Hear the journey of Irish fashion designer Orla Kiely. A brand recognised internationally, you can learn how Orla grew and expanded her business over the years.

The creative world Orla found herself in now started with a simple idea to design a collection of bags and accessories in a rainbow of prints, always joyful and happy with an emphasis on functionality.

Dermott and Orla established Orla Kiely in 1995, the year their oldest son was born.  Orla had a passion for colour and with much of fashion at the time immersed in black, their brand from the very beginning stood out and was noticed.  Orla always loved mid-century design and trawled the markets in Portobello or Montreuil in Paris for vintage treasures, especially objects or clothing from the sixties and seventies helping to feed her passion and establish her style.  With little funds but lots of enthusiasm, they started their company, Dermott's business with Orla's creative, dedicated to colour and pattern.  This was their first step along a winding path and the start of a journey filled with challenges and successes in equal measures, life was never boring.

Australian entrepreneur, venture capital investor, diplomat, author and speaker with a distinguished record in the areas of business, development and community activism, Bill is co-founder of the CoderDojo movement, a free global network formed to assist young people to learn how to computer program and Founder of Weforest, a global movement dedicated to planting trees and which now has seen 14.5 million planted around the world.  He is a general partner with SOSV a $300m international accelerator venture capital fund and runs a life sciences Accelerator Program, Rebelbio, in Cork, focusing on entrepreneurs building technologies in or around the field of living things.

Previously, Bill co-founded XING, a pioneering business social networking platform in 2003 and served as COO of Davnet a telecommunications carrier that went public in the late 90’s.  Bill serves as a special diplomatic envoy for St Kitt’s and Nevis, with an emphasis on sustainable development and the environment.  He is also chair of the investment committee of the Nominet Trust in the UK.  Author of three books, he is a regular speaker at many events and venues such as The London School of Economics, The World Economic Forum, The Globe Forum in Sweden, The House of Commons and TED as well as TEDx.

Alyson Hogg MBE, is the creator and founder of the hugely successful sunless tan company Vita Liberata. 

Having sold a majority stake to New York investment house Hildred Capital, she now helps high growth brands to realise their potential in local and international markets. 

As a brand imagineer she uses her experience of the multi disciplined demands required to successfully enter and win at retail. Her renowned business acumen has won her many awards, including the MBE for services to industry, and two Queens Awards for export. Having led teams in trade, online, print and event marketing, as well as product innovation,  logistics, finance, sales and the brand plan, Alyson’s global retail experience is key to her success. From identifying the purpose, to assisting new product development, mentoring talented people and creating the plans that turn vision into reality,  her 360 approach to business strategy, and her ‘Make it Happen” philosophy, adds unique value to the companies she supports. 

Dr Roisin Molloy, CEO TriMedika: Biochemist with over 25 years’ experience in product research & development, sales and marketing of medical products into international hospital markets. TriMedika is an ISO 13485 certified company where we design, develop, manufacture, and distribute innovative medical devices to hospitals all over the world. TriMedika's first device to market is TRITEMP™;a non-contact, medical grade thermometer, which is used by 1000s of healthcare professionals to deliver greater efficiencies that will benefit patients by reducing infection spread, lowering costs, and eliminating plastic waste in hospitals. The  TRITEMP™ is now on the NHS framework, used in 20 countries; including 22 of the Top ranking 100 hospitals in Germany. 

Pamela Laird. The name that everyone who’s anyone in the Irish beauty industry has heard, and used, on more than one occasion. 

She’s the first point of call when you need your nails ahead of photoshoot to be, well... nailed. She’s also on the last-dialled list of models, editors and beauty experts thanks to her expertise in pretty much every aspect in the beautisphere. 

Pamela has since switched focus and is the creator of the revolutionary beauty brand Moxi Loves. 

Moxi Loves is the hottest name in the industry and is bringing innovative, clever, clean beauty products to the masses. At the forefront of emerging trends, the brand is designed to make travel beauty simple, fun and affordable. 
​The brand was developed through Pamela's experiences growing up. Her mother owned her own beauty salon and from a young age Pam was completely involved in all things cosmetic. It wasn't long before she herself became completely focused with the products and she decided her passion was clear.

With her mother owning her own beauty salon, Pam found herself immersed in the beauty industry and it wasn't long before she became totally obsessed. 

