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The Entrepreneurs (Ireland) - Season 1 Episode 3
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00:00When it comes to ideas, our little island off the west coast of Europe is simply world-class.
00:12Everywhere you look, you'll find Ireland's entrepreneurs making their mark.
00:16In the problems they solve, in the jobs they create, in the hope they inject in our communities.
00:24In this episode, a Wicklow craftsman made of strong stuff.
00:28I never set out to be an entrepreneur. I had a spark to always want to better myself.
00:34All aglow with the partnership that's changing the face of clinical and cosmetic dermatology.
00:39I don't think having Botox is any different than dyeing your hair or painting your nails.
00:43Looking back, it was a real leap of faith.
00:46And baked in success in the northwest.
00:48If you buy a packet of sausage rolls off the shelf, there's a very good chance that it came from here.
00:54It's time to get to know the entrepreneurs.
00:58The essential infrastructure of Ireland's economy is built by world-class indigenous companies.
01:12In Arclough, LMH Engineering works on projects with billion euro budgets.
01:17Leading the way, James Kelly has gone from apprentice to master in just 25 years.
01:25This company's 59 years old. I haven't been here 59 years. I feel like I have. I'm here 25 years.
01:32I always knew that I wanted to work with steel from the age of nine.
01:35I went to LMH because it was perceived in the locality as being the Brown Thomases of Steel.
01:42And I came in at 17, worked my way up the ladder. Done a four-year apprenticeship.
01:47And then ended up taking in a managerial role at 23 over the workshop production.
01:53Purely to oversee production and all the people working on the production floor.
01:57James' lifelong passion for working with steel was ignited very close to home.
02:10We were living beside a farmyard and there was a guy actually renting a farmyard to do engineering.
02:15I suppose it was intrigued by the sparks. Looking over a wall was the biggest part of it.
02:22And that's where the whole thing stemmed from then. I went in to him and the rest is history.
02:29William Wilmington. He ended up being my mentor for a long period of my life.
02:34And he would have shown me how to weld and just had a flair for the welding.
02:39He was massive, yeah. Massive, absolutely massive.
02:42Think about him every day. Yeah, yeah, every day.
02:44He's the guidance.
02:46So that's a picture of him with my son just before Willie passed away.
02:51He would have met Shea and he would have been, you know, very close to him.
02:54It was the same as a grandson because Willie was a bachelor and he didn't have family around him.
02:59But we were his family and he minded us and everything we've done, we've done together as well.
03:04I do believe in fate in relation to meeting Willie.
03:07I do often wonder what would I be doing right now if I hadn't met him.
03:12Absolutely life-changing.
03:13Everything, everything and every decision I'd make to this day, I'd still question what would he do.
03:24Championing off-site modular construction, robotics and green steel, this traditional industry is state-of-the-art in James' hands.
03:32This is augmented reality, so basically we're able to take our models from our engineering design department and we're able to bring it down to the factory floor.
03:43And we're able to see it then in the reality scene versus the virtual scene.
03:49It's come a long way from just, I suppose, welding at benches.
03:53We're now on the assembly piece and we're making sure that everything is done.
03:56So, when it comes to the fabrication now, we can overlay this and ensure all the accuracies on our individual components are there.
04:03Look, it's the way the future of construction is going.
04:05We're there with it now and we have it working well for us in the manufacturing setting.
04:10It's critical to us.
04:11So, there'll be 43 of these in total.
04:13We'll all be put together in our new facility and then we'll be taking them back to park and we'll be sending them to site.
04:18This would traditionally take up to a year on a construction site.
04:22We're able to do this now in a six-week period.
04:25This is the future.
04:26Yeah, this is the future.
04:33There's history in the building.
04:35Obviously, we designed the building ourselves and we built the building through COVID.
04:39And the simplest thing to do was on the weekends.
04:41Myself and my son and a few of the team would have come in and we would have done the meeting room tables,
04:46the handrails on the stairs and everything you see.
