Entrepreneurship Class Acts

DAVID MC MANAMON

MAcc 1997

As CCO, COO, CFO and Chief People Officer respectively, key employees Kelly, Sorohan, McManamon and Rafferty share in the success of Cubic Telecom, which was close to attaining unicorn status at the end of 2023 when Japan’s SoftBank purchased a controlling 51% share in the company for €473m. Founded in 2005, Cubic develops mobility solutions for the internet of things IoT, machine-to-machine and device-manufacturing companies. Its software is installed in millions of cars globally.

SHANE SOROHAN

BComm 2001, MBS 2002

As CCO, COO, CFO and Chief People Officer respectively, key employees Kelly, Sorohan, McManamon and Rafferty share in the success of Cubic Telecom, which was close to attaining unicorn status at the end of 2023 when Japan’s SoftBank purchased a controlling 51% share in the company for €473m. Founded in 2005, Cubic develops mobility solutions for the internet of things IoT, machine-to-machine and device-manufacturing companies. Its software is installed in millions of cars globally.

SUSAN RAFFERTY

BBS 2008, ProfDip 2022

As CCO, COO, CFO and Chief People Officer respectively, key employees Kelly, Sorohan, McManamon and Rafferty share in the success of Cubic Telecom, which was close to attaining unicorn status at the end of 2023 when Japan’s SoftBank purchased a controlling 51% share in the company for €473m. Founded in 2005, Cubic develops mobility solutions for the internet of things IoT, machine-to-machine and device-manufacturing companies. Its software is installed in millions of cars globally.

NIAMH TALLON & MOHAMMED MAHOMED

BComm 2015, MSc Digital Marketing 2017 & BComm 2015, MAcc 2016

Niamh Tallon and Mohammed Mahomed, co-founders of Her Sport, are the recipients of a Changing Ireland Accelerator Award from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland. Her Sport empowers and advocates for girls and women in sport. The organisation tackles gender disparity in sport by delivering educational workshops to schools, clubs and businesses, discussing barriers for women in sport and how to overcome them, and by creating daily media coverage to highlight and showcase women in sports.

TJ HEGARTY

BAgrSc 2017

Hating maths at school was the impetus for TJ Hegarty, founder and CEO of edtech company Breakthrough Maths, to seek to make maths easier to learn. This year the company hit revenues of €1.5m. Starting from the premise that education is stuck in the dark ages, Hegarty is changing the face of maths learning by making it data-driven and engaging, and by incorporating testing into live online classes. He likens his classes to a ‘Peloton of Maths’.

DAVID KELLY

BBLS 2003, LLM 2005

As CCO, COO, CFO and Chief People Officer respectively, key employees Kelly, Sorohan, McManamon and Rafferty share in the success of Cubic Telecom, which was close to attaining unicorn status at the end of 2023 when Japan’s SoftBank purchased a controlling 51% share in the company for €473m. Founded in 2005, Cubic develops mobility solutions for the internet of things (IoT), machine-to-machine and device-manufacturing companies. Its software is installed in millions of cars globally.

SARAH MC KENNA

BSc Biochemistry 2005

Sarah McKenna started her career in the pharmaceutical industry but after a disastrous DIY haircut just before her wedding day led her to try hair extensions, she turned her attention to the hair extension business, convinced that she could develop a better quality product. She started her first company, Vixen and Blush, in 2011 and subsequently opened two flagship stores in London. Her wholesale business is The London Hair Lab; this year together they hit turnover of more than £4m.

EMI TAKAKURA

BComm 2014

Emi Takakura grew up between Dublin and Tokyo and credits this cross-cultural upbringing as the inspiration behind her interest in food innovation. She founded hot chocolate company Spoond in 2021 and her second food venture, Slice of Life, which offers a range of nutritious, calorie-conscious pizzas, launched this year. Takakura’s BComm with Chinese Studies led to her starting her career as a finance intern with the Kerry Group in Shanghai. She subsequently worked with Jameson in Japan.

DERVAL O’ROURKE

BA Geography & Sociology 2003, HDipBS 2005, MMgt 2010

Three-time Olympian and world champion hurdler Derval O’Rourke has secured €200,000 in funding from Enterprise Ireland for her new workplace wellbeing platform Saol, part of her Digital Health Resource company, co-founded with Greg O’Gorman, a former e-commerce director for the Kilkenny Design Group, which includes the consumerfocused Derval.ie website. The investment is part of an initial seed funding round of €400,000.

JENNIE HAIRE

BAgrSc 2017, MSc 2018

Named as one of The Irish Times People to Watch 2024, Jennie Haire is CEO and co-founder of Gigi de la Mer, a progressive female health brand on a mission to make symptom-free menstrual cycles the norm through sustainable, superior-quality supplements. Prior to establishing her own business, Haire spent four years at PwC Ireland working as a management consultant. She graduated from Smurfit Business School, where she was an Aspire Scholarship recipient, with a first class honours masters degree in Management Consultancy.

RACHEL HENNESSY

BComm 2012

Rachel Hennessy is the founder of Happy Days Fashion Rental, which launched in 2021 and aims to make secondhand and sustainable fashion more accessible and appealing than fast fashion. She was the Visa She’s Next Programme Winner 2023 and took home the award for Sustainable Business of the Year 2024 from Digital Business Ireland; she now sits on the organisation’s Advisory Board. Prior to setting up Happy Days, Hennessy worked as an accountant at PwC and Google.

DAVID MC MANAMON

SHANE SOROHAN

SUSAN RAFFERTY

NIAMH TALLON & MOHAMMED MAHOMED

TJ HEGARTY

DAVID KELLY

SARAH MC KENNA

EMI TAKAKURA

DERVAL O’ROURKE

JENNIE HAIRE

RACHEL HENNESSY

DAVID MC MANAMON

MAcc 1997

SHANE SOROHAN

BComm 2001, MBS 2002

SUSAN RAFFERTY

BBS 2008, ProfDip 2022

NIAMH TALLON & MOHAMMED MAHOMED

BComm 2015, MSc Digital Marketing 2017 & BComm 2015, MAcc 2016

TJ HEGARTY

BAgrSc 2017

DAVID KELLY

BBLS 2003, LLM 2005

SARAH MC KENNA

BSc Biochemistry 2005

EMI TAKAKURA

BComm 2014

DERVAL O’ROURKE

BA Geography & Sociology 2003, HDipBS 2005, MMgt 2010

JENNIE HAIRE

BAgrSc 2017, MSc 2018

RACHEL HENNESSY

BComm 2012

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