Ed Murphy grew up in Clongeen, a small village in south Wexford about two kilometres south of Foulkesmill, a slightly larger small village. The population of Clongeen has varied between 200 and 300 people over the past few decades; Murphy and his siblings once made up 14 of that number. 

Murphy graduated from college with a marketing degree in 1984, and then worked in a variety of business roles in the UK, Australia, and the US. In 1992, he returned to Ireland and teamed up with Michael Kearney, a businessman who would later become team manager with the Irish rugby team. 

It was a fruitful partnership. Kearney had established Snap Printing a few years earlier, and Murphy joined as an equity partner and chief executive. Kearney and Murphy held the master franchise for the business, and they rolled out the concept through a network of franchisees throughout the country. 

“We took the mystery out of printing, and we made it accessible. We brought it to the high street,” he told me when I first interviewed him in 2009.

By that stage, Murphy had turned his attention to another franchise, Home Instead Senior Care, which, once again with Kearney, he launched in Ireland in 2005. 

Before recruiting other franchisees, Murphy operated the franchise in Dublin himself. Within two years, the office had become the best-performing division out of 800 Home Instead offices around the world. 

The company, which provides in-home care services, grew to become a national operation. When Murphy sold out of Home Instead Senior Care in 2018, it was the largest home care provider in Ireland, delivering more than three million hours of specialist home care each year from 24 offices throughout Ireland. 

Murphy and Kearney also held the master franchise for the video game retailer CeX. Around the same time as he cashed out of Home Instead, Murphy divested his interests in Snap and CeX.

With enough money in the bank to fund multiple retirements, Murphy could have settled for the easy life. Indeed, he even moved back to his home county of Wexford. 

The story does not end there, however.

But that was just the start of another journey. He became chief economic advisor to Invest Wexford on a pro bono basis and started putting his own time and resources into promoting economic growth across the region. His mission was to bring companies into the area while fostering an entrepreneurial culture from within.

Murphy had to leave Wexford to make his money. His ambition was that others could do it without leaving the south east.

He had other ambitions also. After all, you can take the entrepreneur out of the business, but you can’t take business out of the entrepreneur. 

But he wanted to do something that he was passionate about, something that would make a difference.

He looked at Wexford, with its pleasant climate, fertile ground, and rolling coastlines, and sensed an opportunity to make the region a serious player in renewable energy and sustainable energy.

The outcome of that ambition became GreenTech HQ, an innovation hub located just outside Enniscorthy, a town blighted by a massive long-term unemployment rate. Murphy has been working on the incubation centre since last May, securing partnerships with the likes of DogPatch Labs, Impact Hub, AIB, Trinity College Dublin, the UN, Skillnet Ireland and Cool Planet, the carbon reduction business led by Norman Crowley. The list goes on. 

The aim is to create a collaborative centre, an ecosystem for entrepreneurs, corporates, investors and local communities to develop green solutions. His ambition is that the hub will help create 500 greentech jobs in the country. 

(It might seem an ambitious number, but it is worth remembering that the businesses he previously led created a combined 6,000 roles.) 

Murphy is passionate about the project. “The Earth is ours to heal. We need to innovate our way out of this crisis,” he said at an event in GreenTech HQ last week. 

The story does not end there, however. GreenTech HQ is based in Senan House, a 20,000-square-foot property overlooking the River Slaney that bills itself as Ireland’s first “fully passive” commercial building. 

Senan House is hoping to drive economic growth in the area by offering top-class facilities for ambitious companies. Pinergy Solar Electric and the accountancy firm Azets are already tenants. More are coming on board. 

Murphy has taken 5,000 square feet of the property, with the option of getting more. Not all will be allocated to GreenTech HQ, however. 

In addition to working on his innovation hub, Murphy has been beavering away with Dermot Bolger and Charlotte Reilly on another venture called Platinum Home Care. Murphy is the chairman of the business, which aims to fundamentally change the home care model here.

At the event in GreenTech HQ last week, Bolger, the managing director of Platinum, said that it had created 47 jobs since it was established earlier this year. In addition, a further 12 people will come on board by the end of this month, while 91 applicants have been successful and are waiting on regulatory clearance. 

The company has already secured a national contract with the HSE. By the end of next year, Bolger says the company will have 250 people on its books, with Bolger adding that all will be paid above the living wage. 

The Minister for Finance Michael McGrath was in attendance on the day of the jobs announcement; he was positive about its potential and also by the potential of GreenTech HQ. 

The company’s operations will be managed from Senan House. “Ed gently suggested we come here,” Bolger joked last week, adding that it quickly became non-negotiable. 

GreenTech HQ is not the first regional innovation hub – PorterShed in Galway, RDI in Killorglin and Republic of Work in Cork are all doing excellent jobs promoting entrepreneurship and start-ups.

GreenTech HQ is at an early stage in its journey. But Murphy is determined to make it happen. And given his pedigree, few would bet against him.

*****

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Meanwhile last week, I caught up with Conor Sheridan, who swerved from fund management to fried chicken. However, his Mad Egg chain led to an AI business he believes can be an international player. He talked to me about his unconventional career journey and the potential of his new business, Nory.

A plan to build 1,000 apartments has been hit by disputes and delays for nearly 20 years. It is finally moving but only after Dublin City Council recut key aspects to make it viable for Bartra, its privately-owned developer with a Hong Kong guarantee. Tom had the story. 

From a standing start in 2019, Offr has raised €6 million in three funding rounds and expanded into the UK and South Africa. The founder and CEO of the online property platform Robert Hoban talked me through what is coming next.

Stephen Kinsella gave his reaction to Cop28, and it was far from favourable – he said it failed because it could not get beyond tinkering with the energy system. However, he added that Ireland’s offshore wind resource is one of the required substitutes for fossil fuels if the world is to clear this hurdle.