The Entrepreneurs Season 1 Episode 2

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Transcript

00:00When it comes to ideas, our little island off the west coast of Europe is simply world-class.

00:17Everywhere you look, you'll find Ireland's entrepreneurs making their mark.

00:21In the problems they solve, in the jobs they create, in the hope they inject in our communities.

00:27In this episode, a fabulous pharmacist walks the walk and talks the talk.

00:34I'm willing to speak about things that people don't normally speak about.

00:37A star of Irish enterprise with a focus on the future.

00:41If you're not innovating, you're actually going backwards.

00:44And a screen leader takes his turn in the spotlight.

00:48People always want to be entertained. That's not going to change.

00:52It's time to get to know the entrepreneurs.

00:57All around Ireland, a new breed of 21st century founders are building businesses which are born digital.

01:09On the south side of Dublin, pharmacist-turned-entrepreneur Laura Dowling is brewing something special.

01:15Her range of Fab U wellness supplements are stocked in 1,500 Irish health stores,

01:20where she's sold 1.2 million units since launch in 2022.

01:26Yeah, normal day is get up, get the breakfast ready, get the kids their lunches.

01:32My lads are now 12, 14 and 16, so as I was doing all the R&D and my formulations and that,

01:38they were breastfeeding, you know, taking them to the lab on the boob.

01:44So, yeah, so, yeah, it's busy. It's busy.

01:49And they're quite close in age, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

01:54I'd probably talk a little bit too much about women's health for their liking,

01:58but there'll be great advocates for females now when they're older. I just know it.

02:02I'm Laura Dowling and I'm not your usual pharmacist.

02:05I'm the fabulous pharmacist.

02:07Riding the wave of a sold-out nationwide tour, Laura is a woman on a mission

02:16to puncture taboos about female health.

02:19I was working in community pharmacy for over 21 years.

02:22I just saw firsthand women coming in with healthcare issues that were minimised, ignored,

02:28sometimes ridiculed, sometimes they're ashamed to even talk about it,

02:31particularly when it was about their intimate health, and that started me on a journey.

02:35It is really obvious to me that the information was lacking,

02:39and it was the kind of information women wanted,

02:41but if you package it with sequins and with glam and with a bit of fun,

02:45it just makes it all so much more relatable.

02:48I'm willing to speak about things that people don't normally speak about,

02:50that they might be a bit embarrassed or afraid to shy away from,

02:53but there's nothing embarrassing about our bodies and the changes they go through.

03:00Core to Laura's success story is a strong presence online.

03:03Her 430,000 followers enjoy a daily diet of education

03:08sprinkled with liberal servings of entertainment.

03:13Dry vagina, low libido and weight gain.

03:16What are they signs of?

03:18What's a libido?

03:21And now, after conquering the stage and the socials,

03:25Laura's next venture is coming soon to a bookstore near you.

03:28This is the final edits to my book.

03:32So it's really a celebration of women's bodies,

03:34and then also what women can do themselves to take their health care into their own hands

03:37in a really simplified way that's non-medical jargon.

03:41Anyone could read it.

03:43Yeah.

03:43I studied pharmacy, and I fell in love with pharmacognosy,

03:53which is the study of plants and herbs for medicinal purposes.

03:55So originally, all our medicines were derived from plants and herbs,

03:59and we had our alchemists mixing things in pestle and mortars.

04:02They were the original pharmacists.

04:04So I loved that aspect of pharmacy,

04:07and I formulated and developed my own nutritional supplement brand

04:10using functional mushrooms, botanicals, vitamins and minerals.

04:14When I was practicing pharmacy,

04:16a lot of people were coming in to me very confused

04:18about the nutritional supplements that were on the market.

04:20So I wanted to create a range that was really easy for people to understand.

04:23They just need to look at the box and understand what it does.

04:25And I also wanted to bring in that Eastern practice of medicine,

04:28and I suppose merging that with contemporary Western medicines.

04:31But I think now people want to take their health into their own hands,

04:34and we're all looking at longevity.

04:36We're all looking at how can I live my last 10 years as healthily as I can.

