List of Financial Management Mentors
Andrew Kehoe - Andrew is a qualified Accountant (FCCA) and Tax Consultant (CTA) who runs his own accountancy and taxation advisory practice and has worked in the area for over 25 years. He has a huge amount of experience in advising small and medium sized businesses specialising in the areas of financial management and tax advice. He has guided many clients over the years from the startup phase to running a successful business. He has a wide knowledge of the various taxes that a business will have to deal with as they successfully develop and grow. Over the years he has also lectured in taxation and has also developed and given courses to people who were starting and growing their own businesses, and he prides himself on being able to communicate effectively with all clients.
Caitlin O’Connor is a mentor since 2005, retained by Enterprise Ireland, European Commission and LEOS. Her focus is on scaling, growth and export with continuous improvement (LEAN qualified) aligned with exporting. Her core areas are around commercialisation, export, digital, transformation, strategic vision, innovation, new market & new product and sales and marketing, all aligned with revenue generation. Sectors include ICT/Digital/Shared-economy/Telecommunications/ Agri-tech, SMART cities & aviation. She acts as a catalyst to scale, grow & develop export capability aligned with strategic vision. She also delivers value via her product “Strategy Away Days”. Caitlin was instrumental in the launch of ESAT with de-regulation & was core to the launch of Irish Broadband. As global marketing director of Point (CRM) Caitlin created an international brand with Ireland retained as the development centre. Caitlin focus’ on growth & export with domestic/international growth aligned to customer strategies, sales/marketing, strategic development, innovation & revenue combined with export gap analysis. Value proposition is also an area of focus. Caitlin holds university qualifications in Marketing, Direct Marketing Project Management, Coaching, Leadership Leaning Methods & LEAN green belt. Caitlin is also an adjudicator on grants and guides scaling companies through this process.
Caroline Nesbitt is an exceptional brand consultant and project manager who brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the areas of branding business, social media and digital marketing, and in the food & beverage and craft & creative sectors. Caroline established her creative agency ‘Designedly’ in 2017, which is now regarded as one of the leading brand agencies in the country. Throughout her career, Caroline gained extensive experience working on brand projects across various industries. She collaborated with clients ranging from small businesses to large corporations, creating visually captivating campaigns, literature, packaging, point of sale and digital solutions across web and social media. With an in-depth understanding of design principles and her ability to think strategically, Caroline consistently delivers design that conveys the desired message to target audiences. Caroline is a Brand Mentor with Local Enterprise Offices is Counties Limerick, Tipperary, Laois, Louth, Monaghan, Wexford and Kilkenny, mentoring SME’s across varied sectors in brand acceleration, digital marketing and online presence.
Cyril & Niamh Byrne the visionary owners behind Ruby Rouge and Varoom Ltd, bring their extensive expertise to their new business consultancy. With a proven track record in building successful ecommerce, retail, and tech businesses, they are dedicated to guiding clients toward sustainable growth and innovation. Niamh and Cyril’s hands-on experience in these sectors equips them with unique insights and strategies tailored to each client's needs. Their consultancy offers comprehensive advice on digital transformation, market expansion, and operational efficiency. Partner with Niamh and Cyril to unlock your business’s full potential, leveraging their industry knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit. Let their passion and expertise help you navigate the complexities of the modern business landscape.
Derek Hannick has over 70 Green for Business assignments delivered across a variety of business sectors for Local Enterprise Offices throughout Ireland. He is SEAI Partnership Support Manager for Public Bodies to assist their energy management and decarbonisation goals. He is also cost and sustainability project manager in private industry since 2006 prior to setting up Lean Green Services in 2015.
