We were thrilled to be the sponsor for the MBA Summit in Dublin last week and there was a wonderful launch night last Friday that set things off nicely for the next day. The MBA Summit is about creating career-advancing opportunities for its MBA attendees through the recruitment event, full-day conference and networking sessions.
Carol Tallon, CEO of Property District launched the event Friday evening with Daryl Byrne, CEO of Euronext addressing attendees about the MBA and some thoughts for the day ahead. Friday night was about recruiting, and students were met with some wonderful potential employers who were eagerly awaiting top talent. Recruiters included, Sigmar Recruitment, Client Solutions, Morgan McKingley and Trustap.
Saturday morning came and there was such a high calibre of speakers overall and here are some of the highlights:
Balancing the MBA was a main topic for discussion with students obviously, under pressure to deliver but Louise Niemann, CFO at City Bin Co. had good advice saying, “Don’t overwork yourself.” Kevin McDonagh, Director of Sales at Actelion, spoke of his own experiences with the MBA and how he dedicated himself to it during the week before taking time off to concentrate on his family at the weekends.
David W.Duffy indicated the importance of digital marketing and establishing companies on social media networks. David W. Duffy, CEO of The Governance Company joined Siobhan Byrne Learat, CEO of Adams & Butler – both who have achieved MBAs and have since gone on to establish their own businesses.
John Power had three golden rules to share with attendees including, sales are for show, margin is for dough and cash is king. John Power is of course, the Director of SGL and he highlighted the importance of the MBA in the modern business market.
Eleanor Farrell, CCO of Bus Eireann spoke to the room about what it means to her to be part of the senior leadership team at Bus Eireann. Eleanor is using her MBA to transform the company and it is the first year that Bus Eireann is on target to make profit as a result of the changes to the senior leadership team.
Inspiration came from James McCarthy, who aged 27 had no commercial experience when undertaking his MBA. Fast forward to now and James is the CEO of the Nissan Ireland after using his law background to transform to business and carve an exceptional career.
Maureen King, Founder and CEO of ITrustEthics addressed the attendees about her interesting career and how an MBA changed her whole life. Maureen believed her path was to “do good” so she created ITrust to follow her life’s purpose.
Brendan Hughes, CEO of Bionic spoke about his career, the opportunities that have come his way and how to lead in difficult situations.
Ritika Israni delivered a keynote speech regarding her achievement of becoming top of her MBA class and how she is encouraging other MBA students to make the most of their resources and connections.
Colm O’Reilly gave top advice saying, “surround yourself by people who know more than you do.” Colm O’Reilly is the Sunday Business Post CEO and Colm’s wealth of experience shone through with him saying MBA students need to ask for help when they need it. Networking was another point Colm had and he told the room how important it is to create an amazing network around you.
Space as a service was the featured challenge put to the students by the Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) as part of the consulting contest. John Savage, COO of RGRE attended on Saturday to see what the students had to offer. The winner was Daniel Rahnavard after much deliberations! The contest was well received and there were some great presentations.
Congratulations to Barry O’Sullivan on a well-organised and informative event and thanks for letting us be a part of it.