Jennifer Shaw and Claire Finnan, Co-founders of The Pregnancy and Baby Fair
Claire Finnan, Co-founder of The Pregnancy and Baby Fair takes the Business & Finance 60-second interview challenge.
Q. What was your first job? I started off in Nursing. I’m so incredibly glad every day that I did Nursing as although it didn’t turn out to be my life long career, it taught me more about people, life, deadlines, stress, working under pressure and the value of teamwork than any other job could ever have. Q. What would you regard as your greatest achievement to date? Its sounds cliché but working in the baby industry it is very relevant – without a doubt, my two beautiful little baby boys are my greatest achievement and my top priority. Q. In three words or fewer, how do you define success? Financial freedom and choice. Q. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? My Dad once gave me the best advice I have ever received – ‘Stay humble and never get greedy’. Q. How do you motivate yourself and your staff? I love listening to podcasts – especially anything related to running or building a business. I find them hugely inspirational. With our team, it’s really important to continually listen to them, find out what drives them and then try to meet that need. Whether that be more flexible hours, new challenges or even more money – we will always try to make sure that our team members are happy in order to keep them motivated. We truly value everyone who works with us. Q. If you could step into the shoes of one business person for the day, who would it be and why? To help us learn how to improve things even more for our exhibitors, I’d love to step into their shoes for the day and see how The Pregnancy & Baby Fair runs from their perspective. I think it would be fascinating to see how they make sales on the day and how the way we operate impacts them. Q. How do you relax? Netflix and pizza! I’m lucky in that I find it really easy to switch off. Other ways I relax include walking on the beach with the boys and my husband and having lunch with my co-founder Jen and my friends – but Netflix holds a special place in my heart! Q. What’s your motto? My main motto that I try to be conscious of in both my professional and personal life is ‘Be generous always’. Q. What are your aspirations for the future of your business? We will be expanding all elements of our business in 2020 – exhibitions, trade exhibitions and digital. We are the authority in the Irish ‘Baby’ sector in all of these areas and we want to continually build on that.
Be generous always.