Ed Flanagan - His background is that he has extensive management and senior management experience in a major International Corporate company- IBM. He has managed over his career - Finance, Operations, Sales/Marketing, Pricing and Communications and worked as a Change Management Consultant and CFO for IBM clients, He managed the Real estate and site operations of IBM Dublin Technology Campus, and worked in the IBM SW lab, and was the Country Crisis Management Leader, along with European leadership roles. He is ex Director and Chair of Innovate Communities. In the last 10 years he has been consultant and EI/LEO mentor: supporting entrepreneurs and CEO/CFOs grow their business and increase profit. He has a lean six sigma blackbelt, and Pricnce2 practitioner. He also has a small photography business, so understand lots of the pressures entrepreneurs and CEO/CFO are under and how hard you need to work in their business, but also the need to step back and manager your business not just work in it.
Emer Kirwan is a Qualified CPA Accountant with over 30 years of experience across a variety of industries, bringing a wealth of knowledge in financial management and accounting systems. Her expertise lies in supporting small to medium-sized businesses to implement and maintain robust accounting software solutions tailored to their unique operations. She specialises in systems setup, streamlining processes, and providing hands-on training to ensure long-term efficiency and compliance. With strong operational and people management skills, Emer thrives on fostering disciplined financial practices that not only promote growth but also strengthen company culture. Her approach is results-driven, incorporating lean methodologies and change management principles to deliver practical and impactful solutions. Passionate about lifelong learning, she values collaboration and mentoring as tools for empowering businesses and individuals to reach their full potential. As a mentor, she looks forward to sharing her expertise and helping local businesses navigate their financial journey with confidence.
Gráinne Walsh is the founder of Whitefield Bay Consulting, a boutique consultancy practice that provides mentoring and coaching services to SMEs across Ireland and beyond. With over 20 years of experience, Gráinne brings a unique blend of expertise to the table, having held technical leadership roles at multinational companies like Amazon, and also having founded her own microbrewery business in 2011. Since exiting that business in 2022, she has worked extensively with early-stage and scale-up companies in the start-up ecosystem. She brings her hands-on understanding of what it takes to build a business from the ground up to help her clients focus on the right priorities in order to get things done and achieve their goals. As well as a postgraduate diploma in enterprise development, Gráinne also holds bachelor's and master's degrees in the sciences, giving her a broad and robust technical grounding which allows her to tackle a wide variety of challenges. She's a born problem-solver, and is motivated by helping others to succeed.
Jack Sinnott is the founder of J. E. Sinnott Accounting & Finance Ltd, a firm which specialises in working alongside business owners to understand the practical workings behind the numbers. His mission is to eliminate the stress of both finance and compliance for business owners and enable them to focus on running their business armed with the practical financial information required to achieve their full potential. Jack trained in general practice in Enniscorthy, gaining experience across a broad range of industries. He then worked in Dublin on forensic accounting, insolvency and corporate finance projects. In 2023 Jack decided to apply his broad experience to creating a new accounting firm with a difference; a firm focused on an accountant’s understanding of their client’s business. Jack believes that numbers alone are not enough if you don’t grasp the practical workings behind them.
JJ O’Hara, Future Cast. Future Cast is a centre for Innovation, Education, and Research & Development, dedicated to advancing the Construction, Manufacturing, and Quarrying industries. They primary focus is on working closely with companies within these sectors and supporting their entire manufacturing supply chains and driving forward the adoption of advanced technologies and optimised processes to enhance productivity, sustainability, and competitiveness
As part of our mission, Future Cast is committed to:
- Researching and sharing the latest developments in Industry 4.0 technologies with our member companies
- Actively exploring innovations such as digitalisation, automation, data-driven decision-making, and smart technology integration
- Providing valuable insights and practical solutions that address real-world industry challenges
- Supporting companies in embracing advancements that strengthen and prepare the industrial sector for the future
We’ll meet with your company directly at your quarry, construction site, or manufacturing facility to understand and develop your innovation ideas first-hand. Our team collaborates closely with academic partners, funding agencies, and the Future Cast technology team to craft a tailored solution and a clear, actionable roadmap for your project’s success. Education is the key to our success in an ever-changing global world. As industries continue to evolve, companies must prioritise up-skilling their teams to stay competitive under the advancements of Industry 4.0. Future Cast offers a range of courses designed to equip your staff with cutting-edge skills in areas such as robotics and cobotics, artificial intelligence, smart data, IoT development, software engineering, virtual and augmented reality, 3D industry printing, and the workplace of the future. Future Cast is supported by a team of academics and industry experts dedicated to advancing the future of construction methods in Ireland and beyond. By leveraging our strong partnerships with industry leaders and academic institutions, we are constantly working to develop innovative techniques and technologies that address today’s challenges and prepare for tomorrow’s needs.
