By Business & Finance 
Rowan Devereux, Chair, Halo Business Angel Network’s (HBAN) Bloom Equity
Rowan Devereux, Chair, HBAN‘s Bloom Equity, takes on the Business & Finance 60-second interview challenge.
Q. What was your first job? My first proper job was selling Lotus sports cars to the rich and famous in the mid-to-late eighties in Surrey in the UK. Q. What would you regard as your greatest achievement to date? I’ve enjoyed business success, building and selling a successful business and investing in several others. However, for me, my four children, who are fast turning into fine young adults, are my greatest achievement. Q. In three words or less, how do you define success? Happy, healthy, no regrets! Q. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? It was a very Irish piece of advice I got when I first set up a company in Galway and things weren’t going to well. I think the actual advice was “Sure it’s only money, your health is your real wealth. Just remember hearses don’t have tow bars!” These are words to live by. Q. How do you motivate yourself and your staff? I motivate myself through the innate fear of wasting time, it’s just such a precious commodity. With staff it’s through empowerment and ownership, and the fact that we’re all on the same journey together. I think it’s important to have total transparency. Q. If you could step into the shoes of one business person for the day, who would it be and why? I think it would have to be someone like Dermot Desmond or Denis O’Brien, I think their international business portfolios are fascinating and I would love to see what sort of challenges they are dealing with on a daily basis. Q. How do you relax? I cut grass, not only at my own house but at the local soccer fields, too! Q. What’s your motto? Carpe diem. Q. What are your aspirations for the future of your business? Ultimately, I would like to see all the founders of the businesses I’m involved with succeed to the very maximum of their potential; some will make it on the journey or path they are on presently, some will have to learn from their mistakes, spin up and go again.
I motivate myself through the innate fear of wasting time, it’s just such a precious commodity. With staff it’s through empowerment and ownership, and the fact that we’re all on the same journey together. I think it’s important to have total transparency.
Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) is an all-island umbrella group responsible for the development of business angel syndicates. HBAN actively works to increase the number of angel investors involved in investing in early-stage companies and supports the formation of new and existing angel networks, both regionally and internationally, and within industry sectors.
Bloom Equity is a group of experienced entrepreneurs who have successfully built technology companies in SaaS, software distribution, enterprise software, Internet and telecoms. Many of the organisation’s members are industry veterans that have successfully set up and sold technology companies previously.