04:41And the best way you can do that is exercising now,

04:43eating well, getting enough sleep, stress reduction,

04:47all of those things that we already know,

04:48but really trying to implement it into your lives.

04:50Because as I always say, I want to be able to tie my own shoelaces,

04:54do my own grocery shopping, and wipe my own backside

04:56when I'm in my 80s and 90s.

04:57I don't want to be relying on my kids.

05:01I first tried to bring something to the market in 2017.

05:06I had a pharmacist brain,

05:08so I was able to formulate and develop amazing products,

05:11but I did not know any of the other stuff that went with it,

05:13so I had to go back to the drawing board and really learn about business.

05:17Like, when I first launched, I did not know what a margin was.

05:20Did not know what a margin was.

05:22No, margins are very important.

05:23We're in 1,500 pharmacies and health food stores nationwide.

05:26We have an amazing online business,

05:28and that's growing month on month as well.

05:31It's been bloody hard work.

05:33Like, it hasn't just happened.

05:36And welcome to the Laura Daniel Experience podcast.

05:39I do long-form podcasts,

05:40and we're regularly number one in the health and fitness chart.

05:42A lot of it is health and wellness,

05:44but then I'll also talk to business people.

05:45I'll talk to anyone who has an interesting story.

05:48The best way that I keep in touch with my audience is through Instagram.

05:50This is emergency contraception.

05:52It used to be now one of the more natural.

05:54I understand from both working in the pharmacy

05:57and from the online space

05:58what questions women are asking

06:00and what they don't know,

06:01the gaps in their information,

06:02and what they want to know.

06:04And that's where my Viva La Vulva show came out.

06:09I gathered a group of like-minded women together,

06:11and we went to Galway, Cork, and Kerry first.

06:15We sold out,

06:16and then we took it to the National Concert Hall,

06:18and we sold that out.

06:19My next show booked,

06:2231st of January, 2026.

06:24You have to come.

06:25You'll love it.

06:26You will love it.

06:27You'll have to come,

06:28and so will you.

06:31By the banks of the Boyne,

06:33one man's brainwave on the nappy night shift

06:35turned an idea into an empire,

06:37which now exports to over 50 countries.

06:44Around the time that my first daughter was born,

06:47she had pretty bad nappy rash.

06:49So I said,

06:49why can't there be a product

06:50as pure and gentle as cotton wool and water,

06:53but as convenient as a baby wipe portable,

06:55and you pluck one out at a time,

06:57and it blows the pack up.

06:59It was very difficult,

07:01because I'm not a scientist,

07:02and in fact,

07:03I've been told that if I were a scientist,

07:05I would have known not to bother,

07:06because it's not possible to make a product

07:08with no chemical preservatives in it,

07:10but actually it is possible.

07:12Ed's instinct for optimism has paid off in spades.

07:15His water wipes facility now produces 3.5 million packets a week

07:20and is on track to become a billion-dollar brand

07:23in retail sales over the next five years.

07:25The origin of Ed's global giant has local roots.

07:31His entrepreneurial pedigree runs in the family.

07:35This is where it all started, 1940s.

07:38My granny had a little bakery.

07:41There's generations on both my grandparents' sides.

07:44They were entrepreneurs.

07:45Lots of entrepreneurship in my bloodstream.

07:48My father, he had a fruit and veg shop

07:55in the centre of Drogheda.

07:58His beekeeper supplier passed away,

08:00and he had to buy an entire barrel of honey.

08:02A vague memory as a small kid of my parents

08:05filling two or three dozen jars of honey

08:07at the end of the evening's work,

08:09and then he'd put them in the boot of the car.

08:11So that's how the business started.

08:16Boyne Valley honey

08:17is just one of the market-leading products

08:19in the Boyne Valley Group,

08:20the original family firm which Ed now also oversees.

08:24Its household names like Brillo,

08:27Chivers Jams and Jellies,

08:28and McDonald's Curry Sauce

08:30are like a roll call of Ireland's best-loved brands.

08:34You must have a vision, a goal, a direction.

08:38What do I want? Where am I going?

08:40Innovation is the lifeblood of any business.

08:43If you're not innovating,

08:44you're actually going backwards.

08:45Every business has a journey

08:48that some of the journeys last longer than others.