04:49We wanted the whole team of the building.
04:51It's like anything in my life.
04:52It's all revolved around steel and we wanted that feel to show, look, it's a hard material, but it can be softened in ways too.
04:59When people come in and the reaction and they see what you can do with it and they'll be looking at the tweaks and the twerks
05:04and then they'll be looking at how comfortable it is to see that reaction on people's faces.
05:09That's great.
05:10Like, that's satisfying.
05:11In Dublin City, the Institute of Dermatologists are smoothing out the wrinkles in the delivery of skin health in Ireland.
05:23Nikki Ralph and Katrina Ryan see 38,000 patients a year for medical and aesthetic procedures, big and small.
05:31Institute of Dermatologists is the centre of excellence for all aspects of medical and cosmetic dermatology
05:37from complex medical conditions like acne, psoriasis, eczema, skin cancer management
05:42and then everything to do with aesthetic dermatology, so cosmetic dermatology.
05:46I don't think having Botox is any different than dyeing your hair or painting your nails.
05:50You know, I wake up every day and I have my sunblock on as the first thing, so I'm taking care of my skin health.
05:55But at the same time, I just want to feel good in myself and by having my hair blow dried and having my make-up done
06:00and having some anti-wrinkle injections makes me feel better.
06:04After a research fellowship in Texas, Katrina returned to Ireland with the kernel of an idea.
06:11Now, the U.S. have groups of dermatologists working together, each with their own subspecialty,
06:16you know, whether it be medical, cosmetic, aesthetic and the 360 of skin health.
06:20And the patient is getting the very best of care.
06:23We put our heads together, decided that we would try and replicate the U.S. model of dermatology healthcare delivery.
06:30We did it probably within about seven or eight months.
06:33I was pregnant at the time, so we had to get it over the line before the baby was born.
06:37And, you know, looking back, it was a real leap of faith.
06:42So when we started off, it was myself and Nikki.
06:44That was six years ago.
06:45We've grown to 14 consultants and we have nine nurses, two estheticians and 24 staff.
06:54In COVID, one of the challenges we faced was that we were locked out of being able to operate
06:58in all of the hospitals around Ireland.
07:00And so we turned our clinic into a theatre and we operate on all of our patients and none of them had to wait.
07:05And now we are building a surgical centre based on that.
07:08When it opens next year, for me, it's going to be the best thing I've ever done.
07:15I absolutely love being a dermatologist.
07:19I can truly say it's an amazing specialty.
07:22It's so vast.
07:23And for the most part, you make most people happy.
07:26And then when it comes to cosmetic dermatology, you know, you're empowering people, giving them their confidence back,
07:31optimising their skin health, and they become your friends over time.
07:36There's a huge amount of detective work that goes into dermatology.
07:39There can be rare rashes.
07:40There's somewhere between 2,500 to 3,000 different skin conditions.
07:43So every day, someone's going to walk in that door and challenge you.
07:46We are doctors pretty much all day.
07:48But then you get the other excitement of a new project, a new venture, more ideas.
07:53Even like, I never thought we'd be in marketing meetings, branding meetings, designing colour palettes.
07:58Now they've got the bug, serial entrepreneurship has turned out to be infectious for the doctors.
08:04We're also launching a skin, hair, and longevity supplement that looks at cellular health and cellular ageing.
08:12I think it benefits the business, that we're doctors, and it benefits, you know, medicine, that we are using business to drive what we're trying to do.
08:21Meanwhile, up in the north-west, they breakfast like champions.
08:34McAlgan's is a third-generation County Tyrone food business producing more than 93% of the sausage rolls sold on the island of Ireland.
08:42We'll do over 200 tons of products this week.
08:50Our fresh product goes out all over the island of Ireland, mainland UK, Spain to Portugal.
08:56This one goes to Sweden, the Netherlands.
08:58And our frozen product has a similar reach.
09:03It's in rack, 16 pounds.
09:06It's probably about 400 in there.
