An Evening of Business Lessons, Storytelling and Local Leadership
Founders Friday returned to Eugene Kelly’s Pub in Tullamore for an evening of honest business conversation, powerful stories and practical lessons from people who have built, led and served in very different ways. The event was sponsored by AllPro Recruitment, in association with Tullamore & District Rotary Club, and MC’d by Ronan Berry, Managing Partner of HRConsultants.ie. It was the final Founders Friday before the summer break, and the room was full of founders, business owners and professionals from across the Midlands.
The main speaker on the night was Will Faulkner, Managing Director of Midlands 103 and South East Radio, and the familiar voice behind Midlands Today. The theme of the evening was “The Business Behind the Voice”. Most people know Will as a broadcaster. They hear him on Midlands 103, they know his voice, and they know Midlands Today. But this Founders Friday looked beyond the microphone to explore Will’s journey as a business leader, the commercial realities of running a local radio station, and the lessons he has learned from mentors, mistakes, growth, and change.
What Is Founders Friday?
Founders Friday is a business event series created to bring founders, business owners and professionals together for real conversations about business. It is not a formal networking event or a polished panel discussion. It is a room where people share the real stories behind building, growing and leading organisations.
The goal is simple: to give business owners practical lessons they can take back into their own business. This event had all of that: leadership, succession, storytelling, service, media, mentorship, and a strong reminder that the Midlands has great business stories worth shouting about.
The Business Behind the Voice
Will Faulkner’s story did not begin with a grand plan to lead a radio station. In fact, he explained that radio happened almost by accident.
One of his earliest jobs was as a hackney driver. In Transition Year, he worked in an IT company, and one of his first projects was creating a website for a school. Later, he studied journalism because media did not feel like work. That was one of the first lessons of the night: sometimes the best career clues are found in the work you enjoy before you even know it is work.
Will made a college documentary and sent it into a radio station. They played it. Then an election was called, they needed extra journalistic support, and he got the job. That chance opening became the start of a career in radio.
After working in the industry, he applied to Midlands 103 as Head of News. He brought structure, style guides and clearer systems into the newsroom, and the team responded well. At just 24, he became Head of Programming. At the same time, he took on Midlands Today, a three-hour current affairs show. By 27, he had been invited to join the board of Midlands 103.
The Reality of Running a Local Radio Station
From there, Will began to learn the commercial side of radio. This became one of the most interesting parts of the evening, because people often think of radio as voices, music, news and interviews. Behind the scenes, however, it is a 24/7 commercial operation.
There are transmitters to manage, staff to schedule, presenters calling in sick, news obligations, advertising targets, technical problems, audience figures, regulation, digital change, events and commercial partnerships.
Will explained that independent radio is not the same as public service broadcasting. It has to make money. It has to sell advertising. It has to support local businesses. It has to serve its audience. And it has to do all of that while meeting strict regulations around fairness, balance, diversity, music mix, news and speech content.
In a world where people can get information from almost anywhere, that regulation is one of the reasons radio remains so trusted.
Why Radio Still Matters
A major message from the night was that radio still matters. The media landscape has changed dramatically. Radio and television are no longer people’s only sources of news. People now get information from social media, podcasts, streaming platforms, online news sites and AI-generated content.
But radio still offers something different.
It offers companionship. It offers a real voice. It offers local connection. It can be company in the car, in the kitchen, at work, or during difficult moments in someone’s life. And it offers trust, Will explained that radio is the most trusted medium.
AI was also discussed on the night. Will said AI may support certain business tasks, but he questioned whether people would really want to listen to an AI presenter. A bot can read words, but can it ask the unexpected question? Can it sense emotion? Can it comfort someone? Can it create the same feeling of companionship? That is where human voices still matter.
Storytelling Is Still One of the Best Business Tools
One of the strongest business lessons from the night was about storytelling. Will said people have a strong instinct for what is real and what is not. Audiences can sense when something is forced. People have what he called a strong “b.s. detector”.
That matters for every business. When a sales message is too direct, people switch off. But when a message is wrapped in a real story, something people care about, the sales result can become a by-product.
People remember stories. They remember honesty. They remember how you made them feel.
Tom Doyle and Hope on Wheels
The evening also featured a powerful contribution from Tom Doyle, Chairman of Hope on Wheels and a former Founders Friday speaker. Tom is also Founder, Director and Shareholder at Choose Plastic Free Wipes, Founder, Director and Shareholder at Promise Gluten Free, and a Non-Executive Director at Sailor’s Home Irish Whiskey Company.
Tom shared the story of Hope on Wheels, the Irish-led initiative bringing ambulances and emergency vehicles to Uganda. The project began in 2020, when the team set out to find places that needed fire engines and ambulances. It later grew into a much bigger humanitarian mission.
Tom spoke about driving emergency vehicles across Africa from Kenya to Uganda and meeting Irish-trained doctor Dr Ann Merriman, who set up a hospice in Uganda. One of the most striking parts of Tom’s talk was the lack of access to pain relief and palliative care in Uganda. He told the room that a month’s supply of morphine can cost around US$25, yet many people still have little or no access to it.