08:51It's still a family-owned business

08:54after three generations and counting.

08:57It makes me very proud.

08:58Larry Bass is no stranger to the bright lights.

09:13He built one of Ireland's most successful TV and film companies

09:16and is busy scripting the next chapter.

09:19We invested in Fonte Hill Studio with our partners, Reverest.

09:23It's been a good home for a number of shows

09:27and for a number of film sets.

09:30Dancing with the Stars,

09:32Last Singer Standing.

09:34We're here behind the set of an Amazon show that's been shot here at the moment.

09:40An opportunity arose to get back into production,

09:44but there was no space available,

09:46so we took this risk of opening the only film studio in Dublin City.

09:50If you're going to be successful in business,

09:54you have to have an ability to just walk through that door,

09:59trust your gut, no rear-view mirror, and keep going.

10:02This is another smaller studio inside Fonte Hill.

10:07It is the only motion-captured studio in Ireland.

10:10The thing that really sets it off for me is a live TV show,

10:14a couple of hundred people working on it,

10:15with over 300 people in the audience and the whole nation watching.

10:20That's pretty special.

10:36Sinauil was born in 1999

10:39to do a documentary on a Dublin band called Aslan,

10:43It was set up as a holding company just to run the production through.

10:47We had no plans to set up a business at all,

10:50and here we are, 20-something years later.

10:57We're a film and television production company.

11:01It's bums on seat, TV or big box office is what we're interested in.

11:06So whether it's a shiny floor entertainment show

11:08or a factual entertainment show,

11:10our aim is to try and get as many people as possible to watch what we do.

11:17My job as a CEO is to keep one foot in the future

11:20and try and anticipate the next big thing.

11:23So we have pivoted the business

11:26and we set up a scripted division doing TV drama series and feature film.

11:31We can now look to develop projects that are globally focused and globally financed.

11:37Under Larry's leadership, Sinauil has put Irish creativity front of stage,

11:43wooing audiences of millions in dozens of countries.

11:46In 2024, they banked revenues of 38 million euro.

11:51And the homegrown hits keep on coming.

11:53We're producers of Dancing with the Stars, which entertains the country

12:02each and every Sunday from January on.

12:06It's something satisfying knowing that there's families sitting down together.

12:10It's rare in telly these days,

12:12so it's lovely that that one still works at that level.

12:16People always want to be entertained.

12:18People have always, from the time they were in caves,

12:22entertaining each other.

12:23That's not going to change.

12:25I love working on telly.

12:27I watch a lot of telly.

12:28I'll never forget when the first colour telly arrived in the house.

12:31When I watched the 1978 World Cup in Argentina,

12:35myself and my brother used to bring a sleeping bag down to the living room

12:38because the mattresses are on at 11 o'clock at night and 1 o'clock in the morning.

12:43Oh, yeah.

12:44I'm a telly addict.

13:00Irish creative industries employ almost 10% of the Irish workforce.

13:05It's an arena where Shinowil founder Larry Bass has spent 25 years rising to the very top

13:11and his supportive family has been with him on each step of the journey.

13:17When I was doing Spanish in first year,

13:22they were looking for your very basic Spanish words.

13:26So it was like your age, what do your parents do?

13:29And I said TV producer and they were like,

13:31I don't know how to say that in Spanish.

13:33I think our Sundays were just a bit different to everyone else's Sundays.

13:36Instead of a family dinner, we went out to set for years, sir.

13:42I think you've done a huge amount,

13:44but I think the way that he does business also makes me really proud.

13:47He treats everyone really well.

13:48What's lovely is the happiness that people have working amongst the Shinowil crews and productions,

13:55the legacy that's there.

13:57There's crew members who have been there since the first production.

13:59On one of the sets a couple of years ago, something spilled and Dad was over cleaning it.

14:06And they were like, there's not many places you go where you see the owner of the company walking in.

14:12Larry always says, I'm doing this for you guys.

14:15And I'm kind of going, no, you're not.

14:16You're doing it because it's in you.

14:17You're a freight train and we're just lucky to get on it.

14:20I'm very, very lucky.

14:23When I met Catherine, I met my soulmate.

14:28She'd been my rock.

