Seán Gallagher has worked hard to overcome many challenges during his life, from the physical challenge of visual impairment to the entrepreneurial challenges of unemployment and setting up his own business. Seán was the co-founder of Smarthomes Ireland’s fastest growing technology company and he has built up a successful business presence in Ireland. An entrepreneur for over a decade, Seán has helped to mentor other budding entrepreneurs through RTE’s successful, Dragons’ Den and through his work with County Enterprise Boards and Chambers of Commerce around the country. Seán also holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA). Seán has worked in every county in Ireland using business expertise to mentor and advise charity, voluntary and community groups helping them to maximise their resources and achieve their goals. Seán understands the challenges faced by people and has worked in almost every industry, including youth work, farming, politics and the public sector, technology and others. This has given Seán a firm knowledge of some of Ireland’s best and brightest industries as well as the need to nurture our youth to encourage them to innovate and find their own enterprising solutions to today’s challenges. Seán, aged 49, was born in Monaghan and spent his first few years in Devin Reilly Terrace, Monaghan Town. He grew up in The Square, Ballyhaise in Co Cavan. He is married to Trish O’Connor from Kanturk, Co Cork. They live in Blackrock outside Dundalk, Co Louth.

Bobby Kerr, 49, had a very eventful year in 2008/2009. Aside from becoming a Dragon, he spearheaded the sale of the Kerr family business, Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny, for €23 million. Last year he sold 51 per cent of his Insomnia group to Penninn, valuing the business at €16 million. Bobby got the business bug at a young age while helping his father run the four-star Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny. A career in catering followed, when he landed his very first job at AIB Catering in Ballsbridge. He was soon travelling the globe, working as a chef on Oil Rigs in the North Sea, and then to Canada where he gained vast experience in stadium catering. He went on to coordinate catering for one million people during the Pope’s visit to Canada in 1985. He returned to Ireland in the mid-80s where he worked initially at Jury’s Hotels, followed by Campbell Catering in Cork and then Bewley’s. As managing director of Bewley’s Oriental Cafe, Bewley’s Franchising and Bewley’s Bakery he oversaw 30 Bewley’s Cafes and a bakery with a turnover of €40 million. He was also responsible for the overseas development of the Bewley’s brand in Britain, the US and Japan. In 1999, Bobby set up PERK Coffee Shops in Dublin, before selling the brand to Insomnia. Bobby reinvested all the proceeds of the PERK sale back into Insomnia and became a shareholder and chief executive. Since 2004 he has led the expansion of Insomnia from 17 to 50 shops and increased turnover from €5 to €13 million.

Gavin Duffy was reared in the hospitality and retail business with his family running pubs, restaurants and shops in Naas, Dun Laoghaire and Drogheda. Though he was born on a farm outside Naas, Co Kildare, he considers Drogheda, Co Louth as his home town. He now resides with his wife Orlaith and four children about five miles outside Drogheda. By 18 he had set up a local radio station employing 20 people. In 1989 he set up the country’s first licensed provincial local radio station, LMFM, after working for some years in RTE presenting various programmes, including Ireland’s first television business programme, `Marketplace’. In 2004, LMFM was sold to UTV for €11 million. In 1992 he founded his Media Consultancy business, Dorland, which owns www.mediatraining.ie. Dorland is the leading consultancy helping senior executives to communicate their business messages internally and externally. He also successfully invested in a number of companies and start-ups and remains part owner of the HRM group of companies, one Ireland’s biggest players in recruitment.

Norah Casey is chief executive (and owner) of Harmonia, Ireland’s largest magazine company, printing more than four million magazines annually for the Irish, British, US market and more recently in China. Harmonia’s stable includes strong women’s brands, such as Irish Tatler, U, Woman’s Way and www.ivenus.com, as well as specialist titles such as Food & Wine, Auto Ireland and Ireland of the Welcomes (aimed at the Irish diaspora with over 80,000 US-based subscribers). She is a member of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and the London-based Women’s Irish Network and the International Women’s Forum. She was awarded the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award for 2007/8 and has won The Publisher of the Year Award for three years running. She is the latest Dragon to join RTE’s Dragons’ Den for 2011.

Niall O’Farrell was born in Dublin and educated in Catholic University School in Leeson Street. Having left school he went straight into business in the retail menswear sector and studied marketing in Parnell Square. During the recession of 1985 he left his employment and did a Start Your Own Business Course with Anco, following which he set up his first formal wear shop in Ranelagh which then became the Blacktie retail chain of formal wear shops.  Niall has been building his property portfolio since the age of 22. He has many landmark buildings in London and Ireland. His portfolio includes high-end residential properties, high-end office buildings in London’s mid town as well as a residential and retail block on London’s Pall Mall and a prominent gastro pub in London’s Whitehall. Niall has been a Dragon since the first series of Dragons’ Den in 2008, as a Venture and Development Capital investor. So far, Niall has invested in the goldsmith Elaine Sarah Comerford, Button & Co Goldsmiths, Dee’s Burgers, Kate Carmody of Beal Organic whole milk cheddar cheese in Co Kerry and Mooz Milkshake. Niall has a particular interest in supporting Irish crafts and in harnessing Irish creativity and in guiding these companies to the commercial world of competitiveness in a global market. Niall is in demand as a speaker at conferences and is outspoken in his support for the reintroduction of government-backed training schemes and enterprise allowance schemes.

Brody Sweeney founded the O’Brien’s Sandwich Bar chain in 1988, and together with his management team built the chain to over 300 outlets in 16 countries. In 2005 he retired from the day to day management of the business to pursue a career in politics’ and in the 2007 General Election, stood for the Irish parliament. He is founder of the Camile Thai Kitchen Group, a small chain of Thai focussed hot food delivery businesses. He is a non-executive director of Paddy Power PLC, one of Irelands leading e-commerce companies, He is co-founder of the Irish business charitable foundation, Connect Ethiopia. He is author of two bestselling business books Making Bread published in 2005, and Small to Tall published in 2008. Brody is a popular speaker on the business circuit, speaking on leadership, entrepeneurship, motivation and teambuilding. He also runs a successful residential training course for business owners “Small to Tall – How to grow your business from its entrepreneurial roots.”

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Brian is a director with e-Celtic and one of the leading analysts in online marketing. He has driven growth and international expansion for e-Celtic since 2006 and graduated from TCD with a gold medal for business student of the year. An enthusiast for digital marketing, he has recently set-up the company’s London office to cater to a growing UK client base. Over the years, Brian has overseen the execution of campaigns in 66 countries for government tourism bodies, global healthcare, hospitality, retail and financial companies. The company’s client base now covers over 10 countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Israel, Switzerland, UK, and USA. He is an advocate of SEO and passionate about how online channels can be utilised to maximise sales. Having worked on campaigns for a number of ecommerce sites, Brian has a deep understanding on how to organically grow sites in competitive markets.

Ron is a serial entrepreneur. He has started several, grown a few and sold one company. As an entrepreneur Ron has worked in entrepreneurship and SME development, training, consultancy, publishing, education, innovation and tech transfer across the globe. He is also author of a number of best selling business books. Currently he works in the area of social media, narrative, story telling, dialogue learning, collective wisdom and social learning. The concepts he is involved with as CEO and co-founder, Bookbuzz and Smallbusinesscan are both in that space. With the support of Ulster Bank he developed www.smallbusinesscan.com. A free and open platform where owner managers can tap into the collective wisdom of entrepreneurs and share the business knowledge, the insights, the experience and the contacts needed to generate new growth. Launched in May 2009, Smallbusinesscan is now the fastest growing business website in Ireland and is about to expand into the UK and futher afield.

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