In this episode of Stake and Soul, Barry speaks with Karen Maguire, Chair of Employee Ownership Ireland and founder of Relinea, the Northern Ireland-based manufacturer supplying glass reinforced plastic (GRP) alternatives to the construction sector. Karen built Relinea from a port-a-cabin and a dodgy forklift into a multi-million-pound business, and in March 2022 became the first manufacturing company in Northern Ireland to transition to an Employee Ownership Trust.
Karen talks about walking away from M&A meetings that left her feeling “a wee bit dirty,” navigating the EOT transition during Covid with no local ecosystem to lean on, and the parts of the journey she got right and wrong.
What’s covered in this episode:
- Leaving a sales role at a company that kept letting her customers down, and starting Relinea from an old farm shed with no windows.
- Surviving the 2010 financial crisis with a bag of samples and her first English customer, who is still with Relinea today.
- The death of Karen’s father in 2018 and how it became the catalyst for thinking seriously about succession.
- Why M&A felt wrong, and the Chain Reaction precedent that hardened her resolve: sold to outside investors, closed within years, 300 jobs lost.
- Transitioning to an EOT during Covid with no local adviser network and “flying blind” through a process Northern Ireland had barely seen.
- Paying the full tax-free £3,600 bonus from year one, and why founders should not wait until the deferred consideration is paid to share rewards.
- Clearing the deferred consideration two years early, and the conversations about life beyond debt-free day she wishes had happened sooner.
- The identity loss after stepping down, and what she would do differently around founder transition.
- EMI schemes inside an EOT business, the governance tensions they create, and her concerns about employee protections.
- Founding Employee Ownership Ireland to build the ecosystem that did not exist when she went through her own transition.
Moments to listen out for:
- The kitchen-table conversation and the two questions: what is the worst that can happen, and would I live to regret it if I did not do it.
- Coming out of M&A meetings feeling “a wee bit dirty” because no one wanted to talk about employees or community.
- The employee trustee who had never seen a P&L in his life, and the realisation you cannot hand someone the role without the tools.
- Her grief metaphor for stepping down, and the internal struggle she worked hard to keep out of the business.
Quickfire highlights
- Employee ownership is: creating a system where everybody has a voice, and a right to have that voice heard.
- Biggest EO surprise: how lonely the journey was, and how exciting it has become as honest conversations about EO start to surface.
- Confessional: the imposter syndrome of a woman in business who still sometimes thinks Relinea happened more by accident than by design.
- Book recommendation: Find Your Why by Simon Sinek.
Follow Stake & Soul and never miss an episode.
Subscribe here to listen on your favourite podcast platform.
The following podcast is intended to be of a general nature, will not be suitable for everyone, and should not be treated as a specific recommendation. We recommend taking professional advice before entering into any obligation or transaction.