For her, there really was never any other option other than beauty, and a few years ago Pamela recognised the opportunity to create something that could really make a difference. 

She decided to make changes to current products on the market, and focused on making good skincare and beauty hacks available to all, and Moxi Loves was born!

“I wanted convenient products, but without having to compromise on the quality. Moxi Loves is all about the minimal, considered ingredients. We develop smart, quick, practical bits of kit designed to simplify your beauty routine"

Pauric McGowan, Ph.D. is the Professor of Entrepreneurship and Business development at the Ulster University Business School.  He has been involved in entrepreneurship education and the training and mentoring of owner-managers of entrepreneurial small to medium sized enterprises, as well as executive training and mentoring, for over 30 years, as a member of the Northern Ireland Small Business Institute in the mid-to-late nineties and between 2002 and 2010 as the Director of the Northern Ireland Centre for Entrepreneurship. In this latter role he was responsible for leading the challenge to embed entrepreneurial learning and practice across faculties, including Science, Engineering and Technology’ within the two universities in Northern Ireland and Loughrey College, a uniquely transformative challenge within the higher education sector.

He has supported the leading decision-makers within commercial, public and social enterprises to have the personal confidence to formulate and implement transformative change strategies and to measure and account for the impact of that change on their enterprise as appropriate. This is his speciality.

Life has had so many twists and turns of late but Caroline is now on hernew Digg Mama journey. 

For the last 12 years Caroline had been the proprietor of DIGG Childrenswear which was a bricks and mortar store in County Tyrone Northern Ireland and online store also.  When Covid 19 hit, Caroline had to make big decisions for her business and her mental health. These were decisions Caroline didn’t make lightly, decisions which broke her heart yet also made her feel so free. Caroline has no regrets and is now on a new path, one which gives her fire in her belly again and makes her determined to make a difference in business and in life. During Caroline's time in DIGG Childrenswear she founded Digg For Success which is an organisation that helps businesses use social media to grow their brand and business. This has been a fantastic way for Caroline to meet and help, like minded individuals all wanting to push their business forward. 

In 2019 Caroline and her business partner Niamh Taylor (CEO Digital Twenty Four) founded the Northern Ireland Social Media Awards. Unfortunately due to Covid 19 they haven't been able to host the awards this year however they hope 2021 will bring better things for everyone and they can once again have a night with the stars.

Lately Caroline has found herself in a place whereby I needed a creative outlet for her busy mind. Caroline felt she needed to find something that she was good at and passionate about and let herself be "Caroline" again. 

Norah was anchor of the successful daily radio Breakfast Show on Newstalk and co-hosted The Today show on RTE 1 every Friday during the 2012/2013 season. In 2013, she decided to leave the successful business entrepreneur show Dragons’ Den to pursue a full-time career in radio and television. Her investment portfolio is diverse and includes online and traditional media businesses.

Norah is owner and Chairwoman of Ireland’s largest magazine publishing company Harmonia, printing over four million magazines annually for the Irish, British and USA market and selling on average 2.6 million in the Irish market annually. Harmonia publishes the top three best-selling women’s magazines in Ireland – Irish Tatler, Woman’s Way and U Magazine – along with a range of lifestyle and consumer titles such as Woman’s Way, CookBook, Food&Wine Magazine, Irish Tatler Man, Ireland of the Welcomes and Auto Ireland.

With a strong portfolio of brands and events from having run many successful publishing companies in London. A journalist and former nurse, Norah was awarded Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year 2007/8 and has been Ireland’s Publisher of the Year no fewer than four times. She has served on numerous boards, and is currently a member of the Press Council of Ireland, the London-based Women’s Irish Network and The International Women’s Forum.

Sarah is an experienced broadcast journalist and TV presenter, with a keen interest in stories and the people that shape them. Sarah is a familiar face to many in Northern Ireland, where she was news anchor in the BBC newsroom for 19 years. Sarah started her career with BBC Radio Foyle, and has presented lifestyle programming for UTV, Northern Ireland’s commercial TV channel.

Since setting up Bespoke Communications, Sarah has coached hundreds of people in media training, presentation skills and leadership development.  As Director of Bespoke Communications, Sarah develops media and crisis communications training programmes for a range of different organisations in the public, private and third sectors. She continues to appear on-screen as a TV presenter on a range of programmes and documentaries. Sarah holds a degree in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University.