The Irish Tech News Podcast

Interesting conversation with Paul Handrick, founder of Ireland's first Bee Sanctuary The Bee Sanctuary of Ireland is the only dedicated native wild bee sanctuary on the planet. More about the sanctuary No hives. No honey. 55 acres – the size of 31 football pitches – of habitat which we have been returning to nature since 2012. Nestled in the foothills of the Wicklow mountains we are a pause in the chaos of modern life. We advocate for and educate about our endangered wild bee populations and are a real life real time example of the simple measures we can all take to address this serious issue. When it comes to bees, nature and the planet it’s time to start giving and stop taking. Here on THE BEE SANCTUARY OF IRELAND we give everything. We’re all in. See more on their website here https://thebeesanctuaryofireland.com

Jillian Godsil speaks with Dr Farrukh Habib, who gives a ‘101’ introduction on Islamic Finance and Shariah Compliant Financial Products - which turn out to be one and the same. I invited Dr Farrukh to explain about Islamic Finance and Shariah compliant financial products which he explains are basically the same thing. However, before he begins, he points out that Islam is actually a complete code for living that has a comprehensive set of rules and principles for each and every walk of life. “It’s not only about worship, but it governs public dealings too. In all matters, Islam provides guidance not only in regard for the man-to-God relationship, but also for the man-to-man relationships.” I interject women and children too, and Dr Farrukh agrees. “Islam extends to the whole family. It is a complete jurisprudence in the sense that it provides all the principles, including a complete alternative of conventional financial systems which is called the Islamic Financial system.” I ask about the differences between Western Financial Systems and Islamic, and Dr Farrukh corrects me on my terminology. Western Financial system is better termed conventional finance as it exists in all corners of the world. Jillian Godsil is an award winning journalist, broadcoaster and author. Her most recent book, Persons of Interest, Timestamped in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, can be found at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08NS1LXG8

We catch up with Jim Marous, a long time supporter of Irish Tech News to discuss banking trends, the impact of the global pandemic on the move to digital first services, and what he is excited about going forwards. Jim Marous Named has been named as one of the most influential people in banking. Speaker, Publisher & Podcast Host, #banking #fintech #finserv | Co-Publisher, The Financial Brand | Owner, Digital Banking Report | Banking Transformed Podcast More about the Banking Transformed Podcast Named in the top 6 banking podcasts to follow in 2020 Are you prepared to embrace change, take risks and disrupt yourself in response to the digital disruption in banking? If not, this podcast is for you. Hosted by top 5 banking and fintech influencer, Jim Marous, Banking Transformed highlights the leadership and cultural challenges facing the banking industry. Featuring interviews with some of the top minds in business, this podcast explores how financial institutions can prepare for the future of banking. Follow him on twitter here. https://twitter.com/JimMarous/status/1360966840256708614

The fifth annual Impact Report by Irish law firm McCann FitzGerald and international audit, tax and advisory firm, Mazars was recently published. It makes for interesting reading as businesses wrestle with Brexit, GDPR and the COVID-19 pandemic. Ronan talks to Liam McKenna a Partner in the Consulting Services practice in Mazars about the report. Liam talks about the 2021 Impact Report, the emerging trends found in 2021’s report, the Max Schrems Judgement. Liam also talks about the GDPR issues they noticed for those remote working from home, and gives some tips for those who are remote working. More about Liam: Liam has significant experience in delivering large change, IT and organisational transformation programmes. These programmes have typically been driven by mandated change in regulated industries or cost reduction and performance improvement and are enabled by changes to operations, organisation structures and technology in a range of sectors including financial services, public and private sectors. Some areas of recent focus include: GDPR/DPO services; Information Security, Process Improvement including through Robotic Process Automation; Payments Services License Applications.

Frank and forthright conversation with David Katz, founder of Plastic Bank, you can also catch him speaking this week at Sangeeta Waldron's  Book Event - Corporate Social Responsibility Is Not Public Relations; Feb 18, 2021 David has been named one of the world’s most compassionate entrepreneurs by Salt magazine. He is the recipient of the United Nations Lighthouse award for Planetary Health, recipient of the Paris Climate Conference Sustainia community award, recipient of the Earnst and Young Lifetime Achievement award, is the Past President of the Vancouver Chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), and named the Entrepreneur Organizations, Global Citizen. David is the founder and CEO of The Plastic Bank, an internationally recognized solution to ocean plastic. The Plastic Bank is a global network of micro recycling markets that empower the poor to transcend poverty by cleaning the environment. The Plastic Bank is an eco-system that provides an opportunity for the world to collect and trade plastic waste as a currency. Global partners include IBM, Shell Energy, SC Johnson, Aldi, Henkel and more. His humanitarian work has earned him international recognition. David has been featured in hundreds of international news and investigative articles, including Forbes, Time Magazine, Fast Company, Business Week, and National Geographic. David can be found at TED.com, is featured in an award-winning documentary and starred in an international reality television show. David is a steward of the earth and a champion for the poor.

