Guaranteed Irish CEO Brid O'Connell. Image: Damien Eagers Photography
Guaranteed Irish CEO Brid O’Connell discusses reviving the not-for-profit and why giving back to the community is the way to get ahead.
For every business out there, public perception and reputation is a vital element of success. Whether the company is a small local business or a sprawling multinational, the view that the public has can make or break a firm’s success in a region.
One person who understands this better than most is Brid O’Connell, the CEO of the not-for-profit Guaranteed Irish, which recently marked its 50th anniversary. The organisation currently represents more than 2,000 members made up of businesses of all sizes and the symbol it bestows on successful companies is nationally recognised.
But the journey of Guaranteed Irish has not been a simple one. When O’Connell took the reins in 2016, she said the brand had turned “tired” and the organisation needed a “massive reboot”.
“I knew it was an amazing brand,” O’Connell said. “I knew we could bring it back to life, and if we could bring it back to life, I knew it would do great things.”
This was no issue for O’Connell however, as the business veteran is used to taking risks in her career. Before beginning her own business in the past, O’Connell said she worked in the public sector in a “very safe, pensionable job”.
“So I was in a great place, and I could have stayed there forever,” O’Connell said. “But I think I would have actually lost it. I needed the freedom of just a challenge and working for myself and seeing how that would go. And I set up a PR marketing consultancy, and it was the best thing I ever did. And I thought I’d do it for three or four years when my kids were small.
“Those two things are the biggest rewards I ever had. One, working for myself, which I really enjoyed and was fantastic and a journey I would encourage anyone to take.
“And the second one was kind of sidestepping into an old brand that a lot of people thought had died, but just needed the kiss of life and it’s thriving again.”
Becoming Guaranteed Irish
O’Connell said the not-for-profit has inherited a “national centre of trust” and has a “custodial” role in keeping that going. She said there is an opportunity for businesses of all sizes to “dial up the trust factor”.
“We saw that during Covid, people wanted to know their supply chain and where the business was coming from,” she said. “They want to see it in blockchain, they want to see all the moving parts.
“So it’s really important that we capitalise on Ireland as a trusted country and that businesses operating out of Ireland – be they homegrown or international – can be trusted.”
To get the Guaranteed Irish symbol, O’Connell said a business needs to be a “company that supports”, has a physical presence in Ireland and “pays your taxes here”. The business also has to support quality jobs and be good to its people – “and that’s all about your culture and the trust again”.
“The second piece is you’re giving back to your community,” O’Connell said. “By the community, I mean Ireland.
“So, giving back in a way to Ireland that’s not just about jobs and the taxes that your staff pay here, but you’re also giving back over and above, something that may not necessarily help your company, but it’s good for society.
“So, it could be a charity, it could be a sport, it could be education, there’s so many opportunities. There’s so many ideas out there and people are doing great work.”
What do businesses need?
Working with companies of all sizes and from all sectors has given O’Connell and her staff a busy and varied schedule, but it’s also given her a “great understanding of what’s going on on the ground” and the Irish economy.
In her view, one key challenge for Irish companies – particularly in the tech sector – is the ability to “scale and scale fast”.
“A lot of the tech companies are ideas, they aren’t fully-fledged business models yet. There’s a lot of support for start-up communities, there’s no question about that, particularly in the tech sector.
“However, to move on, they really need to be mentored by business leaders who have already done this and grown in scale. So I think there’s a space there where – and we do a lot of this – we introduce our larger tech member business leaders to our smaller guys to try and help mentor them and give them some advice, and they will always take a phone call.”
But another issue that O’Connell said is impacting all Irish businesses is cost, as she says they are “spiralling and becoming a concern, particularly for SMEs.
“They’re being hit with everything, and there just isn’t the support and the money in the cash flow to keep them going,” she said.
“Costs are a big concern, and we need to be careful we don’t cost ourselves out of the market, particularly in the tech space where people are going to go to further destinations to get the same work done for a lot less money. So, we need to be very careful about that.”
An aging issue
Diversity is an issue that is more often discussed in the business world in recent years. While there are various forms of diversity and areas to improve upon, O’Connell believes one diversity issue among Irish businesses is around age.
“I see a lot of people who are have amazing experience, they hit a certain age – and maybe it’s because they’re demanding too much on the pay packet but I don’t think so – my experience would be a lot of people hit 50 and there’s a reluctance to move jobs. Because there’s a fear that they won’t get another opportunity post-50.
“I think it’s really important that that doesn’t take a hold. That would be a mistake. We have such great leaders and great experience – look, you can only get experience through time.”
O’Connell also believes there’s a lack of fresh faces in terms of Irish business leaders, noting that the same names and faces “pop up time and time again”.
“And people would say, well it’s up to people to put their hand up,” O’Connell said. “But when they put their hand up a lot of the time, and I would say this myself, we all tend to go for the tried and tested names, which is a mistake.
“I’m very conscious and very anti-group think, I think it’s really important to be innovative, yet have a steady pair of hands at any ship, But it’s about having the mix.”
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