Dáithí O'Connor is the managing director of Revive Active, a Galway company which researches, develops and manufactures high quality health supplements which are stocked in 800 retail outlets.
What sets your business apart from the competition? We have four products in total, two of which – Revive Active and Joint Complex – are made in Ireland and we have partnered with leading producers for our Krill Oil and our Ubiquinol Q10 product.
Our Revive Active is the most complete health food supplement on the market in Europe today in terms of the quality of the ingredients and the synergy of those ingredients with each other.
Unusually in this business, we supply direct to the retailers so we have cut out distributors and wholesalers. This means that we can invest more in the products themselves by cutting out the middleman.
What has been your biggest challenge? Funding and cash flow. You have your foot on the accelerator and the brake at the same time. As a small company you are trying to buy stock and people are also pushing you for credit. You're caught in between trying to do your research and development, market, grow the business . . .
If you can’t raise money through banks or the Government, you’re selling equity. That was the biggest challenge at the beginning – managing to grow and holding on to the majority of equity in the business.
What has been your biggest success? A milestone for us was in 2012 being recognised as a HPSU [high-performance start-up] by Enterprise Ireland and hitting €1 million in turnover in July 2014. We have 14 people working in the company for us now, which is another milestone.
What key piece of advice would you give to someone starting a business? What's the best business advice you have ever received? Once you have decided on what you are doing, don't deviate. Keep your eye on the goal and don't get side-tracked. You also have to be honest with yourself and the people you work with and keep one eye over your shoulder – business is tough.
Who do you most admire in business? I admire John Magnier. He had to leave school at 15 following the death of his father to manage the family estate. Today his business interests spread across the globe and he is regarded as the most influential person in thoroughbred bloodstock in the world. He is low-key and highly respected in both business and the horse racing industry. As an Irishman I would be very proud of what he has achieved.
What could the Government do to help small and medium-sized enterprises in the current environment? If a company fails, as an employee you are entitled to social welfare, redundancy etc but a company director is entitled to nothing. I feel that this is criminal and is a disincentive to people setting up businesses.
If you are employing someone I think the Government could pay 50 per cent of the wages for the first year and, if you didn’t keep them on for the second year, there would be a claw-back. This would help the company with cash-flow in the early stages and would mean more people employed in the country.
In your experience are the banks lending to SMEs? We have no bank borrowings but our experience is that, if you are in business, you need to act quickly and with the banks you really have no idea when they are going to act. People running businesses need to move fast and the timescale to getting an answer from the banks is prohibitive.
What's the biggest mistake you've made in business? I can't say one thing stands out over another. For me personally, it's that I didn't become self-employed earlier in my career. I find running the business and taking ownership is something that comes naturally to me and I really enjoy it.
What is the most frustrating part about running a small business? As a small business, you and your colleagues are in a different mindset. You often work Saturdays and Sundays, you are happy to take calls at home in the evening or arrange meetings outside normal office hours. All you want to do is grow the business but it's hard sometimes as a lot of people are not working at the same pace.
What is the short-term future for your business? This is a very exciting time for everyone at Revive, we have a pipeline of new products in development, our business is growing rapidly and our strategic plans are unfolding as we make steady progress through the year. While we are not ones to take anything for granted, we are optimistic about the future.
What is your business worth and would you sell it? Our business has had 100 per cent growth in 2014 and we are on target to do the same this year. Our value will be determined by a future initial public offering hopefully.
With our vision, strategy, people and potential, we wouldn’t contemplate a sale. – RUTH O’CONNOR