In the podcast today Melanie Boylan and Tonya Fitzpatrick discuss what makes World Footprints a social impact company.  World Footprints is a heart-centered Social Impact travel media company where travelers of conscience and culture can come for information, education and inspiration in the travel space. From its inception in 2007, World Footprints has revealed untold narratives and has explored places that push beyond our comfort zones by opening a window to the world through powerful written and audio storytelling. It is through these stories that World Footprints helps people overcome their fears about traveling the world. World Footprints was founded by Tonya & Ian Fitzpatrick, two media-savvy lawyers who have merged their passion for meaningful travel and their support for social justice. The multi award-winning World Footprints podcast is the cornerstone of the socially conscious company. World Footprints continues to evolve but it is unique in its consistent illumination of our common humanity. The steadfast belief in our shared humanity is expressed in the foundational principle of Ubuntu, a Zulu word that translates “I am because we are” and also the Hindu phrase Tat tvam asi – “I see the other in myself and myself in others”. The philosophy of unity guides the impactful stories that are found throughout the World Footprints multimedia platform including the website, podcast and YouTube channel. World Footprints offers a space for all voices to be heard and for fuller narratives to be shared even if they are uncomfortable because of the value those stories offer for growth and cross-cultural understanding. In addition to the philosophical mission there are two prevailing messages that are amplified through World Footprints: the importance of ground-truthing–(finding your own truth about people and places in order to debunk misinformed opinions) and the transformative power of travel. Throughout its history, World Footprints has partnered with a number of non-profit and advocacy groups like the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking.  It has also welcomed world figures, thought leaders and celebrities, such as Maya Angelou, Jack Hanna, Bobby Kennedy, Jr., Ken Burns, chef Cat Cora and others to share unique insights on places and people. Travel, culture, history and social impact are foundational to World Footprints.

Jillian Godsil talks with Daniel Uribe, founder and CEO of Genobank, living and based in Silicon, USA Daniel, who is of Mexican descent did his primary degrees in Mexico but studied in Stanford University where he met Condoleezza Rice as part of the executive programme, and he is also a graduate of Singularity University. Both experiences formed his independent thinking – which is totally obvious in his founding of GenoBank.io, a DNA ownership legal tech kit and patent-pending blockchain technology platform which is turning personal control of DNA on its head. When not studying, Daniel also worked for major tech giants such as Oracle and Sun Microsystems. He is a cybersecurity person with extensive experience in network storage; he has been working in the UNIX space since 2002. With these influences, his start-up was bound to happen – but in fact, it was his personal life that proved the catalyst. “I first heard about blockchain early on, around the same time everyone was moving into the cloud, so the concept of decentralisation was hardly spoken of; if one had a database then it was on Oracle or similar. It was centralised, it was expensive, and it took a couple of humans to maintain – not thousands of nodes. “At the time, the penny dropped for me; now we could have one ledger or one version of a book. This had not been possible before, not even the most famous books in the history of mankind have one version – there is no one version of the Bible or the Koran – but here was a technology that could offer one version, a live version, that was synchronised every 10 minutes.” Daniel had the makings of a disruptive start-up in his hands, if he but knew it. However, it took a personal accident to crystallise these thoughts into a real project. His son at 18 months had an accident where he poked his throat with a straw. As a result, he bled for three days and the hospital did some tests, including looking at his DNA. As a result, his son was diagnosed with a rare blood disease with something very similar to haemophilia; a deletion in his genes in the 17th chromosome resulting in a condition called Glanzmann's thrombasthenia. While it was a relief to have the condition diagnosed and named, Daniel was uncomfortable about the handling of his son’s DNA records. “The tests were covered by medical standards, HIPAA, but what caught my attention was that my son’s raw data was not available. It was like trying to access state secrets such was the lack of transparency.” Listen to the podcast to see what Daniel did to fix this issue. Jillian Godsil is an award winning journalist, broadcoaster and author. Her most recent book, Persons of Interest, Timestamped in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, can be found at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08NS1LXG8

