Pipit Global
JUNE 2014 - PRESENT, Ireland Ireland
This is the day job. Co-founder and CEO of Emerging Markets Payments Services Provider (PSP). We now process payments in 50 countries across African and LatAm
How did I get onto the rollercoaster of being an Entrepreneur?
Due to a strong ambitious streak, I have been an Entrepreneur since I left collage. I opened the doors on my first business (literally, as it was a retail store) two months after handing in my primary thesis. Since then I have my career has been focused on business growth - as a founder, a CEO and as a consultant.
I have been based in Galway, west of Ireland for all of my career - but my experience has spanned the world, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin and North America.
As a Founder, I have worked bringing ideas to market and then scaling them in FinTech, GreenTech, Sports, Hardware, Retail, The Arts and Entertainment.
As a consultant I have worked scaling companies in Security, Food, Training and Tech.
Central to all of these roles has been growth - get a product to market and then scale the business.
JUNE 2014 - PRESENT, Ireland Ireland
This is the day job. Co-founder and CEO of Emerging Markets Payments Services Provider (PSP). We now process payments in 50 countries across African and LatAm
NOVEMBER 1998 - SEPTEMBER 2018 Ireland
Twenty years of market research, marketing and strategy for Start Ups and SMEs - all focused on growth
NOVEMBER 1998 - SEPTEMBER 2018 Ireland
Product Development Strategy in Sports and Hardware Industry
Atlantic Centre – NUI Galway
Session: July 2016
One week intensive in class with 10 other west of Ireland tech start-ups/scale ups planning for our businesses. The ‘Applied’ piece was the plan had to be implemented over the following six months to pass and get the Post Grad.
At this stage PiP iT was two years old and this course was a key stage its development, not least due to being where I met Prof Bob Rosenberg. Bob was the visiting Professor from Chicago Booth University who ran the program. He has been a mentor of mine since then and his advice and support has been invaluable. (Bob has now moved to Galway and is the Entrepreneur in Residence in The Portershed innovation centre where I am based.)
Doing a course like this is not just about what you learn, but who you meet.
Sheffield
Session: April – June 2015
Although not a course where I came out with a qualification, participating in an accelerator is a valuable learning experience. Dot Forge is for social impact technology companies (PiP iT is a Financial Inclusion Social Impact company) with 12 Start Ups from around the world. I participated in this 13-week program as CEO of PiP iT. Despite having a Masters in Business Strategy and twenty years’ experience, I learned an amazing amount about the process of starting a tech company and a impact company. All the Start Ups there were both tech and impact, but the distinct elements have different requirements i.e. how to be both a tech start up and make a social impact.
Regardless of how much you know already, you can always learn more.
London School of Economics
Session: August 2014
Intensive week in LSE with a mix of twenty entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs (being an innovator within a corporate). Some were start up people like me, some where innovators in major corporations. At this stage the idea for PiP iT was in early ideation (concept) phase. Unexpectedly, within minutes of the start on day one we were told we all had to do a five-minute pitch, with the first pitch starting in five minutes. Once pitches were done, we then had fifteen minutes to form project groups… with a room of total strangers. In at the deep end for this course.
This was the first time I pitched PiP iT. With four others we formed a group with PiP iT as our project. By the end of the week in LSE, I had decided that PiP iT was my future and I was going full tilt to make it happen.
Life changing decisions can come unexpectedly, you need to be ready to grasp them.
NUI Galway
Session: 1996
Having only graduated a year earlier from my degree, I hadn’t enough experience to qualify for an MBA and I wasn’t prepared to wait for a Masters, so decided to do one full time… while working full time. It was a busy year.
At this stage Needful Things was in its second year and I was working on a New Product Development project of what became Air-Glide Golf Trolley. It was an idea with a prototype at the time. To move it forward I used it as the group research paper for our Innovation project – specifically on researching the international golf market. I also completed my thesis on New Product Development in Sports Industry.
Learned a lot about time management here! Working six days a week in the comic shop, doing a full time Masters and using all the project and research time on a product development I was involved in!
Be prepared to put in the long hours to achieve your goals.
Athlone RTC (now AIT)
Session: 1990 to 1994
A four-year Degree Program (made up of two year Cert, one year Diploma and final year Degree) was very competitive. The number of students who could progress into the Diploma and then onto the Degree were set. This meant to get into the Diploma wasn’t a case of getting to a certain mark, it was being in the top 60 in the class. For the Degree, only 30 made it through.
These four years provided me with a solid base of business and marketing knowledge that has served me well since.
We see lots of stories about entrepreneurs who dropped out of college to start a business and became billionaires. Don’t believe this hype! For every person who drops out and is successful, there are thousands who wish they had finished college. The grounding a Degree brings you will be with your forever.