John Dempsey is self employed for the past 20 years. John works with both established businesses and start-ups across diverse SME sectors. These sectors include manufacturing; service type businesses; retail; construction … which can be online and/or offline ventures. Areas that John has assisted businesses with include financial including pricing & costing work, developing financial systems; assisting businesses to secure funding; business planning in its many guises; business development initiatives which can include developing new products / services and growing markets. A knowledge of other business areas including marketing; social media; business management; governance; compliance and regulation … enables John to offer businesses he works with a comprehensive understanding of the business’s, their owners and staff needs. As a member of the enterprise office mentoring panel John looks forward to working with existing and new businesses into the future. John is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
John Haran. An engineering graduate with an MBA in International Business, John has spent the last 35 years, mostly overseas, in a variety of sales and leadership roles. After graduate training and production experience in Med tech, he established a marketing consultancy business (HMC) and spent 12 years in Asia managing a trade and investment team, following by similar assignments in London and New York. Returning to Ireland, he has taken several CEO roles with local technology companies and managed both to successful trade sales. HMC now employs 15 people, with offices in London, New York and Shanghai. Our clients include LEOs, local authorities, state economic development agencies, along with a range of commercial clients across many sectors.
John McKenna, John D. McKenna & Co. Ltd. is a financial executive and chartered accountant with significant experience and skills in finance, business development, strategy and managing people gained within owner managed and start-up businesses over the past 27 years. His areas of expertise include business start-up, financial accounts set-up, financial control, debt raising, restructuring, growth, cost cutting. He has a proven track record in providing business mentoring with strong analytical, negotiation, relationship management, decision making and problem-solving skills. John has worked with start-up and small businesses throughout his career - cutting costs, raising finance and improving information flows. In addition, as an external loan assessor with Microfinance Ireland he has an intimate knowledge of the issues that arise on a daily basis for such enterprises.
Justin Kearns is a business and digital technology consultant with 12+ years experience in technology & entrepreneurship across multiple sectors and is skilled in identifying and developing market opportunities for new products, services and business models. He leverages his experience in establishing startups to help clients validate market opportunities for their concepts, assess the feasibility of their projects and assist them as they bring their concept to market. He has lived experience of developing and bringing to market innovative products and services both in Ireland and export markets and has a wide range of knowledge across market research, funding, brand building and business strategy. Justin has a Post Grad in Innovation and Enterprise from TCD, and has participated in industry leading innovation programmes, startup accelerators and entrepreneurial development programmes. For over a decade he has been mentoring Local Enterprise Office clients and has a comprehensive understanding of support available to clients
Karen Sommerville is the owner of Call Focus, specialists in “effective customer communications”, by helping companies develop greater customer relations, maximise opportunities & increase sales by focusing on how engage and communicate with their customers. With over 25 years’ experience, Karen has worked in many areas of sales and marketing extending across a wide range of industry sectors for both the business and consumer markets. She is especially known in the area of cold calling, telesales, customer service and direct marketing. As a mentor and trainer, her delivery style is very energetic, practical, and interactive; with all exercises and discussions focused around participant’s real life situations and business needs. As a result, Karen regularly achieves satisfaction ratings exceeding 85% on many of her training programmes. Karen’s holds qualifications in business, marketing, training and mentoring. She works with many different groups including Skillnets, LEO’s, Business Associations and educational bodies as well as several private clients.
