manager of the Dublin Food Chain

Ciaran Hancock is the business editor at the Irish Times and this week alone he was interviewing the Taoiseach-elect as well as reporting on everything from Easons to Hotels. He took a break from his hectic beat to bring Bobby some of the stories of the week.

Bobby stopped into Dogs Trust: Dog Rescue & Rehoming Charity on Ashbourne Road in Finglas to discuss how their rehoming and rescue operations work, welcoming dogs into the workplace, and just how fulfilling having a dog in our lives can be.

When it comes to managing your finances as a business owner at a time of massive inflation and shrinking growth levels - things are certainly challenging. But there are options out there for you. Derek McDermott, Managing Director of Bank of Ireland Finance is an expert in assessing and understanding the challenges facing hundreds if not thousands of people around the county right now - he joins Bobby to discuss.

Alexandre Mars author of a book Mission Possible. How to build a business for our times, has just been published. He joined Bobby on the show today.

Economist and weekly columnist on economics with the Irish edition of The Sunday Times, Cormac Lucey joined Bobby on the show today to discuss Ireland’s economic prospects for 2023.

Today on the show Bobby talked to the winners of this year’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

Mary Sadlier-CEO of Coole Swan had joined Bobby for this week's Executive Chair.

With a tourism industry highly impacted by covid restrictions it seems like we now see a better days for hospitality sector in Ireland. Will our hotels suffer another blow from rising costs of living and energy crisis? To ask this Bobby was joined by Carol Barrett, owner of Dunmore House on the shores of Clonakilty Bay, John O'Flynn, Resort General Manager at Fota Island Resort, Fergus O'Halloran, General Manager at The Twelve Hotel Galway and Martin Mangan, General Manager at Carton House, a Fairmont Managed Hotel.

Joining Bobby in the Executive Chair is Leo Sheridan, President & CEO of Advanced Group.

A lot has changed since the start of the year, and as we approach the end of 2022 we here at Down to Business thought it might be an opportune time to find out how the Irish Motor Industry has been faring what with pandemic measures being replaced by rampant inflation and a cost-of-living crisis. Joining Bobby to discuss is: -Rowena Dooley, Dealer Principle at Dooley Motors Carlow -Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General -Denis Murphy, MD & Joint Owner of Blackwater Motors in Cork

Elliot Wise started his first business at the tender age of thirteen and has since gone on to become one of the leading lights in business mentorship and entrepreneurship. He joined Bobby to discuss his journey through business, staying motivated in our professional lives, and helping people reach their goals.

Next week will see the winners announced at this year’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards and in the run-up to that we’ve been profiling some of the finalists and looking at some of the issues facing entrepreneurs. This week we’re taking a look at ‘purpose’ and asking the question - "Can you run a business that’s more than just about profit?" Bobby is joined by: - Martin McKay of TextHelp (2022 Finalist) - Fionn Lahart of One Projects (2022 Finalist) - Oonagh O’Hagan – Meagher’s Pharmacy (2021 Finalist)

There have been serious blows to Ireland’s tech sector in recent weeks with job losses at Twitter and stripe to name just two. Yet an Oireachtas committee this week heard that there is still a healthy pipeline of tech investments. To make sense of this and the general headwinds the industry is facing Bobby is joined by Ian Curran of the Irish Times.

‘The Holly Bough’ is something that I can only describe as a sort of "Cork Christmas Annual" and this year sees it is turning an incredible 125 years old. John Dolan who is its editor, joined Bobby to discuss this year's edition and the history of the publication in general.

Joining Bobby in the Executive Chair this week is Billy Kelly, Managing Director at Kelly's Resort Hotel and Spa.

Gavin Glass is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who also produces music. In 2019 he stepped away from Dublin and moved both his home and his business to Curracloe in Wexford. He joined Bobby to discuss the move.

Liam Griffin is known throughout the country as the much admired Wexford senior inter-county manager who brought them to an All-Ireland victory in 1996. He has since seen great success creating one of Ireland's leading hotel groups - The Griffin Group. He stopped by to chat with Bobby to tell him how he's been getting on.

Down to Business was coming to you from Green Acres in Wexford this week where amongst many other great guests, Bobby had the chance to catch up with a few local business people of note - namely Vinny Doyle of 'Cry Before Dawn' and Doyle’s Motors & Samantha Kelly aka the 'Tweeting Goddess'.

Broadcasting from Green Acres in Wexford this week, we had the opportunity to chat with some local businesses big and small, celebrating what the sunny southeast has to offer for business and leisure. In that vein, Bobby thought he’d speak to some of the businesses and producers in the area to find out a little bit more about what makes Wexford so special. Joining Bobby is: - Eamon Crean, owner of Greenhills Fruit Farm - Siobhan Devereux co-founder of Scúp - Lorraine Waters, Hook Lighthouse General Manager - Patrick O’Connor of Greenacres

Bobby was out and about at Rosslare Europort, one of the beating hearts of Irish trade and transport. There he spoke to Glenn Carr, Director of Commercial Business Units at Iarnród Éireann, Port Authority for Rosslare Europort to find out about what has been happening at the port and what the future might hold.

Kevin Dundon is instantly recognizable from the many successful cookery shows he has fronted and who has also had a 25-year love affair with Dunbrody House in Wexford. Kevin joined Bobby in Green Acres in Wexford to chat about how he is getting on.

Joining Bobby in the Executive Chair this week is Sean McKeown, Director of Fota Wildlife Park.

It seems that Irish Banks are all upgrading their forecasts due to rising ECB rates and in tandem with that the government sold a further 5% in AIB this week. If this keeps up there may soon be a call for the government to do away with pay caps and bonuses. To make sense of this and some other business stories from the week, Bobby is joined by Joe Brennan, Market’s Correspondent with the Irish Times.

Many of us have to decide the path we take in our professional lives soon after we leave school. But for professional sportspeople, that fork in the road comes much later. So, to talk about the challenges of finding their way after leaving the world of professional sport, Bobby is joined by: - Mick Dowling, Former Olympic Boxer - Marcus Horan, former Ireland, and Munster Rugby player - Cliona Foley, Freelance sportswriter & presenter of OTB's Off The Bench Podcast

Continuing this week we’re profiling some of this year’s finalists in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in the run-up to the Awards night on November 30th and look at some of the issues facing entrepreneurs. This week Bobby was keen on looking at the entrepreneurial experience itself and how sometimes it can be a lonely road and certainly not for the faint-hearted. Bobby is joined by: - Caroline Dunlea of Core Optimisation - Louis Copeland of Louis Copeland and Sons - Johnny Walker of HaloCare & Jinga Life

Bobby was out & about at Art Source in the RDS, Ireland's premier art fair, featuring hundreds of Irish and International artists and galleries. There he spoke to organisers and artists alike to find out all about it.

Whether it's a statement piece or just something that you can wear out on a daily basis, fashion underpins so much of how we express to people who we are. It’s an industry that has exploded in recent years with more and more quality being made available to people of all walks of life and so with that in mind, Bobby wanted to find out a little bit about how the Irish fashion sector is faring. Joining Bobby is: - Silvana Landa McAdam, Co-Founder and CEO at LANDA Handbags - Fashion designer, Heidi Higgins - Caoimhe Murphy of Caoimhe Murphy Design

Joining Bobby in the Executive Chair this week is Séamus Clancy, CEO at Repak.

Michele Wucker is a senior advisor to Preventable Surprises, a 'think-do' tank that seeks to address systemic risks before they escalate into economic implosions. She joins Bobby to talk about her new book 'The Gray Rhino: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore'.