Dragon, Bobby Kerr will deliver this year’s key note address at the Graduate Business Society’s 8th Annual Gala Ball on Friday, August 27 in the Granville Hotel, Waterford.
Mr Kerr, from a young age had a keen interest in business and began his catering career at the age of 16 in the kitchen of his father’s hotel, the Newpark Hotel on the Castlecomer Road. Building on his experiences from his post in AIB catering, Mr Kerr then went on to travel the world working as a chef on Oil Rigs in the North Sea and Canada. At this time Mr Kerr was honoured to cater for 1 million people for the Pope's visit to Canada. Upon his return to Ireland in the 80’s, he took up a post in Campbell Catering and became the director of development of the Campbell Bewley Group with responsibility for the overseas development of the Bewley's brand in the UK, USA and Japan. He also ran the product export department which involved the acquisition of the two American Cafe chains Java City and Rebecca's.
Currently, CEO of the Insomnia brand, Mr Kerr led the expansion of Insomnia from 17 to 50 shops and was responsible for increasing turnover from €5m to €13m.
Recently, Mr Kerr took up post as a Dragon on the hit TV series ‘Dragons Den’. It is here that he offers pearls of wisdom to contestant entrepreneurs vying for investment from the business gurus.
Mr Kerr believes that in business positive thinking is key for entrepreneurs and believes that they must challenge themselves every day and take calculated risks for the sake of competitive advantage. He is also a firm believer of the use of humour as a tool in overcoming the daily ups and downs in the business world.
The ball is a black tie event commencing with a champagne and canapé reception, followed by a four course dinner with wine, keynote speech and entertainment until late.
Tickets are €65 each and are available from Catherine Gannon at cgannon@wit.ie / (085 ) 7684055 or contact Anne-Marie Ivers at amivers@wit.ie, (086 ) 8845460.