09:07This one is 230 degrees, and at the end of it, we will test that the internal temperature of the filling is over 85 degrees.
09:16That's a critical control point.
09:18And then we very rapidly get it down to 4 degrees, rapidly get it into its package,
09:24and it stays in the cold chain then all the way until the supermarket shelf.
09:28By Christmas, output will hit 400 tons a week,
09:31contributing to a 30 million pound bottom line in this proven business.
09:35We make about a million sausage rolls a day, five days a week.
09:40For these retail sausage rolls, we have an over 90% share of the market in Ireland.
09:45If you have a sausage roll, no matter what the brand is on it,
09:48there's a good chance it was made here and packed on this line.
09:54The recipe for success here has been perfected through the years.
09:58William is the third generation to rise to the challenge.
10:01My father getting a prize, and my grandmother from the paper, more prizes down through the years.
10:08I never met my grandfather, but from what I understand, he was a bit of an entrepreneur himself.
10:13There weren't a lot of jobs in the region at the time.
10:16He opened a tea shop, the one that took off.
10:18He went after it with both hands.
10:19I left Stravan at 18 with the intention not to come back.
10:26Stravan in the mid-70s and 80s was, it was grim enough.
10:31We were at that time the unemployment black spot in Western Europe.
10:35And there would have been frequent explosions and things like that.
10:39This is the news article from the time in 1982 when there was a bomb in Abercorn Square.
10:46Town centre wrecked, 18 hurt and explosion.
10:48You don't know until you move away that that's not everybody's experience.
10:53But I do feel just in the last four or five years that there's an opportunity.
10:59I think we're in a golden moment that we can capitalise here on.
11:01I think we have dual market access post-Brexit.
11:05You know, a lot of our employees are coming over from Donegal.
11:07Most of our product is going to the ROI.
11:10So we're hopeful that the time is coming now for the Northwest.
11:13We'll put $7 million in cash into wages.
11:16And that goes into shops and that goes into restaurants and that goes into school uniforms.
11:21We give everybody here with a year of free health benefits.
11:23I'm proud of some of the guys that have come in straight out of school.
11:27And they've done their degrees while they're here.
11:29You have other family businesses that we can point to around here who just aren't there anymore after hundreds of years.
11:36And we would like for this business, this capital, these opportunities to persist here well beyond the current generation.
11:59It's Sunday morning in Arclough and James Kelly is in the place that he loves best.
12:10On the shop floor with the apprentices.
12:13So you just need to put your, you won't burn or anything like that.
12:15Put your arm down on that one.
12:17Comfortable now first.
12:18Now be careful now because everyone still has their shields up.
12:21Right?
12:22Ready?
12:23Do you want me with you to start there?
12:24No, that's all right.
12:25Now slow down, don't go too, you don't want a snail track.
12:28Okay?
12:28All right.
12:29Let's go.
12:33Perfect.
12:33Slow down, slow down.
12:35Perfect.
12:36Push the rod in.
12:37Okay.
12:38Done.
12:39I miss the trade hugely and I would keep my hand in the trade on weekends.
12:45And obviously having a 17 year old who's crazy about steel as well, that's a help.
12:50Have a daughter who's 13, have her well done and doing everything in the steel world as well.
12:55And as new people are coming into the organization, especially people coming from overseas, they will get training by myself nine times out of ten.
13:03But I like the buzz of the weekends, bringing them in, getting them their breakfast, bringing them into the canteen, giving them the opportunity to sit with the boss.
13:11And then showing them the trade that you're just not someone that's sitting behind a desk, that you're someone that knows how the production facility operates, the engineering works, and how we link it together.
13:21It's nice to be able to talk to your client with confidence that you know what your product is and you know how you're delivering your product and you know how your team is part of the engineering of the product.
13:32So for that, it is key to me to the success of the company that I do understand and that I never take my eye off of the engineering because it is a changing world.
13:42So I need to keep myself in that to stay on point.
13:44The data center revolution is a huge growth area for LMH engineering and embracing a challenge is written in James' DNA.
