Perhaps Ireland’s best known finance adviser, Eddie Hobbs presented the blockbuster Rip Off Republic and RTE’s double award-winning personal finance series Show Me The Money. Eddie spent over 15 years in consumer advocacy as a Director and Finance Spokesperson for the Consumers’ Association of Ireland, before being appointed to the interim board of the new statutory National Consumer Agency. His own company, FDM Ltd, is an Authorised Advisor, while Eddie himself is licensed as a Revenue-approved Pensioneer Trustee.

A frequent, and talented, orator, writer and broadcaster on personal finance, consumer and competition affairs, and investment planning, Eddie Hobbs has published two bestselling books, “Short Hands, Long Pockets” (debt management) and “Loot!” (investments).

Growing up in a small village in Cavan, Sean Gallagher learned early on that entrepreneurship and hard work were values he could carry through life. With many mentors over the years who taught determination and self-belief, he has had an exciting career in farming, youth development, politics and business. Perhaps best known as an entrepreneur, he cofounded Ireland’s largest home-technology business, Smarthomes.

Sean is passionate about life-long learning, completing an MBA in 2000, and studying martial arts for over 20 years has kept his body and mind active. He is actively involved in property, telecoms and his Dragons’ Den investment companies. Sean believes that success is available to anyone who chooses it, and he is committed to helping others grow to success in business and their lives.

A successful chef at the renowned Ballymaloe House in Cork, Clodagh McKenna was inspired by the local foods’ revolution and set up her own stall, establishing a successful brand that sells nationwide. A consistent advocate of local produce, Clodagh has written for many Irish publications, and is regular presenter on Irish, British and US television.

Clodagh has published two bestselling books, “The Irish Farmers’ Market Cookbook” and “Fresh From The Sea”, and is currently writing a third entitled “Homemade”. She has made four successful television series to accompany the books, and has established a business in kitchenware, selling all over Ireland.

Brody Sweeney is the founder of one of Ireland’s best-known export brands, O’Brien’s Sandwich Bars. Created in 1988, the chain grew to over 300 outlets with a presence in 16 countries. He stood aside from management in 2005 to pursue a career in politics, standing for Fine Gael in the 2007 General Election. Brody brings a vast experience to his current role as Chief Executive of food delivery business, Diep at Home Group.

Brody has witnessed hard days as well as success, returning to the helm of O’Brien’s in late 2008 when a combination of declining consumer confidence and a burdensome rent liability proved more than a challenge. He led a restructuring at the business, selling his remaining interest earlier in 2010. The brand continues to thrive. A non-executive director of Paddy Power plc and board member of Eat City Ltd., Brody is also the founder of the Irish business charity, Connect Ethiopia. He has written two bestselling business books, “Making Break” and “Small to Tall”.

It seems like Liam Griffin is living two lives. On the one hand, he is a leading Irish entrepreneur and hotelier, with flagships like the Ferrycarrig Hotel, and Hotel Kilkenny in his Griffin Group. On the other, he managed Wexford to All-Ireland Hurling glory in 1996, and is passionate about the hurling fraternity. Together, his sporting and business success is underpinned by self-belief and straight hard work.

His new Monart Destination Spa rated in Forbes magazine as one of the World’s Top Ten Super Spas, and hit the list with Condé Nast Traveler. That achievement, a result of a €35 million investment, was led by Liam undertaking a global benchmarking initiative to ensure that what he delivered was truly world-class. Liam also contributes to the Sunday Tribune, Setanta Sports and can be regularly heard on the radio with George Hook and Matt Cooper.

Noelle is not only a Dragon's Denn investee with her own TanOrganic product, but also a successful owner of a chain of Ealu beuty spas.

Noelle also operates as a totally independent consultant and has 20 years of direct operational experience within the spa industry and a vast portfolio of knowledge, contacts and resources.

As an experienced Spa Consultant her role is to work with you and your team to guide, advise and allow you to benefit from proven practices, industry expertise and commercial know how. By avoiding common pitfalls costly errors and operational oversights will be avoided. Noelle's support and knowledge will enable you to make informed and confident decisions about your business providing a framework on which to build future success.

Louis Copeland is not just a master tailor, his name is also a luxurious brand synonymous with style, quality and unparalleled customer service. The measure of great business is loyalty, and with many clients being dressed for 50 years or more, Louis knows that the majority of his business is repeat custom.

Louis grew up in Drumcondra, north of Dublin city centre, and began his career aged 10, working as a messenger boy at his father’s shop. He left school at 14 to study tailoring and textiles, and two years’ later was working during the week at a clothing factory, and for his father at weekends. From a job removing the tacking from clothes after adjusting, Louis joined his father full time, and now the brand operates 6 stores nationwide. For Louis Copeland, family is at the heart of his business.

A Founder/Director of one of Ireland’s leading Coach Training organisations, the Irish Lifecoach Institute (ILI), Eoin McCabe has worked for almost 20 years to help people enhance their self-awareness and release their potential. His passion for teaching how to create a more enriching personal and professional life has made him an entertaining and challenging speaker, enhanced in no small part by being a Toastmaster!

Eoin has a broad and deep academic knowledge, including a Masters degree in Education from Trinity College, Dublin. Certified in NLP, Emotional Intelligence and personality assessment, he is one of the few coaches in Europe trained and certified in the Seven Laws of Success (Dr Deepak Chopra). He has trained and coached people from a wide range of public and private sector organisations, and is a respected writer on personal and group development.

Ark°, which stands for “Act of Random Kindness”, is a clothing company with a difference. Founded in 2008 by the then 18-year old Belfast designer, Cameron Stewart, the beautiful idea behind Ark? is for the wearer to commit a single act of kindness for someone else. It’s about reconnecting people and reaching out to others in a world too often defined by remoteness.

The label is truly a movement, based not only on the idea of kindness, but also sustainable fashion. Ark° has now spread to Australia and is enjoying considerable success. The line is made up of guys and girls’ t-shirts and has recently expanded into the world of underwear. Featured in The Irish Times and on TV3, Cameron has won a number of noted business awards for Ark°’s work.

Nicola runs Ireland’s only native directory enquiry company. Always a hard worker, she was unsure where to direct her talents when growing up. After a career in FMCG, she started her own business, Stenix Media, selling advertising on tickets. After five years of success, she spotted an opportunity when in the UK to challenge the two-horse Irish directory enquiry business.

Despite the challenges of creating a national company from scratch, Nicola persevered to grow a business based not on automation, but on real operators on site in Ireland, no matter when anyone calls. And family is at the heart of the operation, with many of Nicola’s family providing expertise throughout the company. She has a story of entrepreneurship that is an inspiration to both women and men.

Mark’s experience ranges from working in many of the family businesses from a young age right up to leading multi-million dollar eCommerce projects for blue chip organisations. He worked as a global consultant for over seven years with Symantec. It was at this point that he decided to return to his passion of creating business, to go it alone and become his own boss so that he could follow his passion of business coaching.

Mark juggles a number of businesses online with particular focus given to conversion and sales analysis and improvement. As a practising business-man, this keeps him finely tuned to the diverging needs of the various entrepreneurs he coaches. As such he is well placed to guide them through their business careers in his role as a highly qualified and passionate business coach.