Stellar line up of top entrepreneurs for Questum event in Clonmel

The path to successful entrepreneurship will be given a brilliant Tipperary spotlight in the New Year when seven business trail blazers will give their insights at a special event at Questum in Clonmel.
Entrepreneur in Residence at Questum, a LIT Enterprise Acceleration Centre, Tom Brennan has drawn together an unprecedented line-up of proven businesspeople who will invigorate start-up and early stage businesses for the year ahead at the Entrepreneurs Day event on January 10 promoted by Tipperary County Council and LIT.
Tom who co-founded EirGen Pharma, which today employs over 250 people and was acquired by New York Stock Exchange listed OPKO in 2015, will host the half-day event that will be an unmissable opportunity for budding or early stage entrepreneurs. Tom and all seven of his guests are former finalists in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Year.
The line-up will include Clonmel native Patrick Joy, founder of Suretank in Dunleer, Co. Louth, which is the world's largest supplier of containers and tanks for the offshore oil and gas sector. Patrick was winner of the EY Entrepreneur of The Year in 2013. Patrick recently hired a new CEO for Suretank to enable him, after 24 years, step back from full-time management of the business to deveote time to mentoring and investing in new start-up businesses.
David McKernan will relay his experience of having founded Java Republic Roasting Company, which has become one of Europe’s leading coffee companies and was recently acquired by Spanish company Cafento in a deal worth over €30 million. Clodagh Cavanagh, Chief Executive Officer of Abbey Machinery in Nenagh will bring her expertise from running a family owned business that has become one of the leading manufacturing brands in the agri-sector in Ireland.
Another eagerly anticipated contributor will be David Walsh, co-founder of Netwatch – the remote CCTV security camera monitoring company that grew from three employees and a single customer in 2003 to 550 staff servicing 250,000 customers today.
Given Tipperary’s huge heritage in food production, Colum O’Sullivan – the ‘Sully’ in ‘Cully & Sully’ – will also attract significant interest. He set up Cully & Sully in September 2004 with Cullen Allen from Ballymaloe House and today it is one of Irelands best two known brands and supplies over 1,500 shops nationwide and has significant exports to both France and the UK.
Carlow’s Rachel Doyle, who also joins the list, is another of Ireland’s best known and admired entrepreneurs. Founder of the Arboretum, Rachel has built her horticulture business over four decades into a thriving world-class enterprise that has become one of Ireland’s best retail experiences, complete with homeware gifts, award winning café and events and attractions at her two outlets, in Carlow and Kilquade, Co. Wicklow. Rachel is also a member of the board of directors of Bord Bia.
The sixth speaker is Louise Grubb, former CEO and co-founder of NutriScience (veterinary nutraceutical manufacturing business) and Q1 Scientific (stability storage for the pharmaceutical industry), who brings over 20 years’ experience of the veterinary and pharmaceutical industry to her role as CEO and co-founder of TriviumVet.
Announcing the event, Tom Brennan said that it will be a perfect start to the year for entrepreneurs looking to get ahead in 2020. “There’s a fabulous heritage of entrepreneurship in Clonmel itself and across the south-east and the line up for this half-day event reflects that. It’s a fabulous opportunity to get the personal experience and insights of such a stellar collection of entrepreneurs. Every successful businessperson has had wins and some losses so it will be fantastic to get these insights from such well-known entrepreneurs. It will be invaluable to attendees.”
He added: “Interest is already peaking and we expect the event, which is free to attend will be fully subscribed so the sooner people book the better.”
Gillian Barry, Head of Innovation & Enterprise at LIT said “Clonmel is fast emerging as one of Ireland’s best startup towns. The ecosystem is thriving with LIT having a growing campus in Clonmel, with Questum, one of its enterprise and acceleration centres in partnership with Tipperary County Council, an engaging business community from SME to multinational global leaders, great supports from the LEO, EI, IDA and importantly a very strong entrepreneurial heritage.”
Questum also has a very strong Advisory Board in place which include Entrepreneur in Residence, Tom Brennan who has been supporting the teams based in Questum in a voluntary capacity. Gillian added “Our advisory board also includes Pat McGrath, an entrepreneur from Clonmel who lead the growth of PM Group which employs over 2,500 people globally as well as Anthony Fitzgerald, our partner at Tipperary County Council. Questum is a great success story for Tipperary, we had overall winners of Irelands Best Young Entrepreneurs in Shorla Pharma, Theradep just announcing a major award under the Disruptive Innovation Fund call, Anu Pictures won several awards for their film The Camino Voyage which is showing globally and others based in the centre continue to win awards but most importantly they are selling globally, raising investment and growing their teams. We are excited to welcome the calibre of Entrepreneur that Tom has organised for Entrepreneurs Day and LIT are delighted to be part of this community and to be supporting this event”
Said Anthony Fitzgerald, Head of Enterprise at Tipperary County Council: “We are very fortunate to have Tom as our Entrepreneur in Residence at Questum and the quality of the speakers he has managed to secure for this event is a good illustration of why. We are delighted in the Local Enterprise Office to support this event at Questum. We have a fantastic business ecosystem here in the county and events like this add to that. It will be a unique opportunity for start-up and early stage business people to get advice at this level.”

New jobs to be created at Shorla Pharma