Laura Dowling, FabÜ
Laura Dowling is the founder of FabÜ, which is an Irish wellness brand specialising in scientifically formulated supplements that blend plants, including herbs, and mushrooms with essential vitamins and minerals.
It launched in 2022 and is available in more than 1,500 pharmacies and health-food stores across Ireland, as well as online. A graduate of the Trinity College Dublin School of Pharmacy, Dowling has more than 350,000 followers on social media.
What vision/light-bulb moment prompted you to start up in business?
I identified a gap in the market for scientifically grounded supplements, rather than those based on hype. That’s why I developed FabÜ – natural, effective products that support long-term health.
So many women also struggle with incontinence, vaginal, sexual, and hormonal issues. They don’t know who to turn to for help. They often feel ignored or fobbed off. That’s what led me to create my sell-out Viva La Vulva shows.
RM Block
Describe your business model and what makes your business unique.
FabÜ combines scientific formulations with relatable education. We create targeted supplements based on research, sell through over 1,500 retailers and online, and connect with consumers through trusted digital content. Our blend of science, pharmacist-led insight, and authentic wellness advocacy sets us apart in a crowded space.
What is your greatest business achievement to date?
Building FabÜ into one of Ireland’s fastest-growing wellness brands in just three years. The incredible feedback and word-of-mouth recommendations from Irish women has led to multi-award recognition and distribution in over 1,500 stores nationwide.
Multiple sell-out shows in the National Concert Hall with my Viva La Vulva tour, and recently being named Ireland’s Pharmacist of the Year have also been proud milestones.
What was your back-to-the-wall moment and how did you overcome it?
I initially attempted to launch over a decade ago, but as a young mother with a full-time pharmacy job, I struggled to make it work. I lacked financial know-how and time. In 2022, I tried again – this time building the right team around me. Knowing my blind spots made all the difference.
What moment/deal would you cite as the game changer or turning point for the company?
Securing national pharmacy distribution early on was pivotal. It validated our product credibility and scaled awareness rapidly. That visibility, combined with a strong digital presence, created a flywheel effect that continues to propel FabÜ.
What were the best and the worst pieces of advice you received when starting out?
Best advice? “Launch, then learn.” My first attempt didn’t work – but the feedback it gave me was gold. Iteration is how great businesses are built.
The worst: “Don’t mix personal brand with business.” In reality, my authenticity has been a key driver of FabÜ’s success; people connect with individuals, not just products.
To what extent does your business trade internationally and what are your future plans/ambitions?
We currently focus on Ireland but are laying groundwork for expansion into the UK and Europe. International demand is growing through our online store, and global retail partnerships are part of our future roadmap.
How will your market look in three years and where would you like your business to be?
Consumers will demand transparency and science-backed solutions. I envision FabÜ leading this evolution with a deeper reach into Europe, an expanded product range and a stronger voice in shaping meaningful wellness conversations.
What are you doing to disrupt, innovate and improve the products or services you offer?
Every FabÜ blend is grounded in research and innovation. We continuously review emerging clinical studies and listen to real-world consumer feedback to develop our formulations.
I let my personality shine through when I communicate. Being authentic is important. Sometimes, even serious topics like illness, ageing and the changes our bodies go through can be discussed with a pinch of humour – that way, it’s more likely to be remembered, shared and acted upon.
How are you deploying AI in your business and what impact has it had on your performance?
We’re integrating AI into customer insights, demand forecasting and content optimisation. It’s helped streamline operations, sharpen messaging and improve service delivery.
What is the most common mistake you see entrepreneurs make?
Chasing trends over purpose. Building a sustainable business requires clarity, consistency and authenticity – especially in wellness. If your mission is muddled, your brand and customer trust will be too.
What is the single most important piece of advice you would offer to a less experienced entrepreneur?
Know your purpose and live it every day. That clarity fuels resilience, helps you navigate setbacks and builds trust with your team, your customers, and yourself. Your “why” serves as your strongest anchor.
Running a business is all consuming. At times it can feel like you’re on a fast-moving train that’s impossible to jump off. So be prepared, stay grounded and hold on to your hat.
Áine Kennedy, The Smooth Company
Áine Kennedy founded The Smooth Company from her attic in February 2022 after spending eight years working in the beauty industry. Its first product was the Smooth Stick, which is a “hair-taming” wand that controls stray hairs without leaving hair hard or greasy.
The company has amassed more than 150 million organic TikTok views, has customers in more than 70 countries and has featured in Vogue and Elle magazine. Its product range is sold in Brown Thomas, Arnotts, 72 Peter Mark salons, and on board 432 global Aer Lingus routes.
What vision/light-bulb moment prompted you to start up in business?
I had two business ideas before that I did not pursue, and I regretted it. So when I saw the gap in the market for a product like the Smooth Stick I knew I had to take the plunge.
Like many people, I have always suffered with frizzy, stray hairs and I saw a common trend on social media of people dipping their toothbrush into gel to try to keep their hair in place, or else spraying loads of hairspray which leaves your hair hard or greasy.