13:59I never have went to work for money, strangely enough.
14:03And I think that comes from looking at my mother and father working so hard in their life.
14:08And what you said to us, once you have eggs, milk and flour in the press, you'll never starve.
14:12So money isn't the appealing factor to me.
14:14I always say to my own children, you go to work to be successful.
14:18If you're successful, money will follow as a byproduct of success.
14:25Work is my sport.
14:27Outside of work, it's definitely the daily run.
14:30I would leave here more times during the day to get out for the run, take a different perspective on it, come back.
14:36Obviously, settle myself back into it and try to go at a normal place if I can.
14:39Obviously, I have two children.
14:42I have a little girl who's GAA, ballet, mad.
14:46I have a young man who's 17 who's just come into the company.
14:49And he has a long list for me.
14:52So there will be land farming, digging, tractors.
14:57It will be all of that, something to be fixed.
15:00That's effectively life outside here.
15:02We live a humble life, a happy life.
15:06We don't get overexcited with expenditure or grandeur.
15:09We like what we have and it's the children are our number one priority, always.
15:15Plotting a successful future for LMH will require the same sweat equity that brought James this far.
15:23I would say I never set out to be an entrepreneur.
15:26I'd say it happened by a mechanism for survival.
15:32I was making gates from the age of 16 for neighbours.
15:36I would say I had a spark to always want to better myself.
15:40I built a house when I was 23.
15:43And look, I like dealing with clients.
15:45I like dealing with people.
15:46I like problem solving.
15:48Ultimately, when you're in that territory, you're entrepreneurial, I believe.
15:51Back in Dublin, and weekend warrior Nicky Ralph is in clinic to administer some advanced instruction to a new generation of dermatology professionals.
16:11So today is Sunday morning and we are training the dermatology registrars.
16:18They're all final years, so they've been doing dermatology for many, many years.
16:20Some of them might have been seven years at it.
16:22And we're teaching them how to do anti-wrinkle injections and filler.
16:26The risk of infection with these injections is really, really low and you're going to cleanse it down with the alcohol wipes.
16:31There isn't a formal aesthetic training on the dermatology training scheme in Ireland the way there is in other countries.
16:36So myself and Katrina think it's only fair that they get the full 360 of skin care.
16:41So not only are you able to deal with the medical and surgical side, but for those who want to branch into the aesthetic side.
16:46They don't have to, but they're fully trained in all aspects, no matter what they want to branch into when they're finished.
16:53In our clinic, we're an all-female staff, but the hope was we'll get a few men to throw into the mix soon.
16:58It's great that you can see today that there's more and more men getting into dermatology.
17:02So yeah, make it a bit more mixed.
17:04As much as I'm, you know, go, go, go when I'm in work, I'm actually fairly laid back and take things in my stride.
17:10And if I could do anything else other than be a doctor, I would just exercise. That's my go-to.
17:20Entrepreneurs are born with a competitive streak that comes out both in work and in play.
17:26And Trika, a race-mixing strength and endurance, is a perfect fit.
17:30It's the first race weekend in this new league, and Katrina and Nicky are leading a clinic team right to the door.
17:38So we're doing the 800-meter doubles, so that's what we've been training for for the last couple of months.
17:46As in business, they're leaning into their complementary skills to win the day.
17:50I'm not very strong. I'm good at running, so I think the hardest bit has gone with the round trussers.
17:56And it lunges towards the end when your leg starts getting a bit of jelly.
18:08There's a 24-strong clinic team competing across the divisions.
18:13They are one team with one dream.
18:15Go, guys!
18:20But Nicky and Katrina have a date with destiny.
18:23We're all ready to just do it.
18:24No strategy. Just go first.
18:27That was amazing.
18:49So much fun. We're absolutely knackered.
18:51Such an amazing atmosphere. So brilliant doing it with our team.
18:55We're both competitive people, but actually it's sort of lovely doing it together,
18:59because we do everything together, and now we're working out together too.