14:29This is an incredibly tough business.

14:32And to have the foundation and security that Catherine has delivered after all these years

14:40through so many highs and then so many extreme lows has been incredibly important.

14:46And I certainly wouldn't be here today if I hadn't been for that.

14:58I was 12.

15:00When my mum passed away, it was a big thing in my life.

15:08Having Dad out at work meant we were sort of left to fend for ourselves.

15:12I was a real Mammy's boy as well.

15:17So when mum passed, it was not good.

15:25And my rebound was, you know, complete tear away.

15:30From the time we're born, it's not a straight line.

15:34Something will happen that will fire you off this direction.

15:37Moments catapult life.

15:42And those things that trigger those switches or changes are spit seconds.

15:48When I was 20, on the 24th of August, 1984, I had a car accident.

15:57It's not up in my arm here.

15:59I put my arm across my face as I dived through a windscreen.

16:03And there was a girl, Amanda Barnes, passed away.

16:06And I was driving.

16:08That was a tragic accident.

16:11I can still play it back in slow motion, as plain as it was happening right now.

16:20I was out of action for the best part of the year after that.

16:24And my whole life had to change.

16:28And start again.

16:29I said I was a little wild as a teenager.

16:41But one of the things that stopped me going completely off track,

16:45because I could have easily gone that way,

16:48was football.

16:50I'd grown up, as a kid, going to watch League of Orange.

17:00The ball was thrown into my lap.

17:01I joined the board of Shelburne,

17:04and then helped bring in other investors,

17:07and watched that sleeping joint of a club rejuvenate.

17:11That's been a wonderful adventure.

17:15Ah, that's again.

17:16It's heartache, and it's joy, and it's just great fun.

17:19It's a couple of hours that you certainly can't do emails sitting there,

17:22and you are completely switched off.

17:24I really love it.

17:25I don't think there's anything like it.

17:27You can write the greatest script in the world,

17:29but sport will always give you more drama.

17:31Come on, Jeff!

17:33I've been going to League of Ireland football since I was 12.

17:36I'm not going to change now.

17:40Football, it's my religion.

17:46Meanwhile, in Dublin's city centre,

17:48Disciples of the Fabio Creed congregate for the very first reading

17:52of Laura Dowling's new book,

17:55Love Your Vulva.

17:58There she is!

18:01It's actually a bit emotional seeing all the women that come out,

18:04all the ladies from the outreach groups

18:05that I've done little talks for over the years.

18:08It's wonderful to see them.

18:09You'll have to come to the next one.

18:11You were there, though, weren't you?

18:12I remember that bold face.

18:14The reason I do what I do

18:17is to get the information that I have

18:19to as many women as possible.

18:21And it's not just for a select few.

18:24I really want to reach every corner of Ireland

18:26and every woman,

18:27no matter what she does or who she is.

18:30It's just so very important.

18:31Does anyone know what your vagina

18:33and a Miele 76-litre electric brand-new oven has in common?

18:39Self-cleaning.

18:42All right, and you'll learn all about that in my book, okay?

18:45We talk about the facts,

18:47we have a little bit of fun along the way,

18:49and hopefully people will come away from it

18:51knowing that no matter what is wrong with them

18:53or no matter what issue they might have,

18:54that there's absolutely a solution for them.

18:56Just say to one other woman in your life

18:59or one other man in your life

19:00something to do with the female body

19:02that you've learned either today

19:03or from a talk that I may have done

19:05or from the book,

19:06and that has a butterfly effect.

19:07And it means then that in 20 or 30 years' time,

19:10when all our young girls are grown,

19:12we won't need things like this to be celebrated

19:14because everyone will just know anyway.

19:16That's my aim for every woman in Ireland.

19:19Thanks so much.

19:22There's so many aspects to women's health,

19:24and I think that if you outreach in many different ways

19:28and spread the tentacles far and wide,

19:30then you're bringing most people into the world.

19:37Alongside some of Ireland's best-loved heritage brands,

19:40Boyne Valley Foods has found room to innovate,

19:43leaping into the fitness space

19:45with a sports nutrition range called Kinetica.