I wanted to create an easy to use solution to this that was kind and nourishing to your hair and was a brush out formula. After two years of formulating, the Smooth Stick was born.
Describe your business model and what makes your business unique.
The Smooth Company has been self-funded from day one. This was an intentional choice to ensure we kept full control of company direction and growth without having to worry about pleasing shareholders.
The company has scaled through organic online growth, using social media and a unique content strategy to drive brand awareness and online sales direct to our own website.
What is your greatest business achievement to date?
A recent huge achievement has been becoming the first Irish beauty brand to launch into De Bihenkorf stores (a sister company to Brown Thomas Arnotts) across the Netherlands.
What was your back-to-the-wall moment and how did you overcome it?
We had to deal with our whole website being pirated. Someone took all of our content from our website and made a website impersonating us.
They took all our imagery and edited out our branding and began running Meta ads using our content to drive traffic to this fake website to steal people’s card details. It was a really stressful time as it wasn’t something we had faced before.
I posted a video on TikTok warning our followers about the scam website and we received an outpouring of support and people offering to help us. As a result, we managed to get the fake website down within 48 hours. It proved the point to me to never be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
What moment/deal would you cite as the game changer or turning point for the company?
Brown Thomas being our first ever retailer was a huge game changer for us. It positioned us exactly where we wanted to be in the market and proved to the consumer how high quality our products are.
To what extent does your business trade internationally and what are your future plans/ambitions?
Over 50 per cent of our online business is international. We have customers in over 70 countries around the world and have had an online order to every state in the USA. Our second biggest export market is currently the UK. We have huge plans for international expansion.
Describe your growth funding path.
We are focused on scaling through strategic partnerships rather than equity investment. We plan to bootstrap the business for as long as we can.
What makes your company a good place to work?
Our company excels in offering a flexible and inclusive work environment where employees manage their working hours and locations, fostering a trust-based culture. In contrast to typical corporate structures, we do not enforce a fixed “back to office” policy, allowing our team the freedom to excel independently. Annual leave is exclusively for holidays, with unlimited personal time off for health, childcare and other commitments.
What impact have Donald Trump’s tariffs had on your business? How has this affected your view of the United States as a place in which to invest?
We anticipated the tariffs and took strategic actions. Amazon USA contributes $20,000 monthly through FBA sales (Fulfilment by Amazon sales, a service where Amazon handles storage, packaging, and shipping for sellers), so we pre-emptively sent a six-month supply of stock. Additionally, a US fulfilment company manages our online orders, avoiding import tariffs for our customers.
Eoin Cluskey, Bread 41
Eoin Cluskey is the founder and head baker at Bread 41, a sourdough bakery and organic food business based in Dublin.
A former accountant who became an artisan baker, Cluskey trained in Ballymaloe and honed his craft in bakeries across Europe before launching Bread 41 in 2018.
Bread 41 is a bakery and eatery located on Pearse Street in Dublin. It employs more than 100 people across its bakery and shop. It specialises in organic, naturally fermented breads, handcrafted pastry and locally sourced wholefoods.
The business is expanding, with plans for a new production facility and a grain mill.
What vision/light-bulb moment prompted you to start up in business?
While travelling and working in bakeries across the world I saw how bread could be a force for connection and sustainability.
The light-bulb moment came when I realised Ireland was missing that: a bakery that is rooted in craft, values and community. Bread 41 was born to bring real bread, and better food systems, back to the table.
Describe your business model and what makes your business unique.
Bread 41 is built on sustainability, community and craft. We bake everything fresh daily using organic, Irish-milled flours and long fermentation.
Unlike conventional bakeries, we avoid additives and embrace slow, regenerative processes. We also educate, collaborate with farmers and aim to shift the food system toward local, healthy and resilient practices.
What is your greatest business achievement to date?
Building a business that’s not only profitable but values led. I’m proud that Bread 41 has become a beacon for sustainable food in Ireland, influencing public perceptions of bread, waste and sourcing.
What was your back-to-the-wall moment and how did you overcome it?
The pandemic hit us hard, with overnight closures, safety challenges and financial uncertainty. We pivoted fast: started online deliveries, rebuilt supply chains and stayed open for the community. It was about resilience and purpose.
What moment/deal would you cite as the game changer or turning point for the company?
Opening our doors in 2018 and seeing people queue for real bread was game-changing. But launching our fermentation lab and expanding into wholefood meals signalled a turning point, Bread 41 wasn’t just a bakery any more. It became a movement.
What were the best and the worst pieces of advice you received when starting out?
Best: “Build a business around your values, not just a product.”
Worst: “Scale quickly, there’s no time to waste.” We’ve taken the opposite approach: slow, deliberate, values-led growth is what’s sustained us.
Describe your growth funding path.
We’ve grown organically and reinvested profits rather than chasing external capital. That’s kept us in control of our mission. Now, we’re exploring values-aligned funding for infrastructure projects, like a regenerative grain mill and a new production facility.
