Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly

Jessie Collins is a Dublin-based editorial and content strategist with over two decades of experience crafting compelling brand narratives and leading multi-platform storytelling across Ireland’s most respected media, lifestyle, and cultural platforms. Throughout her career, she has steered award-winning editorial teams, launched pioneering initiatives, and helped shape the content landscape for both print and digital. From relaunching Irish Tatler for the digital era to directing content for IMAGE and Cara magazines, she has worked at the intersection of journalism, brand strategy, and creative innovation.Irish Tatler is a long-running Irish women’s magazine with a rich history dating back to the late 19th century. It was first published in 1890 under the name The Lady of the House, founded by John T. McDonnell, who was also the publisher of The Irish Independent. Its original mission was to provide practical advice and aspirational content for Irish women, covering fashion, society, household tips, and culture. Today, it continues to be a prominent voice in Irish media, celebrating female achievement and providing insight into fashion, culture, and modern Irish life. This is perhaps best encapsulated by the Irish Tatler's Women of the Year Awards, celebrating its 25th anniversary and proudly sponsored by Davy in 2025 for a second year. The awards have always been about championing the achievements of women, while also being an opportunity to take stock of where we are in terms of equality, opportunity and progress.This is the 65th episode in the Davy podcast series ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’ with special guest Jessie Collins, Editor and producer of Irish Tatler's Women of the Year Awards.

Hailing from Barna in Co. Galway, Lorraine Heskin studied in University of Limerick before heading off to New York for 4 years working in a diverse range of food businesses. On returning to Dublin in 2006, she founded the Gourmet Food Parlour, opening its first 25-seater café in Dun Laoghaire.Since then, it has evolved to become Dublin’s most trusted restaurant group, with 12 locations across Dublin, Meath and Galway including a state-of-the-art catering kitchen in Santry. In 2023, they opened 3 unique dining concepts inside the iconic Arnotts Dublin department store, and now have a fourth there, as well as two in Brown Thomas, employing 320 people in total.As CEO, Lorraine’s hands on approach to running the business is the driving force behind the company. Her dedication, determination, and hard work filters down throughout the company. She was an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist in 2023 and recently won CEO of the year at the inaugural Business Post, Leadership and Excellence Awards. She has her own consultancy business established where she works with female entrepreneurs on their business journey, guiding and encouraging them to grow and scale.This is the 63rd episode in the Davy podcast series ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’ with special guest Lorraine Heskin, CEO of The Gourmet Food Parlour.

After formative years at Deloitte, DCC, Nestlé, Uniq, and Northern Foods—where he oversaw multi-site operations and delivered dramatic turnarounds—Garry was appointed CEO of Mezzan Holding in 2011, becoming the first non-family member to lead the Kuwait-based conglomerate. Mezzan Holding is one of the Gulf region’s leading diversified conglomerates, with deep roots in food, healthcare, and consumer sectors. Built on over 70 years of legacy, Mezzan is recognized for trusted brands, operational discipline, and its regional footprint across 7 countries.Over his 14 years tenure, Garry guided Mezzan through an ambitious growth phase: spearheading its IPO, refocusing on core segments like food and pharmaceuticals, executing acquisitions and disposals, and establishing independent governance in a traditionally family-led enterprise. Now serving as a strategic advisor and non-executive board member in various enterprises, Garry continues to shape strategic initiatives in the region, while also pursuing ventures like Planow.ai—a retail analytics startup tackling real-time inventory insights.This is the 61st episode in the Davy podcast series ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’ with special guest Garry Walsh, Chairman and Founding Partner at planow.ai.

After completing a Graduate program in Marketing, Marc O’Dwyer began his sales career at Allied Irish Banks, Pitney Bowes and Panasonic, before succumbing to his entrepreneurial spirit in 1992 when he set up his own business, Irish International Sales (IIS). Initially, this company was a reseller for Take 5 Accounts and Payroll software. Within four years, IIS became the largest reseller of Take 5 in Ireland, acquiring four other Take 5 resellers. He also found time to set up two mobile phone shops under the Cellular World brand and a web design company offering website design services for small businesses.In 2001, he bought the majority share in a small Irish software business, Big Red Book. At that time, the company was losing money. The company became profitable within six weeks, and Marc then acquired a payroll company to compliment Big Red Books Accounting products. In 2003, IIS were appointed as Channel Partners with SAP for their new SME product, SAP Business One. Marc sold his Take 5 business and concentrated on developing this new market for SAP, and in 2008, IIS was bought in an MBO.He launched Big red cloud in June 2012, the online version of big red book, which has been a huge success with a customer retention rate of 94% and unparalleled customer support. Marc sold both Big Red Book and Big Red Cloud in April 2025 at which stage the companies had supported over 75,000 businesses.This is the 59th episode in the Davy podcast series ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’ with special guest Marc O’Dwyer, Founder and Entrepreneur.

When John Travers completed his Engineering degree he began working with Shell International, operating a major oil asset in the Netherlands. He subsequently went on to work at Shell Technology Ventures, commercialising new technologies for the global energy market.Next there was a stint with McKinsey working closely with CEOs, company boards and governments in multinational oil majors, before breaking out on his own as founding CEO of Alternative Energy Resources, which became a leading alternative energy company in Ireland. AER grew to supply sustainable biofuels to more retail networks in Ireland than any other company. He declined a takeover offer from DCC and led the company to an alternative exit, providing 16 times return to initial shareholders.He started a second business, Aer-Bio, to provide biotechnology solutions to the biofuels, industrial chemicals and nutraceuticals markets, and this company was bought by Cellulac plc in a share deal. Next, he stepped back into the multinational sector as founding managing director of DCC New Energy, a division focused on solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy.Then his career took a very unusual turn…. But I wont spoil the surprise on that just yet!This is the 57th episode in the Davy podcast series ‘Everyday Business with Aidan Donnelly’ with special guest John Travers, Author and former Corporate Executive.