Trading Up

We catch up with two former guests to find out what's happened since we first met them on the podcast. The Newry lawyer who took an Irish pharma firm onto the Nasdaq with a $1 billion plus listing and the Mid Ulster builder who constructed the top four floors of Mayfair's Claridges Hotel in Magherafelt. Who says remarkable things can't happen in remote places? John McEvoy and Mark Gribbin update Jim on how their respective businesses are continuing to grow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jan Cunningham believes in failure. He may have helped put Ulster Rugby on the world stage as European champions with a stunning victory in the 1999 Heineken Cup. But he contends that even that great team had more failures than successes. It's what you learn from the failures that makes all the difference. 25 years later and Jan is now Managing Partner at one of Northern Ireland's leading independent law firms, Millar McCall Wylie. On this episode he explores with Jim how he uses his elite sport experience to help guide his business decisions today and ensure that his law practice can continue to grow in an ever-changing and increasingly competitive market. Clare Guinness of Belfast Chamber joins the discussion and has an elite sports reveal of her own. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Things get meta on the podcast this week as Jim Fitzpatrick dives into AI with industry leaders Catriona Campbell of EY and Tom Gray of Kainos. Not only do they explore and explain the huge challenges and opportunities that AI presents to business, but Jim takes a mind-bending detour down the AI rabbit hole with an AI podcast within an AI podcast. Angela McGowan joins the discussion as they unpick what's vital for everyone in business to know, and to ask. No humans were harmed in the making of this podcast, though some machines were definitely involved. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Game of Thrones is one of the biggest TV shows ever made so you would expect a tour based around one of its key studio locations to be world class. And it is. The challenge for Sam Harding, the relatively new managing director at the Game of Thrones Studio Tour, isn’t the product or experience. It’s location – nestled in the countryside near Banbridge in the middle of Northern Ireland. What his offer lacks in obvious logistics – though Belfast and Dublin are within easy reach - is made up for in authenticity: the experience is here because this £40 million attraction is built around the studios where key parts of the show were made over several years. The old linen mill that had fallen idle was first reborn as studios and then when filming stopped as a visitor attraction containing many original sets, props, costumes and artefacts from the show. The financials have been challenging but Sam is on a mission. Bringing years of international experience to bear he has an ambitious plan now underway: cutting costs, raising revenue and building those visitor numbers. Find out how on this week’s podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.