19:02So we do push each other.
19:04Yeah, absolutely.
19:05Yeah, it's been great.
19:05It's been a great experience.
19:06William McColgan is one of the most seasoned and successful food entrepreneurs on the island of Ireland.
19:25But every day is a school day, even for him.
19:28We're here for barbecue school.
19:30We're going to learn the old-style skills of fire building and smoking meat and cooking it low and slow.
19:36For the harvest celebration today, locally produced food will be at the heart of the menu and the grill.
19:43Maybe just we'll take a minute. Everyone give us an instruction. Who are you?
19:48Yeah, I'm William. Looking forward to learning a lot more about the craft.
19:52Did live in America for a while.
19:54Philadelphia, by the way.
19:55Philadelphia.
19:55We bonded.
19:56And we brought a smoker back with us. We do have a smoker.
20:01A lot of the talk lately has been about AI and about tech jobs and great, very high-value ad stuff.
20:06But I think in Ireland we'd be remiss if we forgot about our own natural endowment here,
20:11what a great food-producing nation we are.
20:13It's started to rain there now. This is our gift.
20:23That's delicious.
20:23This is the best of local, William.
20:26This is, you know, the apple that you've just ate.
20:28This is Gordon Chambers at a drum a hole.
20:31We've got the pumpkins and the corn here from Brook Hall today.
20:36The beef is so it's very local.
20:38You can hear the mooing.
20:39I hear the mooing.
20:43My wife does food tours around the city as well, which is a new thing.
20:47I mean, if you had a sense you're doing food tours of dairy five years ago, William,
20:52you'd get a third degree on that, drugs or something, you know.
20:55Yeah, yeah.
20:56You get a kebab here, you get a tip there.
20:58Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:02The day job for William is a family business,
21:05and this weekend has been all about community and the potential all around the Northwest.
21:09Northern Ireland, while it's 3% of the population, is producing 25% of the UK's food.
21:15It's clearly something we do very well.
21:18McAldon started winning business more and more in the UK.
21:21We've been able to get our product across the channel and still be competitive in the UK,
21:25so I think that tells us that we're doing something well.
21:27So I think our new opportunities are further afield.
21:30We're constantly innovating, looking at new product categories,
21:33looking at sweet pastry, looking at new places where we can develop and win.
21:39We're going to teach you how to cook this directly on the coals.
21:42You can put it straight on down.
21:43Straight here.
21:44Yeah, that's perfect.
21:46That's it. Perfect.
21:48That's not hard, right?
21:49That's easy.
21:51I'm a professional.
21:52And then guys, can you see that?
22:01Wow.
22:01Look how beautiful these steaks are.
22:02Gorgeous.
22:11What do you think? Do you like it?
22:13I think it's amazing.
22:14I mean, the beefiness of this is absolutely incredible.
22:17We live in a region with such abundance.
22:19It's like we're spoiled.
22:20Yeah, we are.
22:21We really are.
22:22It's really good food.
22:25It was wonderful.
22:27There's something very basic, very satisfying about preparing food and feeding people
22:33and seeing people take satisfaction from good food prepared with care and just delicious.
22:40You know, you really taste the care that's gone into making it.
22:42And that's kind of what we're about as well.
22:44You know, feeding people, sending people off nourished and satisfied and happy.
22:49And what could be better than that?
22:50Next time on The Entrepreneurs, a money-moving business in the fast lane of success.
23:01We process between 12 to 14 billion of physical cash every single quarter.
23:06The Cork City couple at the heart of a remote revolution.
23:11When we had the idea, sitting around the kitchen table, I found the thought pretty scary.
23:17As an entrepreneur, everything is on the line.
23:19And refreshing the line-up of a drinks heavy hitter.
23:23And we've just tried about 150 different iterations.
23:27We have, yeah.
23:28So my tongue is now dead.
23:29So my tongue is now dead.
23:59So my tongue is now dead.
23:59So my tongue is now dead.
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