E143 That Great Business - pharmacist Oonagh O'Hagan, as you've never heard her before
E143 That Great Business Show
OONAGH O HAGAN, OWNER MEAGHERS PHARMACIES explains how she competes with big, big international competitors -
Service is key. Business is about people and she explains how she competes on service and finds the best service providers for her stores.
At the end of the day they look for people with empathy. And she finds ways of finding out if her future employees have that empathy by asking incoming applicants 'what the most recent kind thing they have done.
They began online due to customer demand, but it didn't make money for a long, long time. However, Meagher's is now serving 70 countries online worldwide. And why did she stick with it? Because they survey their customers all of the time, and the customers said they wanted it. It was only a matter of time...and they have global ambitions. They will also open new stores in 'under-served' communities in Ireland
Her mother, her entrepreneurial inspiration, who ran a Courtaulds factory near Omagh making bras for Marks and Spencer, managing two hundred people.
She even offers a fix for the HSE! She says policy makers don't know the value of the community pharmacies - ''they need to be freed up from bureaucracy''
Oonagh is a mentor on the women based 'Going for Growth' programme and she says that a lack of confidence is the major thing that holds back women in business. She explains what she does to make their mentees more confident. She has mentored about 100 women and she thinks women like Aimee Connolly is standout.
HER HIRE IN A HEARTBEAT? Louise Phelan, ex-PayPal. A straight shooter according to Oonagh.
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That Great Business Show
That Great Business Show with Conall Ó Móráin - officially Ireland's TOP Business Podcast, crowned UCD Smurfit's Business Podcast of the Year!Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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