In 2025, Hope on Wheels raised €128,000. This year’s mission raised approximately €210,000, with 11 ambulances involved. The group included people from all walks of life, including guards, doctors, engineers, entrepreneur Gareth Sheridan, and social media star Garron Noone.
How One Founders Friday Conversation Led to Uganda
One of the best Founders Friday stories came from this connection. Gareth Sheridan, CEO of Nutriband and former Irish presidential hopeful, had previously been a speaker at Founders Friday. Tom Doyle got chatting to him after that event and told him the story of Hope on Wheels.
Gareth was moved by the story and decided to join the mission.
That is what Founders Friday is about. It is not just about meeting people. It is about creating the kind of room where stories can lead to action.
Will Faulkner’s Three Business Lessons
Will left the room with three simple but powerful lessons for business owners and leaders.
1. You Set the Tone
As a leader, your energy carries through the organisation. If you panic, people feel it. If you are negative, it spreads. If you are calm, clear and steady, that also spreads.
Leadership is not just what you say in meetings. It is how you carry yourself on the floor, in the office, on a difficult day, and when the pressure is on.
2. Bad Hires Are Hard to Undo
Will was very clear on this point. Hiring the wrong person can affect the team, the culture, the customer experience and the pace of the business.
His advice was simple: interviewing is a skill. Learn it. Take hiring seriously. Do not just hire for experience. Hire for attitude, fit, values and the reality of what the role needs.
3. Get a Mentor or Coach
Will also spoke about the value of having a mentor or coach. A good coach helps you become more self-aware. They help you understand your blind spots. They help you see your own patterns before those patterns become problems for the business.
For founders and business leaders, this matters. It is easy to be busy. It is harder to step back and understand how you are leading.
A Tribute to Albert Fitzgerald
One of the most memorable parts of the night was Will’s tribute to the late Albert Fitzgerald, former Managing Director of Midlands 103. Will spoke warmly about Albert’s support, guidance and influence on his career. Albert was a mentor to him, and his business lessons clearly left a lasting mark.
Albert Fitzgerald’s Business Lessons
Will shared a list of “Albertisms” with the room. They were simple, direct and practical:
- Bullshit baffles brains: People switch off if you waffle, say what something is out straight and why it is important.
- Offer a strong handshake.
- Check, check and check again.
- Almost anything can be sponsored.
- A deal is a deal.
- Always create options.
- Rules can bend.
- People buy people.
- Be decent.
- Family comes first.
- Life is short.
There is a reason these lessons landed so well in the room. They are not complicated. They are not dressed up in business jargon. They are the kind of lessons that come from years of dealing with people, solving problems, making decisions and learning what really matters.
Why the Midlands Needs to Shout Louder
The evening closed with a wider conversation about the Midlands. A clear message came through: the Midlands has incredible businesses, talent and stories, but it does not always promote itself enough.
There are founders building amazing companies here. There are people creating jobs. Businesses are growing quietly. There are stories of leadership, resilience and success. Too often, the Midlands waits for someone else to notice.
As Ronan Berry said on the night, we need to talk more about how great we are. The region is full of talent and strong businesses. It needs to be more visible, more confident and more willing to tell its own story. Will agreed saying, “Because if people can see it, they can be it.”
Why Founders Friday Matters
There is a reason Founders Friday continues to bring people into the room. It gives business owners something they do not always get in day-to-day work: perspective.
You hear what others have gone through. You hear the mistakes. You hear the lucky breaks. You hear the hard decisions. You hear the lessons people only learn by doing.
At this event, we heard how Will Faulkner grew from broadcaster to Managing Director. We heard how Tom Doyle helped turn a story into a humanitarian mission. We heard how David Gleeson, Founder of AllPro Recruitment and the AllPro People Group, has moved from CEO to Chairperson and continues to support Founders Friday as sponsor.
We heard why mentorship matters. We heard why stories matter. And we heard why the Midlands needs to back itself.
Thank You to Everyone Who Joined Us
A sincere thank you to everyone who attended and supported the latest Founders Friday. Thank you to Will Faulkner for sharing the business behind the voice. Thank you to Tom Doyle for sharing the story of Hope on Wheels. Thank you to Ronan Berry, Managing Partner of HRConsultants.ie, for MC’ing the evening.
Thank you to Tullamore & District Rotary Club for their support. And thank you to AllPro Recruitment for continuing to support Founders Friday and the business community across the Midlands.
Founders Friday will now take a break for the summer and return in September.
Want to Speak at Founders Friday?
Founders Friday is always looking for people with real stories and practical lessons to share. That might be a founder, a business owner, a leader, someone who has scaled a company, someone who has made mistakes and learned from them, or someone with a story that could help other business people make better decisions. If you or someone you know would like to be added to the mailing list contact jasmine@allprorecruitment.ie
Would you like to be added to the Founders Friday mailing list?
The best business lessons do not always come from textbooks. Sometimes they come from being in better rooms. And Founders Friday is becoming one of those rooms.
To be added to the mailing list, email jasmine@allprorecruitment.ie
