Entrepreneur Denis O’ Brien visits Castlecomer Community School

There was great excitement in Castlecomer Community School on with the visit of entrepreneur Denis O Brien to the school. Denis O Brien has gone from being a bell boy in the Central Hotel in Dublin at the age of 14 to a billionaire businessman and a great Irish success story. Denis was inspired by his father who operated an equine products business not just in Ireland but worldwide.

From a young age Denis learned that the market was a lot more than just Ireland. Denis founded media company Communicorp in the 1980s which owned radio stations such as Newstalk, Spin South West and Today Fm. In 1991, he made his start in the telecommunications sector by forming Esat Telecom. For the next nine years, he served as Esat’s Chairman and CEO. 

Today Denis O Brien is the Chairman and founder of Digicel. He formed the company in 2001 with the goal of bringing modern telecommunications technology to untapped markets in the Caribbean, starting in Jamaica.

Denis visited the school to give a talk to sixth year students about resilience and following your dream. He was welcomed to the school by Principal Mr. Pat Murphy and Deputy Principal Mr. Peter O’ Donovan. Sixth year students Shane Coogan and Mark Gunner both members of the Kilkenny U20 hurling panel also greeted Denis as he arrived to the school. He was particularly impressed to hear from Shane about how he earns money at the weekends valeting cars and took time to question him on his pricing strategy and how he markets this service. Mr. Murphy took Denis on a tour of the school and he was very impressed with the facilities available to the students.

Mr. O’ Brien was very generous with his time and made a real connection with the students. He grabbed the attention of the students from the start with a general knowledge quiz. Some of the prizes given out included a signed Usain Bolt jersey, an Ireland jersey signed by Robbie Keane and a Kilkenny jersey signed by a recent All Ireland winning team. Mr O Brien had some very important messages during the talk for the students.

As an employer he pointed out that when he looks at a CV, he wants to see what jobs a person took on while at school and in college, he wants to employ people who are able to communicate effectively with others. He highlighted that he failed his Leaving Cert Maths twice and could never get to grips with the Maths course. However, he pointed out that as a result he had to work harder at things he was good at to make up for this weakness. A discussion took place about social media and the importance of not posting images or comments that may impact on future employment opportunities. Mr O Brien encouraged the students to take every opportunity in life to travel and enjoy themselves especially after the two difficult years due to Covid. Denis also spoke about his companies inspiring work in building schools in Haiti and the investments taking place in healthcare, teacher training and community development projects. 

It was a memorable morning for students and staff and the visit created a great buzz in the school. A presentation was made to Denis to acknowledge his visit. Oran Byrne presented a personalised chocolate hamper sponsored by sweet living Kilkenny; Conor Duggan presented a hurley with the inscription ‘Castlecomer Community School  4 March  2022’ as a memento of this special occasion. To finish a great morning Denis presented all sixth year students  with a gift voucher, this kind gesture was appreciated by all students.