I visited Seattle and Vancouver last year where we recorded a show as part of the EY Entrepreneur of the year CEO retreat where 24 finalists in the competition as well as previous participants gather for a week of guest lectures, factory visits & networking.
This year I've followed the group to Germany. The event started with “Ireland Day” in the Crown Plaza Hotel but the day before I went to visit Colm Lyon the founder of Realex Payments which had recently been taken over by Global payments in a deal worth €115m.
Colm brought me through his fascinating journey from his paper round to the help he got from serial Whiskey Entrepreneur - ending with his big pay day and what it meant to him.
Colm’s story was warmly received by the finalists who were no doubt hoping that they might be as successful on their journey!
Saturday
Next up was Gary McGann the CEO of Smurfit Kappa Group who brought me on his career journey from failed medical student to the public service, working with key brands such as Bailys, Aer Lingus and his current role at Smurfit Kappa.
Gary was witty, frank and clearly a man who had achieve a huge amount in his long and industrious career!
We had to rush back to the city to get prepped for Saturday's show. After the it ended we made a mad dash to the Airport to be reunited with our EY friends and to catch a flight to Berlin.
We arrived in Berlin that evening and were entertained by philosopher, journalist & author, Florian Langenscheidt (which I pronounced Long-gun-shite) - the interview had to be nimbly edited by producer John Fardy!
Sunday
We woke very early the next morning and went on a 10k run which is always a great way to see a city.
The day started with a lecture from Caoimhe Keogan who is an Armagh lady who is the Vice President for people at SoundCloud an audio streaming company based in Berlin which is used by millions.
This was followed by a talk on Tax which I decided to skip as I didn’t want to risk falling asleep and snore in a room full of Ireland’s brightest entrepreneurs.
On arrival back at the hotel we were greeted by a buzz of excitement and a lot of security personnel because a special guest had just checked in - Arnold Schwarzenegger was staying at our hotel!
Being true news-hounds we tried to hustle an interview with him - but none of the minders would let us anywhere near him.
Not only was Arni staying at our hotel but the Queen was due to check in the next day so security was tight all round. We are definitely rubbing shoulders with the good and the great over here!
Off to lunch and then we had a choice. Visit the Reichstag or watch Kilkenny play Wexford in Nolan Park at the Oscar Wild bar in the city. We chose the latter and it gave me great pleasure to meet Liam Griffin (former player and manager with Wexford) who arrived later that day.
I decided that it was probably not a good idea to bring up the match given that his county had received a trashing!
Police break up the protest
We then went to do our tour of the Reichstag - but this was disrupted by Riot police breaking up a protest about Germany welcoming migrants which was infiltrated by Neo Nazis and the Reichstag had to be closed.
That evening we went on a river cruise on the river Spree which runs through the heart of the city. On the boat we were addressed by the German finalist in the World Entrepreneur of the year program.
Monday
Up early and off to the University which is the European school of Management & Technology (ESMT) which is in the eastern side of the city.
The building was formally a state building where Eric Honaker ran the formally communist East Germany from. Dublin Man Prof Joe Peppard told us they were now teaching leadership in a building that was an icon for failed leadership of a previous regime.
The president of the university Dr Jorg Rocholl addressed the group. He is at the very centre of German financial policy and a close advisor to Angela Merkel. We did a quick interview with him and he gave us his thoughts on German fiscal policy and the latest information on the Greek crisis.
We had further lectures on digital disruption. And then David Bobbit & Liam Griffin gave us their taker on the importance of fitness when running a business.
A taxi ride to a local radio station Live Live followed where we interviewed a number of interesting guests from the world of entrepreneurship for next Saturdays DTB special German show.
The day concluded with a dinner hosted by Enterprise Ireland which was addressed by the Irish Ambassador Michael Collins. As his name and title suggest he is the perfect diplomat. Warm, friendly with a great love of Ireland and business we found him most welcoming and entertaining.
A quick late pint in an Irish pub (why do we always end up in Irish bars when we are abroad?) the off to the nest as we were up at 5am to catch the flight to Munich.
More from Munich later!
Herr Bobby
Listen to the Down to Business German Special from 10am on Saturday morning, highlights, podcasts and more blog posts can be found on the show page.
