Business
People in Business – Gerry Halloran
When Gerry Halloran received a call from Michael Barry, head of Motorpark, in early 2000 asking him to meet in Galway he thought it could only be bad news.
‘I was National Manager of Vehicle Finance for Lombard & Ulster at the time and Motorpark was one of our biggest clients outside of Dublin,’ recall Gerry.
‘I thought that Michael wanted to meet to break the news that they were cancelling their contract with us.
‘Instead he offered me the job of General Manager at Motorpark.
Gerry was commuting between Dublin and Galway at the time and he jumped at the chance to settle back into a more regular family life in Galway and to move into the motor trade, an industry he had worked with, but not in, since he left school.
He started out as a clerk with PMPA in his hometown, Ballina, and found that motor insurance, cars and Gerry got on well together so over the following five years he progressed his career with PMPA.
In 1984 he became a sales rep for Lombard & Ulster based in Letterkenny, covering all of Donegal.
His remit was to sell HP and leasing to finance the purchase of machinery, domestic goods, vehicles and anything else that needed financing.
‘I had an excellent manager there who encouraged us to solve problems on our own and gave us responsibility at a young age,’ remembers Gerry.
‘I also learned a lot from my customers who were self-reliant, astute business people which gave me a real lesson in the value of building long-term relationships with people.
After seven years in Donegal. Gerry was appointed Manager of Lombard & Ulster in Galway and two years later he became Area Manager for the West of Ireland.
In 1997 he took on the role of National Manager for Vehicle Finance, based in Dublin.
His family remained in Galway as his wife Gráinne has a career with AIB and his children were settled in school, so Gerry commuted to Dublin every week.
Then came that call from Michael Barry which brought him back to work in Galway in March 2000.
Motorpark was one of the biggest dealers outside of Dublin with franchises for BMW, Mini, Mitsubishi, Honda and of course Ford.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
A Galway City student is celebrating success in her ACCA (Association of Certified Chartered Accountants) exams where she achieved first in Ireland and 19th place in the world in her Financial Management exam.
AccountancySchool.ie student Lucy O’Donoghue had completed a Masters in International Management from University of Galway and joined the graduate programme at the Central Bank.
And with her interest in the areas of business, finance and strategic management, she said the next logical step was to look at studying for ACCA qualifications with AccountancySchool.ie.
“When I was starting out on my ACCA journey, it was a bit daunting – twelve exams felt like a mammoth task and at times the road felt never-ending,” she said.
“So, I think the best advice I would give to someone in a similar situation would be not to get bogged down by how far you have to go – take it exam-by-exam and keep chipping away at it. Eventually it will all come together!”
AccountancySchool.ie – based on Fitzwilliam Street in Dublin – is a Platinum Approved Learning Partner of the ACCA, the globally recognised accountancy qualification.
As many as four out of ten female executives in Galway believe they have missed out on a raise or promotion due to gender – and a further 46% said their gender had also played a role in their missing out on a key assignment and more than half (56%) believe it impacted on a chance to get ahead.
That’s according to a new survey conducted by Galway Chamber, which revealed that one in five female executives also believe their gender had resulted in missing out on one or more of these opportunities over the last year – while three out of eight feel that men and women are not treated equally in their current workplace.
These results come from a Galway Chamber survey of more than 100 Galway based female corporate leaders and executives, which was conducted in advance of International Women’s Day.
The survey was conducted over a three-week period in February, issued to members of Galway Chamber.
More positively, it also found that almost two out of three (64%) female executives say they have seen a rise in the number of female corporate leaders in their company or organisation in recent times.
A total of 62% of female executives also believe that gender equality has increased in Ireland in the last year.
Although six out of ten (61%) female executives would characterise the level of gender equality in Galway as “positive, but more progress needed”, this is slightly down on the 64% who held that view when the same question was posed last year.
Also positive were the 92% of female executives who said they believe women have achieved more equal rights in the workplace over the last 10/15 years, up from 86% who were of that view a year ago.
When asked which aspects of equality they had seen progress on in their workplace since they began working with their current employer, 57% said they had seen advances in equal promotion opportunities, 53% on the equal treatment of genders and avoiding discrimination, 51% on the gender spread of leadership and 36% on equal pay.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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ALDI Ireland sourced €20 million of locally produced food and drink from Galway based suppliers last year, according to its annual Economic Impact Report.
The company said it also paid €7.5 million in wages and salaries last year and opened two new stores in Tuam and Mountbellew.
In 2022, ALDI partners with eleven local Galway producers, including key relationships with Sean Loughnane and Arrabawn Dairies – as it began working with 15 new Irish suppliers for the first time.
Operating eleven stores in Galway, ALDI employs over 230 full time staff in the county. All available job opportunities in County Galway can be found on the ALDI Recruitment website.
A total of 45 new jobs were created in ALDI’s new Tuam and Mountbellew stores in 2022. These new store openings form part of ALDI’s dedicated West of Ireland expansion programme which will see the company invest over €63 million and create 140 new full-time jobs and 350 construction jobs across Connacht over the next two years.
ALDI’s stores support multiple charities across Galway at a local level. Each store is part of ALDI’s food waste reduction programme, with ALDI’s Galway stores having donated over 74,000 meals through FoodCloud to local charities.
Each store is also part of ALDI’s Community Grants network with East Galway and Midlands Cancer Support and Voices for Down Syndrome Galway just some of the local charities that availed of the €500 bursary grant in 2022.
In addition to donating to local charities, ALDI also supports local communities through its tree planting initiative, with a commitment to planting one million native Irish woodland trees across Ireland by 2025. To date, ALDI has planted over 540,000 trees across the country. ALDI has planted 35,000 trees across County Galway.
ALDI Ireland Group Managing Director Niall O’Connor said the goal was to make a positive impact in every local community that their stores serve.
“We’re delighted to announce that we spent over €20 million sourcing locally produced food and drink from Galway suppliers in 2022, while investing over €42 million in the county since opening our first Galway store in West City Centre Retail Park in 2000,” he said.
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