Keith Darcy is an experienced Business Advisor, qualified Management Accountant (CIMA) and Qualified Financial Advisor (QFA) with Institute of Bankers Ireland. Having worked for over 20 years in Financial Services, most recently with Ulster Bank as a senior manager in their Business Banking division I have a wealth of knowledge from dealing with all sectors of the SME market. Over the past 5 years I have advised clients of several Local Enterprise Offices in relation to all matters relating to Financial and Business, ranging from MFI Loan applications, Grant applications to General Business advise. I have an in-depth and first-hand knowledge of the challenges faced by business, the pressure they are under and the limiting factors in which they often have to operate. In these areas my experience and skills as a Coach & Consultant has proven invaluable in bringing balance and forward development. Areas of Expertise include Micro Finance Ireland Loan Applications, preparation of business plans, grant application preparation, cashflow management and forecasting, business strategy & planning and pricing and costing of products.
Kilian Duignan has over twenty-five years P&L experience with companies with a turnover of up to €15 mil. During that period, he encountered many business challenges, which had to be managed proactively, in various areas such as cash-flow and financial management, business development, strategic planning, staff appraisal, stock management, margin generation and protection together with the challenges of changing economic circumstances within businesses. Kilian has excellent communications skills, and it is the marriage of this commercial and financial experience, natural empathy and understanding of the LEADER and LEO grant aid system that makes him a very competent mentor and trainer for SME’s and start-ups. He has a Certified Diploma in Accountancy and Finance awarded by the ACCA in 2001, a Professional Certificate in Marketing from the Marketing Institute of Ireland and a Mechanical Engineering qualification from Dublin Institute of Technology, Bolton Street, and FETAC level 6 Train the Trainer. In recent years, Kilian manages the EI Mentor Network in a co-ordination role providing guidance and resources to businesses throughout Ireland and he is an approved Mentor with Wexford, Waterford, Kildare, Carlow, Laois and Offaly Leo’s.
Maeve Finch, founder of Total Focus, has been mentoring businesses since 2004. With extensive experience in both private and public sectors, Maeve has operated at both strategic and operational levels, providing expert guidance to business leaders, as well as pre-start-up and start-up enterprises. Maeve’s approach is grounded in practicality and bolstered by advanced business development expertise, a deep understanding of Ireland’s current trading climate, and academic achievements up to master’s level. She actively engages in continuous professional development, including training in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence. Passionate about supporting entrepreneurs, Maeve specialises in working closely with pre-start-up and start-up businesses, particularly within service industries. Her services include one-to-one mentoring, facilitating business advice clinics, and leading "Start Your Own Business" courses in collaboration with several Local Enterprise Offices.
Michael O’Donoghue. Founded in 2020, ODMC Consultancy Ltd specialises in helping SMEs and start-up businesses. We recently acquired Leadership management Ireland, and offer their full suite of products, working with companies to improve productivity & profitability. Bringing over 20 years sales and management experience, Michael O’Donoghue has worked in various fields throughout his career. Having graduated from The College of Marketing & Design, Michael started his sales career in retail, and part time farming. He quickly moved into full time sales, working his way from Agri sales into Veterinary, on from there into Medical, and has worked for the last 10 years in various Surgical Sales Management roles. Michael has previously headed up various product launches in both Medical & Surgical and has partnered with surgeons in operating theatres for companies such as MSL, Technopath, and Johnson & Johnson. In 2016, Michael returned to higher level education and graduated first in class with first class honours in Business & Sales Management. (H1, Level 8) from Munster Technological University.
Niall Glynn & Associates Limited was set up in 2010 to provide HR Business Solutions & Mentoring mainly to SME businesses including Start Ups. He also provides tailored Career Coaching to Senior Executives. He currently acts as both an Adviser / Mentor to a select number of SME businesses on Business Solutions, HR Management & Organisation Change. He also is a Business Advisor & Mentor with several Local Enterprise Offices, including Wexford, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, South Dublin, Wicklow, Meath & Kildare for many years. He delivers a range of services for these LEOs ranging from: a) Business Clinics, b) Mentoring, c) MFI Applications & Appeals, d) Training and e) Other Services i.e. Judging Schools Business Competition. He has also acted as a Mentor for Enterprise Ireland. Niall Glynn has over 30 years’ experience in Corporate and Investment Banking, specialising in Human Resource Management and Organisation Change. A Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel & Development and a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers in Ireland.
