By Business & Finance 
Founder and CEO of the all-island healthcare, housing and renewables specialist, Mairéad Mackle is an award-winning entrepreneur, a champion for women in business and for doing things differently.
Our team are united in the belief that business can be a force for good and we work collectively to make a positive difference to people’s lives.
What are your main priorities and goals in your role?
Our priority has always been to think “beyond business” – to create sustainable and innovative solutions that tackle pertinent social and environmental issues including social care, healthcare, homelessness and energy. As Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford once said, ‘a business making nothing but money is a poor business’.
What are your biggest challenges as CEO?
Pandemic restrictions presented every CEO with unfathomable issues to deal with. Now, rising costs and inflation are presenting real problems, along with recruitment. But with confidence in the future, careful planning, management and optimism – and an invigorated focus on developing talent and skills – these can be overcome.
How do you keep your team/ staff motivated?
Our team are united in the belief that business can be a force for good and we work collectively to make a positive difference to people’s lives. We’re goal-focused in this and it’s a strong bond that keeps us together.
What are the challenges facing the industry going forward?
A net-zero world will create big challenges for every sector, including our own, but we’ve already started on this journey and we’re excited to be investing in and expanding our renewables business as a key priority in our five-year strategy. For those that embrace it, the opportunities are huge. The real challenge will be to keep costs in check.
We value passion and ambition and seek to plug any gaps with good training and development opportunities.
What new trends are emerging in your industry?
With the nature of our business across climate, housing and renewables, we see continued, rising demand for our services. Housing in Ireland is a pertinent issue and needs addressed. Whilst we provide homecare support services, we also provide thousands of beds to those at risk of homelessness, which is one of the most important societal issues of our time.
Are there any major changes you would like to see in your sector?
We would like to see a better collective acknowledgement of the value of the contribution that care staff make to improve the lives of families and individuals in their later years. Society can easily be measured by the way it treats its elderly citizens.
As an employer are you finding any skill gaps in the market?
Training and maintaining core talent and skills is a priority for us and we work hard to attract those people with the right cultural fit in the first instance.
We value passion and ambition and seek to plug any gaps with good training and development opportunities.
How did your strategy develop in the context of the banking crisis and economic crisis?
There will never be the ‘perfect’ time to establish a new business – there will always be something in the wider macro, micro or political climate that requires delicate navigation. During 28 years in business, we’ve seen many ups and downs, but it’s never deterred us from looking forward with optimism to find new opportunities and learn new ways to address those challenges. It’s made us stronger.
We’ve always felt strongly about being able to give back.
How has Brexit affected you?
Brexit has created a lot of uncertainty around ways of doing business, such as management of tariffs, taxes, and regulations. However, as a dynamic all-island business we’ve learnt to adapt and overcome and have been able to progress with our growth plans relatively unhindered at this point.
How has the COVID-19 crisis affected your business/sector?
It was a deeply worrying time for everyone, but particularly for our homecare business where it directly impacted the lives of our clients, their families and our staff.
How do you define success and what drives you to succeed?
We’ve always felt strongly about being able to give back. We have our own employee-led charity iCare which has already raised almost €600,000 and granted 400 iCare ‘wishes’ to a growing number of individuals and families. However big or small, there’s a real, genuine sense of achievement when what we do makes the lives of others better.
Our growth plans in housing, healthcare and renewables will also create around 300 jobs and we’re excited to get going under our new brand umbrella.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given, or would give, in business?
I’m incredibly passionate about encouraging more women into business. We need to urgently harness the talent, insight and experience of businesswomen more. I recently curated a book called Evolve: Voices of Leadership which features the insights of 16 top female leaders from around the world – their stories and advice are inspirational for women in every industry.
What have been your highlights in business over the past year?
We recently launched our new brand identity of Tarasis Enterprises, which streamlines our operations of healthcare, support services, housing and renewables, under one umbrella. Our longstanding and successful charitable programmes will also sit under Tarasis Foundation as part of this strategic reorganisation, consolidating our collective philanthropic initiatives.
What’s next for your company?
Our five-year growth plan details an investment of almost €12 million in our core operations here which builds on a similar-sized investment over recent years. Our growth plans in housing, healthcare and renewables will also create around 300 jobs and we’re excited to get going under our new brand umbrella.
Where do you want your business/brand to be this time next year?
We want to expand our Ireland operations in housing, support services, renewables and domiciliary care. We’ve already made a strong start to our new 5-year growth plan and have made good headway on our new job target, but we will continue to do what we have always done – focusing on the positive impact we can make to other people’s lives.
