Padraig O'Ceidigh
Entrepreneur, Businessman and Mentor

It was probably obvious to those who knew him in his younger days that Padraig Ó
Ceidigh would become a successful entrepreneur. At ten, the Connemara man was
picking periwinkles from a beach in Spiddal and travelling to Galway to sell them to
fish exporters.

Ó Ceidigh started out as an accountant, having studied Business at NUI Galway.
In 1983 however, he left accounting to become a maths teacher in the secondary
school where he himself was educated. To this day, he cites it as one of the most
enjoyable jobs of his career.

While teaching, he studied law at night and in the early 1990’s he set up his own
legal practice in Galway. In 1994, he saw an opportunity to develop a struggling
business in the local community and he became part owner of Aer Arann, an
airline that served the three Aran Islands. A year after buying the company with his
business partner, the airline was back in the black.

In 1998, with the award of a Dublin-Donegal PSO contract, Aer Arann’s regional
service was born and the organisation separated into two companies in 2001.
That was also the year that Pádraig bought out his business partner. A period of
considerable growth followed, with more PSO contracts serving a number of other
regional routes, including destinations in the UK and France. Passenger numbers
rose to over 1.1 million in 2007 and Aer Arann won several awards (including the
Palme d’Or for Airline of the Year from the European Regional Airlines Association in 2006, the only Irish airline to receive the accolade). It now operates several regional European and domestic routes, including a successful franchise arrangement with Aer Lingus.

Pádraig himself has also received many awards, not least of which was Ernst &
Young Irish Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002. Subsequently he was a member
of the 2004 World Entrepreneur of the Year judging panel and he continues his
association as Chair of the judging panel for the Irish awards.

He has created and developed a number of other successful businesses in various
industries. It’s a long way from picking periwinkles, but Ó Ceidigh has shown that he still knows how to unearth some great local business opportunities.

In 2003 Padraig was appointed to the Board of Fáilte Ireland by then Minister for
Tourism, John O Donoghue TD and he has since been appointed and serves as
Chair of the Fáilte Ireland West Tourism Forum.

Padraig and Aer Arann also actively support local and national charities having
raised over €500,000 over in the past eleven years by organising and sponsoring an annual half marathon on the Island of Inis Mór for Temple Street Children’s Hospital. He has voluntary involvement in a number of charity and local organisations, including a spiritual retreat centre in East Galway.

He is in demand as a mentor, advisor and speaker on business and entrepreneurship throughout Ireland and he was Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the business school of alma mater NUIG in 2009.

Testimonials

“Padraig has been absolutely fantastic – I can’t ever remember a speaker in my
career that had such unanimous vote of excellence from every single participant –
I was literally inundated with praises for him – from personal admiration, to content, inspiration, motivation, his inter-personal skills are really second to none”
Marina Nitzak, Ashville Media Group

"Padraig Ó Ceidigh’s energised speech is unscripted and unaccompanied by
powerpoint slides. Instead he entreats us to look at the powerpoint slides in our
heads………. His speech is about leadership and vision……"
Patrick Freyne, The Investor Magazine reporting on The First Annual Investor Mortgage and Insurance Broker Conference

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