‘Business is about nothing more and nothing less than relationships’

This year’s Sustainability Champion category winner at the IMAGE PwC Businesswoman of the Year Awards and Chief Impact Officer and Board Director for Simply Blue Energy Ireland talks off-shore wind potential; shares the challenges of moving from research to business; and her late awakening to feminism.

Sailing is still a huge part of her life and she’s fresh from a sailing trip with her musician husband Ken and their children when I speak with her. “I had, you could say, a relatively late awakening to feminism. I have a really deep appreciation now of needing to be very sensitive to being the only woman in the room and doing everything I can to call it out.

“I was due to go on a business trip the following morning, on the Saturday, to Tokyo and I was focused on that. I felt that if you were really going to win something like this, that you’d have had a heads up. So , I assumed that I hadn’t won. “Those fast followers may quickly usurp Europe’s leadership position if Europe doesn’t manage to move a lot of bureaucratic red tape out of the way and accelerate towards the kind of solutions we need to see at a large scale for climate change.”Surprisingly, for an island, Ireland doesn’t hold a candle to Europe in the offshore wind energy stakes.

“Ireland is a tiny island nation, but it was characterised really, with a lot of sea blindness. We looked inland – we’ve become really successful at building clusters in biomedical devices, ICT, and pharmaceuticals. The next big cluster we need to develop is our main energy cluster, and to wake up and start turning now towards the sea.”She cites Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a trigger point to shake Ireland’s need for energy independence.

United Kingdom United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom United Kingdom Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

‘Everyone I know is thinking about leaving’: Belfast’s immigrant business owners rethink their futuresFour weeks after racist attacks on businesses in the city, immigrants fear for their livelihoods and their children
Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »

EY’s Irish chief said to be in running to lead UK businessEY UK curbs annual salary bumps for thousands of employees and dismisses a handful of partners
Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »

Business Today: Cement industry changes, SBCI payouts and why the office loudmouth gets aheadThe best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk
Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »

Business Club Member competition: WIN a mini headshot session worth €390Calling all IMAGE Business Club members! Enter our September member-only competition to WIN a mini headshot session with Tanya Crosbie.
Source: image_magazine - 🏆 17. / 59 Read more »

Marc Godart used CCTV to monitor business tenants’ commission systemForeign nationals rented Dublin city centre rooms for their businesses not knowing the owner of the building was trying to get Godart to leave
Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »

Accountants warn over pressures on small and medium businessCPA Ireland says policy measures make it hard not to feel that Government believes business owners have a ‘bottomless purse’
Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »