By Business & Finance 
Attendees viewed a panel discussion titled ‘Scaling Your Business in 2021.’ Moderated by Olivia Lynch, Tax Partner at KPMG, panelists included: Fiona Dawson, President of Global Food, Multisales, and Global Customers at Mars, and Non-Executive Director at Lego; JD Buckley, CEO of Sky Ireland; and Eddie O’Connor, Executive Chairman of Mainstream Renewable Power.
The Business & Finance Awards, in association with KPMG, celebrated 46 years of honouring excellence in business yesterday evening in a virtual ceremony.
Awards were bestowed across five categories including: The 2020 Company of the Year in association with KPMG; Business Person of the Year in association with KPMG; Elevation Award in association with Enterprise Ireland; FDI of the Year in association with IDA Ireland and the Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Award.
Attendees also viewed a panel discussion titled ‘Scaling Your Business in 2021.’ Moderated by Olivia Lynch, Tax Partner at KPMG, panelists included: Fiona Dawson, President of Global Food, Multisales, and Global Customers at Mars, and Non-Executive Director at Lego; JD Buckley, CEO of Sky Ireland; and Eddie O’Connor, Executive Chairman of Mainstream Renewable Power.
The Business & Finance Awards 2020, in association with KPMG, is available to stream on demand on the Business & Finance Awards website.
Here are five key takeaways from the panel discussion.
Mainstream Renewable Power’s majority equity sale to Aker Horizons has helped the group reboot, reimagine and reinvent
Mainstream Renewable Power, the world’s leading pure-play renewable energy developer in high growth markets, has enjoyed a successful 2021 so far, in spite of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions. The company underwent a majority equity sale to Aker Horizons in a €1 billion deal. Eddie O’Connor, Executive Chairman of Mainstream Renewable Power, said that “Aker represented something really special in terms of what [Mainstream Renewable Power] were really looking for.”
He continued: “Here was a company that was looking to reposition itself. It was huge in fishing and in shipping, in oil and gas, in underwater stuff … They wanted to become big players in our industry … They’re also Norwegian. The Norwegians, when it comes to combatting global warming, are way ahead of us here in Ireland, they’re way ahead of almost every other nation. They’ve committed a huge amount of resources to it. The Norwegian government are investors in Aker. It’s very interesting for me as an Irish man who couldn’t get any kind of backing at all here in Ireland for any of our ventures.”
Sky Ireland emphasised well-being during the pandemic.
JD Buckley, CEO of Sky Ireland, spoke about what businesses can take from Sky Ireland’s approach to executing their plans. He began by discussing the difficulties faced by Sky: “We weren’t allowed to enter our customers’ homes, so servicing their broadband issues was an issue, we had to close our retail footprint for much of the year, and of course, live sport stopped for all of us for a period of time, which had a big knock on impact on our TV business.”
JD Buckley, CEO of Sky Ireland
Sky Ireland put together a plan that really focused on its people and its customers: “We decided that we were going to make our people our number one priority,” said Mr Buckley. “We had 1000 people in an office in Dublin. We got them all out and home safely, got them the tools they needed to do their work now. Anyone with a corporate background would know that that project would have taken about two years and a big project plan beforehand, and obviously we did it in a number of weeks.”
Sky Ireland implemented measures to ensure the mental health of its staff was looked after, and incorporated ‘Feelgood Fridays’ into its schedule, wherein stuff could take a few hours off every Friday to ensure their wellbeing. Communication was emphasised: “We were talking to our people much more frequently,” said Mr Buckley. “Much less formally than in the past … You were dropping into meetings on Zoom, you were doing weekly all-hands sessions.”
The power of disruption in defining business models
Fiona Dawson, President of Global Food, Multisales, and Global Customers at Mars, and Non-Executive Director at Lego, spoke about the power of disruption in defining business models. “Through every disruption comes, sometimes, the greatest period of creativity,” said Ms Dawson. “It frees you from the norm. Last year, we all had plans … We work across pet care and confectionary, and our food businesses, we saw very different dynamics across that – from an increase in pet ownership during lockdown periods through to some of our markets completely drying up.
Through every disruption comes, sometimes, the greatest period of creativity
“You had to make sure you moved your resources around, you really looked at your people. We’re seeing a massive increase in direct-to-consumer. Things that would have taken years, we’ve now leap-frogged in a consumer behaviour perspective. And we have to make sure we’re in tune with that.”
In the move towards net zero, you have to believe what you are talking about
Eddie O’Connor drew upon his extensive experience to discuss what businesses can do to tackle climate change. “There’s no point in looking upon this transition to sustainability as just an opportunity to make money,” he said. “You have to believe what you’re talking about. Whenever you interact with politicians or civil servants in a foreign country, they don’t really understand what’s gone wrong with this CO2 in the atmosphere and the enormous damage being done … Because policy determines everything for business … In Chile, we took the price of electricity down from about 11c down to 4.1c … To get that to happen, you really have to interact with the Minister for Energy, because we have to deal with this climate imperative.”
Eddie O’Connor, Executive Chairman of Mainstream Renewable Power
Business for good is important for success and a sustainable future
JD Buckley spoke extensively about the importance of pursuing business for good. “I do believe better business creates a better world … The impact of climate change and business strategies are very, very interlinked. At Sky, we have a commitment to go net zero carbon by 2030. To get there, we’re going to have to reduce our own carbon emissions.
“We feel we have got a voice through our channels, through Sky News … We want to use that platform to inspire other businesses to come with us on that journey.”
The Business & Finance Awards 2020, in association with KPMG, is available to stream on demand on the Business & Finance Awards website.
