Philip Bain is the co-founder of ShredBank – a multi-award-winning on-site shredding company and the author of two business books: Start to Grow and Start to Lead. Being a well-known public speaker and a lay-preacher, Philip is no stranger to microphones and has used his influence to raise tens of thousands of pounds for the Princes Trust and other charitable organisations.

Cowfield Design is a father and son, creative design crafts business setup by Conor and Sean Kelly. After starting initially as a hobby making lamps/mirrors out of Donegal driftwood, requests for stock in shops and commissions kickstarted the Cowfield journey into a full-time gig. Two years later, Cowfield Design has a whole host of products that celebrate Northern Ireland including beautifully crafted models of the Harland and Wolff Cranes, Belfast Sink, Titanic and Wild Atlantic Way.

Tim Brundle is the Director of Research & Impact at Ulster University. He also holds the position of CEO of Innovation Ulster Ltd, the university’s award-winning investment company, alongside working closely with Invest NI, being the Chair of Young Enterprise NI, a trustee of Blick Shared Studios and actively involved in the local start-up scene. So he’s a busy man, to say the least. In today’s episode, we cover Tim’s early career, including helping out in his mum’s art shop as a boy, interviewing the top 100 CEOs in Northern Ireland as a student and working for the Ministry of Defence. We also discover what it takes for a startup to succeed and how to keep the main thing the main thing with a busy, demanding schedule.

Serial entrepreneur Eleanor McEvoy is the CEO of Next-Gen Power — a green energy business focused on bringing renewable electricity to the masses through affordable solar panel and battery technology. A two-time EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, Eleanor broke new ground by becoming the first private supplier of electricity in the Northern Ireland market and ROI with Budget Energy. She’s also the Northern Ireland's Ambassador for Entrepreneurship. Before that, Eleanor successfully built and sold two companies: Pembroke Distributors and Phonecard Warehouse. Plus as a dragoness on two seasons of RTE’s Dragons Den, Eleanor has made substantial investments in a number of young businesses.

Mark Todd is a local architect who designs buildings that become a meaningful part of people’s lives and the places they inhabit. He’s also a coffee-lover, music-fanatic, a fellow resident in Ormeau Baths. Over the last year or so, Mark and I have had the weirdest and most wonderful spontaneous conversations in corridors, kitchens and cafes. The more I’ve gotten to know him, the more I find him to be a kindred spirit and one of the most interesting conversationalists I know.

Peter Dixon grew up in an Irish Catholic family in Liverpool.  After leaving school at 16 without any professional qualifications, he worked as a gas fitter, a plumber and a welder. But through a lot of hard work and volunteering for jobs nobody else wanted, Peter began to rise through the ranks of management. Against all the odds, Peter landed a huge opportunity with British Gas and ended up spearheading the colossal task of bringing natural gas to Northern Ireland for the first time in the 90s.

Claire Leese is a fashion stylist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. After spending the early days of her career in London working in the music industry with artists like The Darkness and Lilly Allen, Claire returned to NI just in time to work on the pilot of Game Of Thrones. She then went on to have a very successful and fast-paced career working on Thrones for five seasons.

Max Mackin is an entrepreneur and movie buff from Belfast, Northern Ireland. As probably the last person in the UK to contact Polio, Max had a very short-lived school career. But at 18-years-old — with no real experience or qualifications — Max moved to London to seek his fortune. After stumbling into a career in recruitment, he painstakingly worked his way up through the company and left as the Head of UK Operations. 

Norman Surplus is a pioneer from Larne, Northern Ireland. He’s also a video game designer, wind-farmer, lifeboat captain, log-cabin builder, cancer survivor and most recently the first man to circumnavigate the world in an autogyro. Known as a gyrocraft or gyrocopter, these nifty flying machines are a cross between a helicopter and a motorbike. In 2010, Norman set out from his hometown Larne on a journey that would take him all around the world — and in a bizarre turn of events — nine years to complete.

Nadine Patterson is a puppet-maker from Northern Ireland. From making models as a child to working in the puppet hospital on a Tim Burton movie set, Nadine has one of the most interesting stories we’ve ever featured on the podcast. Her passion for art and working with tiny things has led her all over the world and put her in contact with some of the biggest names in the film industry (including Wes Anderson for his latest movie Isle Of Dogs).

Colin Williams is the BAFTA-winning children’s television creator, showrunner and writer behind Sixteen South — a production company that has produced 450+ episodes for networks like Disney Junior, CBeebies, Nick Jr, Hulu, PBS Kids and much, much more. Colin & company have picked up over 50 international awards including two EMMY® nominations, a British Animation Award, the coveted Prix Jeunesse and a BAFTA for the Best Independent Production Company.

Katrina Cairns is one of the youngest people we’ve ever had on the podcast. She’s also the first person I’ve ever met with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). At 14-years-old Katrina unexpectedly developed chronic pain in her knees, elbows, fingers, neck, hips and toes… and after a challenging year of doctors not knowing why, she was finally diagnosed with early-onset Arthritis, something that according to Katrina, is much more common than you think. 

Despite being only 23-years-old, Ballymena born & bred Sarah Mcbride has already worked with Google, Nokia, a VC firm in NYC — and launched a t-shirt company that doesn’t exist… While holding her current marketing role at Betaworks, Sarah has been using her “spare time” to create Cross & Freckle: an AI t-shirt company that has garnered global media attention and coverage from the likes of Product Hunt and WIRED Magazine.