
Eddie Jordan: Founder of Jordan Grand Prix
According to his own website, Jordan is known for his “irrepressible optimism” and “joie de vivre” – and those qualities have put his career in pole-position. Jordan was a Dublin bank clerk when he moved to Jersey in 1970 because of a bank strike. There he discovered a love of kart-racing. When he returned to Dublin he notched up kart-racing and Formula Ford race wins. He moved up the Formula level – 3, 2 and became a F1 McLaren tester in 1979. After retiring he set up his own racing team in 1980 and was known for giving young talent a chance such as future F1 Word Champion Ayrton Senna’s, who he gave his first Formula 3 drive in 1982. He set up Jordan Grand Prix in 1990, again putting faith in young talent such as Eddie Irvine. He sold the team in 2005. Lessons: Jordan has used his natural passion for motor racing, drive and charm to build great success. Also known for giving youth an opportunity. Denis O’Brien: Founder and chairman of mobile operator Digicel GroupIt started with a 15-seater aircraft flying from Waterford to Gatwick, with the first cabin crew having to be less than 5ft2 inches in height because of lack of space.
He was clearly also a great talent-spotter identifying O’Leary as the man to power the airline higher. Moya Doherty: Co-founder of Riverdance A former RTE television producer, she came up with the idea of Riverdance as an interval act during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. With husband John McColgan, they mortgaged their home to help finance the stage show – which has now been seen by over 22m people worldwide. Lessons: Doherty shows the power of creativity, of identifying an aspect of Irish culture which will have mass popular appeal worldwide. She took a financial risk to launch the first stage show and has kept the group successful now for 20 years. Arthur Guinness: Founder of St James’s Gate Brewery Born in 1725, Arthur Guinness founded his first brewery in Leixlip helped by £100 from the will of his godfather. He bought a small, disused brewery at St James’s Gate in Dublin in 1759 with a 9,000 year lease. The group started brewing ale, but in the 1770s a new drink called porter was being exported from London to Dublin and proving very popular. Guinness thought he could do better and the black stuff was born. Lessons: Guinness took a known and successful concept – porter – and improved on it. He quickly identified successful trends and changing customer tastes.
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