What are your annual revenues and profits?
We are a privately held company, but our growth has been steady and healthy. We focus on long-term sustainability, not short-term profits. That model has allowed us to scale while staying true to our mission.
What are you doing to disrupt, innovate and improve the products or services you offer?
We’re reimagining food systems, from working with regenerative farmers to reviving heritage grains and fermentation methods. We upcycle waste, test zero-waste packaging and innovate with plant-based menus.
What makes your company a good place to work?
We offer flexible hours, free meals, supported learning and a culture of respect. Our team is united by a common purpose: feeding people with integrity.
We invest in growth, mental wellbeing and sustainability. Diversity and inclusion are embedded, and everyone’s voice matters in shaping the future of Bread 41.
What impact have Donald Trump’s tariffs had on your business? How has this affected your view of the United States as a place in which to invest?
We source locally, so the impact was minimal. However, it reminded us how vulnerable global supply chains can be.
What is the most common mistake you see entrepreneurs make?
Prioritising scale over purpose. Growth without a clear mission or culture creates cracks. Many entrepreneurs overlook the human and environmental side of business in the rush for success. That’s a short-term win, but a long-term risk.
What is the single most important piece of advice you would offer to a less experienced entrepreneur?
Get crystal clear on your “why”. That clarity will guide your decisions, help you weather storms and attract the right people. Build a business that serves not only your customers but also your community, your team and the planet.
Liam Dunne, Klearcom
Liam Dunne is the co-founder and chief executive of Klearcom. Headquartered in Waterford, it provides global digital voice and contact centre testing products for multinational companies.
Underpinned by its growing base of more than 340 carriers, Klearcom’s services and products are used in more than 100 countries.
What vision/light-bulb moment prompted you to start up in business?
I’ve always had the desire to build something of my own. While I was involved in a couple of start-ups before, I was more of a minority shareholder than a leader. Klearcom was my opportunity to take the reins.
Along the way, I explored various ideas, including a contact centre as a cervice (CCaaS) start-up and two accelerator projects with the National Digital Research Centre, both of which didn’t work out.
The real light-bulb moment came when Pfizer approached us to test interactive voice responses (IVRs) and voicebots in-country.
Competitors claimed they could deliver, but they fell short. That gap was impossible to ignore, and that’s how Klearcom was born.
Describe your business model and what makes your business unique.
We ensure that global brands remain connected to their customers by providing reliable solutions for toll-free numbers, IVRs and voicebots.
What sets us apart is our focus on live production assurance, outage triage and multilingual testing at scale. We leverage AI-driven solutions and offer custom builds that address unique challenges, ensuring that we deliver what no one else can.
What is your greatest business achievement to date?
For me, it’s all about not giving up and always stepping up to the challenge. We took a simple idea and turned it into a platform that big names like Pfizer, Google and Mastercard trust to enhance their customer experience.
Building that level of trust on a global scale by delivering results under pressure is what I’m most proud of. It’s a bigger win than any product launch or marketing campaign we could have imagined.
What was your back-to-the-wall moment and how did you overcome it?
I hit a real low when early funding dried up, and I had two other ideas that didn’t pan out. I ended up selling my rental property, which was my safety net, essentially my pension. Thankfully, my wife believed in me and encouraged me to keep pushing forward.
We focused on building a minimum viable product (MVP), showcased it to Pfizer, secured new funding and delivered results. That leap of faith still drives us today.
What moment/deal would you cite as the game changer or turning point for the company?
Winning Pfizer was a game changer for us. That success opened doors to big names like Google, Mastercard and HP.
What were the best and the worst pieces of advice you received when starting out?
The best advice I received was to trust my gut; you really do know when something feels off. On the flip side, the worst advice was to play it safe. Playing it safe can kill ambition. It’s those bold moves that scare you that often lead to the biggest changes.
To what extent does your business trade internationally and what are your future plans/ambitions?
We test voice services in over 100 countries daily. As voice shifts from IVRs to digital voice and AI, we will be the standard that global brands rely on. We are building for 10 years ahead, not just the next market.
Describe your growth funding path.
We raised €2 million through oversubscribed funding rounds with Furthr VC, HBAN, Bloom and Enterprise Ireland. Every euro was aimed at growth, and now we’re gearing up for significant expansion as we dive into the digital voice migration.
How will your market look in three years and where would you like your business to be?
Digital voice technology will become smarter, more complex and increasingly challenging to implement correctly. While the technology is mostly ready for English, other languages are just starting to catch up. We’re focused on long-term leadership rather than quick wins, as each new language that supports digital voice will need thorough testing.
What are your annual revenues and profits?
We are nearing $10 million in annual recurring revenue, and are already highly profitable.
How are you deploying AI in your business and what impact has it had on your performance?
AI is at the core of everything we do, from our sales processes to our onboarding platform. It helps us identify issues before our customers even notice, making us faster and sharper in our operations. We’re truly AI-first, both in our design and our company culture.