19:48If you want to perform better

19:51and be fitter and more exercised,

19:52you have to do a lot of the work yourself, of course.

19:54It's useful to have extra help.

19:56We've a great slogan that says it all.

19:59You know why, we know how.

20:02It's the only brand that every single batch is WADA tested,

20:06so that's in the Worldwide Anti-Doping Association.

20:09And that's very important for professional athletes, of course.

20:12I think Kinetica is going to grow and grow and grow,

20:14and it has an enormous future.

20:16A short hop across the Irish Sea from Drogheda

20:20gives Ed McCluskey a break from the helter-skelter of the boardroom.

20:24He comes to Liverpool to meet his latest marquee signing.

20:27Every day is different in business,

20:33but this is going to be a particularly standout, unusual day for me

20:37because I'm looking forward to meeting a member of the team,

20:40of the Kinetica team,

20:42who's actually a world-famous superstar.

20:44My nephew, Christian, is with me as well.

20:50Christian is a huge football fan,

20:52and I know he's really looking forward to it.

20:54Should be great.

20:58Whether he's pulling the strings on the field

21:00or exerting influence as a role model off the pitch,

21:04Jack Grealish is in demand.

21:06The England midfield star is an ambassador

21:08for Ed's latest line of nutritional products.

21:11How are you, mate?

21:12This is Christian.

21:12You OK?

21:13Yeah, good.

21:14Nice to meet you.

21:14Likewise.

21:15Yeah, we're delighted to be here.

21:16Yeah, nice to have you here.

21:18How have you been?

21:19All right?

21:19Yeah, great.

21:20Yeah, great.

21:20Do you want to sit down and...

21:22Yeah, yeah, of course.

21:23Performance in any walk of life requires perseverance.

21:26Lots of common ground for Ed and Jack

21:28and an opportunity to trade life lessons.

21:31I've often been struck by the fact that

21:34achieving anything of significance in life,

21:37you have to start from somewhere.

21:39You didn't wake up one morning, I presume,

21:40and say, I'm going to be a top-class footballer

21:42and next week it all happened.

21:44I always loved football, you know,

21:45the love was always there.

21:48Obviously, I had talent, you know,

21:50but I think everyone knows, you know,

21:53that I was saying there's, like,

21:55talent is nothing, you know, without hard work.

21:57It was always, like, little steps for me,

21:59like, I wanted to get into the Villa first team.

22:01Yes.

22:02And then I wanted to become Villa captain,

22:04and I wanted to score for Villa.

22:05Then I wanted to play in the Champions League,

22:08you know, it was always little steps.

22:09I didn't just go straight and say,

22:10sure, I want to do this right at the top, you know.

22:12I've always wanted to play in the World Cup,

22:14I've always wanted to score at the World Cup,

22:15and fortunately, you know, I've done both of them now.

22:18Yes, unbelievable.

22:19And I can imagine, obviously not the same,

22:22but little bits of it is the same with you as well, you know.

22:26Yeah, I think you bang on with what you're saying.

22:29One of the reasons I'm here, Jack,

22:30is because I've been nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year,

22:34and I'm one of the nominees for the 2025 Entrepreneur of the Year award.

22:40Yeah.

22:40Oh, congratulations.

22:41That's like the World Cup of Business.

22:44Yeah.

22:44I want to lift that trophy.

22:47No, fingers crossed.

22:50Cool.

22:51Thanks very much, Jack.

22:57Next time on The Entrepreneurs,

23:00a master of meats rolling over the competition.

23:03We're hopeful that the time is coming now for the Northwest.

23:07We're in a golden moment that we can capitalise here on.

23:09A dynamic duo determined to change the face

23:12of clinical and cosmetic dermatology.

23:15I absolutely love being a dermatologist.

23:17We're empowering people, giving them their confidence back.

23:20We are doctors pretty much all day,

23:22but then you get the other excitement of a new project,

23:25a new venture, more ideas.

23:28And a man with the metal to engineer a happy ending.

23:32I always say to my own children,

23:33you go to work to be successful.

23:35If you're successful, money will follow as a byproduct of success.

23:39Welcome to the Entrepreneurs.

24:05We'll see you next time.

24:07We'll see you next time.

24:08You

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