Welcome to the first epsiode of a brand new series on Galway Bay FM - Bay Business with Breda Fox.
Well-known within business circles, Breda has spent her working life in the engine room of Irish business, quietly helping other people’s great ideas actually work and asking awkward questions so organisations can find better answers.
As an independent Non-Executive Director and former Head of Enterprise for the Local Enterprise Office Galway, she’s sat across the table from nervous start-ups, battle scarred SMEs and ambitious multinationals, translating jargon into plain language and plans into real jobs. She has worked with everyone from kitchen table start-ups to global manufacturers, helping them turn good ideas into real jobs and lasting businesses across the West.
Each week, Breda will bring listeners fresh insights from Galway’s business community, inspiring conversations with entrepreneurs and thought leaders, local success stories, and key events in the business calendar.
In this week's episode of Bay Business, Breda Fox goes back to Galway in 1980 with entrepreneur Charlie Coughlan, founder of Precision Steel Components.
Charlie takes listeners inside the reality of starting a manufacturing business at a time when entrepreneurship was far from fashionable and supports were limited. He describes what he saw in Galway that convinced him there was room for a precision engineering company, the leap from a secure job into the unknown, and the atmosphere in that first year of trading.
Breda and Charlie explore the toughest periods he faced – from recessions and interest-rate shocks to global competition – and the moments when it felt like the business might not survive. He talks about the people who stood with him, the employees who grew up with the company, and the pride he takes in long-term local jobs and apprenticeships.
They also discuss how technology, standards and customer expectations have transformed the work, and what it takes for a traditional business to adapt and stay relevant. Charlie shares the advice he’d give his 1980 self and anyone thinking of starting something in Galway today.
It’s a thoughtful, grounded story of perseverance, change and community.
Galway 360 on Galway Bay FM
Discover Galway through a fresh daily lens with Galway 360, a series of themed 10-minute segments airing every weekday as part of FYI Galway at 5:45pm, with extended podcast versions available on our app and website. From business and tech to youth culture and Irish language stories, each feature brings you closer to the people, ideas, and events shaping Galway today.
