Put your questions to Ben Dunne

Darragh

Ben Dunne is the guest of the National College of Ireland on Wednesday for one of their Legends In Your Lunchtime talks at lunchtime, in association with Newstalk and MetroHerald.

We're inviting Boards.ie members to put their questions to Ben Dunne as part of the interview with Conor Brophy at lunchtime. You can still get tickets here but if you add your question below, we'll ask it during the Q&A.

Ben Dunne was born on the 3rd March 1949 in Cork. He was the director of the company Dunnes Stores for many years.

Ben made his start in the retail industry at the age of 16.He did every job possible at Dunnes stores Ben Dunne - Legends in Your Lunchtime at NCIincluding stacking shelves and worked his way through the ranks. He took over the family business in Dunne's when Ben Dunne Senior died. It was never plain sailing for him and it is more of a Dallas story than a simple Irish tale.

There were kidnappings, scandals and even a drugs bust in 1992 that brought about the beginning of the end of Ben Dunne in the first round. He left the family business and after spending time investing in property and retail he eventually came to his business of gyms. Ben loves the community of Gyms and that is why he took this avenue of business.

He also has a sizeable portfolio of offices and factories. Ben's two sons are currently involved in the business while his third son is an attorney in America and his only daughter is a buyer for boutiques in London. Ben met his wife in 1972 and her name is Mary - she has stood by him all these years.

He finished working with the Dunnes Empire about 10 years ago. Since then he has built his gym empire in Dublin with three gyms to date and more planned for the future.

If there's enough interest, who knows? Ben might do a dedicated Q&A for us

Thanks a million

Darragh

joker77

betafrog wrote: »

Why do you insist on speaking in your own adverts when it just makes people cringe?

+1

I boycott all Ben Dunne businesses because of this, and turn off the radio whenever I hear his voice.

Bandara

betafrog wrote: »

If you have so many Gyms why do you look like a squished bull dog?

Why do you insist on speaking in your own adverts when it just makes people cringe?

Why the hell are you considered a legend?

Grow up, your embarrassing yourself.

I met Ben Dunne at an event last year, he was appearing free as part of his ongoing patronage of the 3T Suicide Charity, the man directly helped raise 260k and topped it up personally on the spot to 300k.

I found him a complete gentleman, humble in person and engaging and afforded close to 2 hours after the event to people who were asking him of advice and opinions.

6th

HAve you ever seen a ghost?

Pixelcraft

Hi Ben,

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions (if this is a success!). As someone who works in the web industry, I found it curious why none of your gyms have any web presence?

Riamfada

Bendunne.com launched into an overcrowded market promoting cheap advertising rates when the cost to the consumer was not a factor due to the already free adverts websites (adverts.ie / rainydaydeals.com) and hugely popular donedeal.ie. People who are selling products for 1000 euro are not phased by the extra few cent to be uploaded to the donedeal website, there is a much larger chance of the product being sold in a shorter space of time.

Bendunne.com had potential but for a seperate and untouched market you were approached about before launch. Now my question, do you intend to continue bendunne.com in it's current guise and is the profit margin comparable to the marketing expenses. just interested.

Kindest Regards
G

gcgirl

Hi Ben I'm just wondering if in the last 2 years have you ever felt that if the likes of yourself and Michael o Leary would be better at running the country then the lovely people doing it now?

tbh

biggest regret?

4zn76tysfajdxp

Have you ever worn the "Ben there, Dunne that, bought the Taoiseach" t-shirt?

Kinetic^

What advice would you give to yourself 30 years ago?

Any advice for people looking to start their own business during this awful time?

ManFromAtlantis

i like ya ben. but why do you feel the need to shout.

Boom Boom

Hi Ben,

Would you ever consider running an initiative similar to the dragons den but without the TV element. people propose their business's and you decide whether you would be willing to financially assist?

Aimed mainly at unemployed people with ideas, but don't know where to start?
Help get them off the Dole queues

Clanket

Were the coke and hookers worth it?

Colm_purchase

What was the thinking behind the brand name St Bernards?

6th

Who'd win in a fight (or shouting match) between yourself and Harvey Norman?

BennyBlanko

Ben,

Do you like many think its essential to have a failure in your life in order to be ultimately successfull?
This is the thinking of many of the large VC's in the states - just curious of your thinking on it?

W!zard

Ben, why are you not on the Irish Dragons Den ? :eek:

dh0661

Alofthedunnes wrote: »

Were the coke and hookers worth it?

I could answer that - @ the time possibly yes - afterwards probably no. Life experiences teach us alot.

Clanket

dh0661 wrote: »

I could answer that - @ the time possibly yes - afterwards probably no. Life experiences teach us alot.

Are you Ben?

Colm_purchase

Alofthedunnes wrote: »

Are you Ben?

Are you alot of bens?

Clanket

Purchase.ie wrote: »

Are you alot of bens?

????

Colm_purchase

Alofthedunnes wrote: »

????

Misread your user name sorry. I thought you were
'A Lot Of The Dunnes'

Fenster

Ben, where were the bodies dumped? You could at least give their families some closure!

Sherifu

What was your best business decision? What was your riskiest business decision?