We figured it was a good time to make sure everyone was on the same page as Bitcoin enjoys another turbo fuelled period. We called up cryptocurrency trader expert Jamil Hasan and asked him the questions you want to know but don't want to look stupid by asking. Here are some of the questions we put to him: # what actually is a bitcoin? # how many exist, how many have been lost, how many will there ever be? # who was Satoshi Nakamoto, and why doesn't it really matter? # what are the safest ways to store and hold bitcoin? # suppose something comes along and replaces it? Is it gold 2.0? # what about other altcoins? # what is the significance of Elon Musk buying 1 1/2 billion worth? # Max Keiser says you should only bother with bitcoin, what do you think? We think you will find this episode informative and useful. You can follow Jamil on Twitter here https://twitter.com/CryptoHipster and learn more about him on his website here.

Lithium power has been integral part of our lives for many years but it's just not sustainable and has a great impact on our planet.  In Melanie Boylans' chat with James Quinn of Faradion we learn more about the values and merits of sodium-ion and how this will be the change needed to conserve our precious elements and safe guard our ecological future. James Quinn is a Technology Executive and Entrepreneur, Public and Private Companies, M&A,  Divisional Mgmt, Venture Capital, Strategic Visionary, Keynote Speaker High integrity team builder with leadership skills proven in the technology  industry. Proven technology products executive with over 25 years  experience in systems and services in the public and private sectors.  Broad based experience from product development of leading edge  technologies through global supply chain manufacturing and distribution. Specialties:  Extensive international business background including, customer sales and support, engineering and development, partnerships, licensing, supply chain, and manufacturing. Substantial involvement with  investor/investor relations as well as raising capital from VC’s and  governmental subsidies. About Faradion Faradion is the world leader in sodium-ion battery technology that provides low cost, high performance, safe and sustainable energy. Its proprietary technology delivers leading-edge, cost effective solutions for a broad range of applications; including mobility, energy storage, back-up power  and energy in remote locations. Faradion’s patented zero-volt capability, enables the safe transportation and maintenance of sodium-ion batteries. The wide operating temperature range, high  energy density and fast charge/discharge capability combine to offer a next generation, drop-in solution. Its sodium-ion batteries contain no cobalt, no lithium and no copper, resulting in a safe and sustainable, cost-effective, high performance technology. For more information, visit www.faradion.co.uk or follow us on Twitter @faradion_uk.

In today's podcast we were able to bring together two very topical areas that are on the top of all business owners minds (hopefully). Michelle Carvill came on to discuss the merits and ways to create a strategy that can improve not only your marketing but your carbon footprint too. Listen in for further details and insights as Melanie Boylan talk to Michelle Carvill. ‘Sustainable Marketing - How to drive profits with purpose’ - is her fifth book which she co authored along side Gemma Butler and Geraint Evans, published by Bloomsbury, 21st January 2021. And aligned with this, Michelle has developed a Sustainable Marketing course for CIM (The Chartered Institute of Marketing) - to ensure that sustainability is firmly on the marketing education agenda. And qualified with Nottingham Business School on their Sustainability Leadership course. Michelle, Gemma and Geraint have a podcast where they talk about sustainable marketing here: https://www.canmarketingsavetheplanet.com/ Can Marketing Save the Planet? It’s a big question, and one our podcast sets out to explore with marketers, senior leaders, CMOs and sustainability consultants and experts. Our purpose is to drive education, share best practice, inspire and empower listeners to start asking questions and importantly… to start taking action. Sitting at the heart of brand, communications, stakeholders and product development - marketers have a significant role to play when it comes to promoting and driving sustainability. As marketers and business leaders developing and marketing products and services, we also need to recognise that we’re part of the problem. In an age of the rising conscious consumer and increasing demands on businesses towards more transparency, it is now more important than ever for brands to communicate their responsible and sustainable practices, to stand up for causes they’re passionate about and importantly, to follow through on the promises they make. In our view, there’s no one better placed to effect change, align with and influence customers and drive hope for a better, more sustainable future, than an ‘educated and aware’ responsible marketer. Michelle Carvill: michelle@carvillcreative.co.uk Gemma Butler: gemma.butler@cim.co.uk Geraint Evans: geraint@drgeraintevans.com