BUSINESS LESSONS
What advice would you give a young person starting out in the sector today?
When I was starting out one of my senior colleagues said to me: “Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand something — be inquisitive, it’s not a sign of weakness that you don’t understand something.”
I think that’s really good advice and it’s something I try to do even in my current role. It really helps increase engagement.
On a wider level, what have you done to keep your staff engaged with the company during the lockdowns?
I’m so proud of how our people have adapted. I’ve always been lucky to work with great people so I miss the spontaneous interaction you get in an office. For example, we had Nigel Owens, the rugby referee, a very interesting guy. So afterwards I could ring people and say: ‘Hey, did you watch that, it was good wasn’t it?’ Our staff adapted amazingly well to working from home, but it’s important that we still try to maintain our company culture so these things are important.
Have you a target as to how big Amundi Ireland can become in terms of staff from its current 350?
We’ve got an office here with plenty of space to grow. We’ve been adding incremental roles to the company. I don’t really have a number at this stage in terms of staffing, but it’s going to grow. We’re successful and that’s what we want to do.
John O’Connell, a co-founder of West Cork Distillers, has cut a frustrated figure due to Brexit’s complications.
Since Brexit, West Cork Distillers has struggled to get botanicals for its gin production into Ireland. The issue was of concern over January and February, with the company forced to turn off one of its gin distilleries over part of February.
O’Connell describes the challenges for his sector as a “suppressed disaster”, feeling the issues haven’t received the attention they deserve.
“There isn’t the commensurate amount of noise for all the trouble it has caused the food and beverage industry in Ireland,” he said.
He added: “The competent authorities concentrated too much on trying to get a soft Brexit through — and everyone took their eye off the ball with regard to the paperwork that was going to have to be done regardless. It isn’t as easy a transition as people think.”
O’Connell said he had mostly resolved the botanicals issue. He has however also experienced problems with UK customers not having the correct paperwork to take West Cork products from the ports to their premises.