Ruth Larkin is a serial industry entrepreneur, having founded and scaled multi-million euro businesses in a number of sectors including, international distribution of luxury consumer products and manufacturing and global sales of municipal vehicles. Her focus is on market validation, market entry strategy, commercialisation, expansion, management and strategy. She has extensive experience in professional services, consumer goods, retail and distribution, design and manufacturing, health, fitness and wellbeing, fintech and cosmetics.
Seamus Murphy. Seamus is a very experienced management professional, with over 30 years of experience at senior management level. Strong experience in the construction services industry sector over the last 20 years. In his previous role, he was Commercial Director of a mechanical services company and later becoming the MD of a UK mechanical services business, which he helped develop into a turnover of £5 million. Strong understanding and experience in food manufacturing and engineering businesses. Good communicator with a thorough knowledge of P & L accounts, cash-flow management, budget control, job costing, human resources, and general management. In the last 2 years, Seamus has assisted and guided businesses to positively achieve grant aid support from various agencies. Seamus has a post-graduate Diploma in International Selling is an approved mentor with Wexford, Offaly, Waterford, Kildare, Laois and Carlow LEOs. Seamus has, more recently, been approved as a Business Growth Adviser with Enterprise Ireland and he is also on the ‘Brexit Advisory’ panel with InterTrade Ireland. Seamus has a strong knowledge of International sales and new market development, having spent in excess of 18 months on the ground in the UK, as well as time in Poland.
Tony Dignam - Agile Executives provide a wide range of consultancy and mentoring services to SMEs through our national and international network of consultants covering a broad range of sectors with skills in Finance, Digital, Strategy, HR, General Business, Green and Export Development.
Una McGoey holds over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, working in a variety of roles from Branch Manager, Project Manager and Sales Capability Manager and a strong academic background to include Professional Diploma in Financial Advice (QFA) and Professional Diploma in Finance Services (Professional Banker NFQ L8). LEAN Six Sigma Green Belt. Cambridge University Judge Business School; Strategic Thinking for the CXO. Post Graduate Certificate in Leading and Managing People (NFQ L9), Professional Certificate in People Management UCD. Certified Trainer, Certificate and Diploma in Life Coaching. Accredited Practitioner Coach (APC) International Authority for Professional Coaching & Mentoring. Una is currently Vice President Dundalk Chamber of Commerce and sits on several Board of Directors committees. In 2020 she became No. 1 Amazon Co Author and Irish Times Bestseller. Una’s experience working with micro enterprises, small and medium-sized (SMEs) business, start-ups and owner-manager businesses allowed her to establish Anu Change to help Businesses put strategies in place to start, manage and grow their business, improve communication, and develop their staff. Furthermore, Business Consultancy and Mentoring (LEAN) to help business owners reduce waste and improve efficiencies and productivity. Anu Change works with the Department of Employment, Skillnet Ireland, Local Enterprise Offices.
Vincent Byrne is the principal of VJB Development Solutions Limited, where he specialises in coaching and mentoring SME business owners. With nearly 40 years of experience as a qualified accountant (ACCA), Vincent's expertise spans financial reporting, systems, cash flow management, funding, and strategic business planning. He is particularly interested in helping clients prepare for key transitions, whether it’s retirement, succession, or business sale. Having successfully set up, managed, and sold businesses, Vincent brings real-world experience to his advisory work. His approach combines technical financial acumen with a focus on personal development and resilience, ensuring clients can both grow and exit their businesses with confidence. An accredited Time To Think Coach and a member of the Association for Coaching, Vincent has also served on the boards of several charitable organisations and sports clubs. For more information, visit vincentbyrne.ie.
