Derek Foley Butler is the Executive Chairman and Founder of GRID Finance, the first financial services B-Corp in Ireland dedicated to building the financial health and resilience of Ireland’s SMEs. Derek is a 2025 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year finalist in the Established category.
What inspired you to start your company?
I was working with GOAL in Uganda, and I came across the Village Savings and Loan model, where groups of women would come together every week to save and lend together. It was the simplest banking model, but it worked brilliantly. That, married with my experience growing up in a microbusiness, led me to set up GRID Finance in 2013.
What are your main priorities and goals in your role?
My main priority is to keep growing GRID’s impact. We have helped around 4,000 businesses throughout Ireland, and we want to 5X this over the next 4 years. We believe that by helping businesses build their financial health and resilience, we are not just having a positive financial and economic impact on these businesses but also a positive social impact. We see a huge opportunity to support businesses in the future.
How do you keep your team/staff motivated?
Good communication is key. I am regimented about communicating the positive impact of the team’s work. Outside of that, we ensure regular meetups and gatherings (our team is across three locations) to create a bond within the team.
What are the challenges facing the industry going forward?
The main challenges facing us are the ones facing our customers. Our customers are finding the cost of doing business debilitating. Increases to the minimum wage, auto-enrolment, and other government-driven costs mean that making ends meet for a business is harder and harder.
Are there any major changes you would like to see in your sector?
The big thing would be making it easier to get regulated and to raise finance.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given in business?
Focus on the customer, not the technology! The technology is an enabler, but not an endpoint. The endpoint is a great product solving a real pain point for a customer, so much so that they are willing to pay you for it. That’s the core of any business, and if you lose sight of that, you are doomed! The other big piece of advice is: avoid people with big egos – egos are corrosive to good team functioning.
What advice would you give to others starting out in business?
Don’t go all in until you know you have some traction. I gave up full-time employment before I even had a product or knew what I was doing. I would not do that again, as I had enough cash to keep me going for six months. It took me 18 months to get launched.
What have been your highlights in business over the past year?
Being recognised in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year programme was a great moment. You spend much of your life in the trenches trying to build a business. Being in the awards programme has given me an amazing opportunity to reflect and focus on what we have achieved as a team. Other than that, seeing the continued growth of the business gives me great pride. That is growth in terms of the numbers, but also the positive impact the business is making.
What does being part of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year community mean to you, and how important is networking and connection to your journey as a business leader?
The community is amazing. It is supportive, positive, and full of business opportunities for us all. It definitely feels like joining a new tribe.
What is the best book you’ve ever read (non-business) and why?
Against the Gods – The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein. If you want to learn about the history of risk and its management in a really easy-to-understand way, this is the book for you. It will massively help you to understand the world we live in.
What is your favourite hobby and why?
Hiking – I have climbed four of the Seven Summits (the seven highest mountains on the seven continents). I love being outdoors, in nature. I also love to sail and race boats!
What is your mantra for life?
It can be encapsulated by the following phrase attributed to Mark Twain. It reflects very much how I have tried to live my life:
“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Read more CEO Q&As: