Who We Are

Business Ireland South Africa (BISA) is an association that facilitates business networking opportunities for its members.

We provide a platform and support structure for sharing information on business experiences in South Africa and Ireland, including local context, knowledge, opportunities, challenges, lessons learned and interpretations of the countries’ evolving statutory and regulatory environments.

BISA is an initiative of the Embassy of Ireland in Cape Town and was launched in December 2013 during the visit of former Minister of State for Trade and Development Joe Costello. Prior to that, a group of Irish business people had formed a more informal network that met to discuss some of the bottlenecks for doing business in Cape Town and to identify areas of common interest and concern.

Business Ireland South Africa

Business Ireland South Africa (BISA) is a business facilitation organisation with a number of key objectives.

  • To collect and disseminate information to its members which will assist them in becoming
    familiar with market conditions and regulations.
  • To assist those considering business opportunities in South Africa and or Ireland and to act
    as a focal point for new entrants to these markets.
  • To facilitate presentations, discussions, seminars and other business networking activities for the benefit of its members and their guests.

It is a voluntary organisation supported by the Irish Government through its overseas development arms including the Irish Embassy and Enterprise Ireland.

Our committee is voluntary with a Chairman, Hon Sec, Hon Treasurer and committee members in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Gqeberha and Dublin.

There is a strong Irish presence in South Africa which is swelled considerably by the ‘swallows’ in Summer. Business and sporting links continue to grow. As a group we are dedicated to implementing our key objectives, to creating a worthwhile informative, stimulating platform, whilst bringing together people of like minds, to progress opportunity for business and social interaction for the benefit of all.

Please join us on our journey and make it work for you. We welcome members of all nationalities who
share our common goals.

WE AIM TO

Be a conduit for networking and opportunity sharing for Irish companies expanding into SA, Irish individuals working in SA and South African companies looking to expand into Ireland.

Help keep Irish companies and Irish Individuals operating in South Africa active and informed about various political, economic and business related developments in SA.

Support Irish businesses and their interests in South Africa.

Afford our members the opportunity to engage with likeminded individuals in the South African business sector and engage with possible investment opportunities.

Assist social development projects for Irish businesses/individuals in the local communities within South Africa and tap into the South African workforce network.

BOARD MEMBERS

Liam MacGabhann - Chairman

Representing Ireland as Ambassador to South Africa from 2014 to 2019 Liam has worked to forge diplomatic, economic, and social bonds between Ireland and South Africa. Liam is well versed on developments in international politics and trade as well as regulatory issues. Liam joined BISA in 2020 and brings with him a wealth of experience and insight into all aspects of Irish-South African links.

Frank Gormley – Vice Chair

Frank is a business Strategist, Manager and Implementer.  Founding chairperson of the CURRENT BISA, he has been involved in business in South Africa for over 20 years and lived in Cape Town since 2010. In his early years he was heavily involved in the regeneration of Cape Town city centre including the development of the Taj Hotel and Mandela Rhodes Place and co-founded International Housing Solutions in SA.

His current business interests include, property, student accommodation/Student At Home, Co-owner, operator and strategic Director, at the iconic President Hotel. He was cofounder in 2010 and trustee of the Rainbow Academy, supporting hundreds of youth in performing arts over the last 15 years.

Frank is proudly Irish, but has a great love for his adopted country South Africa. He is a serial entrepreneur, a lover of life and believes in living life to the full. Your best day is the next one and you must make it so. Always be prepared to give back.

Ivor Queally – Vice Chair

Ivor Queally is a director of one of Ireland’s largest privately owned agri-businesses, with multi-disciplined food manufacturing facilities located throughout Ireland, the United Kingdom, Europe and Southern Africa. He has 30+ years working in the Meat Industry sector working in dynamic and complex environments.Ivor navigates the complexities and challenges of doing business in South Africa and has a reputation for strategic foresight in identifying trends and opportunities.
He is a fearless entrepreneur with a can-do attitude to overcome even the most difficult challenges.A proud Waterford native, he together with his young family moved to South Africa in 2004 and established QK Meats SA. The company has since rapidly expanded beyond Meat Processing and today is also one of Southern Africa’s largest provider of Multi Temperature Warehousing operating across multiple facilities and it is also the second largest manufacturer of Pet Food in South Africa operating in 2 facilities. Ivor was awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the International category in 2024.

Sean Hogan – Vice Chair

Seán Hogan is the Chief Executive Officer of Setanta, a proprietary higher education group serving 7 countries from bases in Ireland and South Africa. Over the course of his career, Seán has also worked in the UK and USA across the food and drink industry and the sports technology sector, including a key engagement with Bord Bia—The Irish Food Board—supporting Irish businesses with market access and growth in the UK.

A Limerick native, Seán relocated to South Africa to spearhead the new market entry for Setanta and continues to manage the group’s expanding portfolio of higher education services. Beyond his executive role, Seán serves on the non-profit board of the Learning Hub in Limerick, supporting community education initiatives.

Andrew Pigott FCA LLB – Hon Treasurer

Andrew is a Chartered Accountant.  After qualifying with one of the top four accounting firms, Andrew moved into industry in a Business Development role.  This brought about an investment in South Africa by the company he works for, AJ Power, a power generation company headquartered in Ireland.

Claire O’ Gorman – Hon Secretary

Claire is the current Secretary of BISA and is an experienced client service professional with a passion for analytics and customer experience.  Claire works in the After Sales department of FGW Generators, a generator distributor based in Cape Town.  Her primary focus is streamlining the company systems and thereby shortening response times to customers. Claire has made South Africa her home since moving here in 2010.

Assumpta Coffey – Committee member JHB & Dublin

Assumpta is the Chief Operating Officer of the Queally Group South African operations, responsible for the implementation of systems and execution of strategies to address skills development areas in order to increase efficiencies, ultimately resulting in rapidly expanding the businesses footprint across South Africa in a number of different sectors.

Assumpta has worked in the Queally Group for 33 years across several different businesses and moved to South Africa in 2005 where she stayed on a full-time basis for 15 years, she now continues to commute between Ireland and Johannesburg.

Ben Murray – Committee member

Ben recently joined the board bringing experience from the food industry.  Ben has had a lifelong interest in agriculture growing up on a family farm.

Passion for value creation and international trade.  Applied his trade at each level of the Irish dairy supply chain.  Will always endeavor to create value and maximise returns to Irish farming families in a co-operative ethos.

Dave Kerr – Committee member KZN & Dublin

Dave has been in the Business Consulting and IT industry for the past 30 Years and he is the Managing Director of Vision Business Technology (vbt).  Vbt is a dedicated IT Solutions provider specializing in Network Support and IT Managed Services & Cloud Solutions.

With offices in Wicklow (HQ), Rathmines, Cork and Durban South Africa Vbt have been implementing Network Solutions for over 26 years and support in excess of 500 SME and Corporate Clients. Their team of 45 highly skilled IT experts work with our clients to help them achieve their business goals through the use of the latest technology.

They pride themselves on always going 'the extra mile', building positive client relationships and guaranteeing to provide comprehensive, cost effective and value-added solutions for all our clients.

Erin Mullally – Committee member Dublin

Erin Mulally is the Senior Account Director at Hopscotch Europe, a public relations agency which conducts multi-country campaigns throughout Europe and beyond.  Designed and directed a wide variety of high profile European public relations campaigns for brands such as ESPN, the NFL, Wilson, Yelp, Yale ASSA ABLOY, DxO, Talentsoft, and Eurosport.

Freelance journalist for American and European media outlets including Archaeology, Atlas Obscura, The Irish Times, Diver, Sail and Aviation History.  Wrote, directed and produced award-winning short film "The Struggle of Libations," which screened at 35 film festivals worldwide.

Fran Beighton – Committee member Cape Town

Fran Beighton is Head of Growth, Daily Maverick, South Africa.

As Head of Growth, Fran oversees over 70% of the revenue efforts at Daily Maverick including membership, grant and philanthropic funding, the live journalism division, e-commerce and the book publishing division. During her six years with the publication, Fran and her team have grown the membership base to 32,000 members from a starting base of 200,  launched numerous new divisions and have been the grateful recipients of multiple national and international awards.

Ilona Delany – Committee member JHB

Ilona is a client relationship manager for June Luna Immigration Attorneys.

JLIA law firm assists with any visa requirements, temporary or permanent residency and citizenship for anyone hoping to work or stay in South Africa. Ilona is  proudly South African married to an Irishman, living in Johannesburg for the past 20 years. She is Ireland's biggest supporter after spending 3 years in Dublin and Cork when she finished school in 2001

John Greene – Committee member JHB, EU Liaison

John Greene is a Risk Specialist at Rand Merchant Bank, Board Member of Business Ireland South Africa and a Director of the EU Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Southern Africa, with 19 years of experience in the global financial services industry.

John has held various positions in the Risk divisions of Barclays Africa, Absa and Rand Merchant Bank, developing risk simulation and monitoring functions across the African continent. John is a member of the Chartered Alternative Investments Analyst Association, holds a MA in Finance and BComm from University College Dublin in Ireland.

 

Kieno Kammies – Committee member Cape Town

Kieno Kammies has been a commercial Talk Show Host and music radio presenter for over two decades, and recently left traditional media to follow his love for Innovation.

Today Kieno works with two of South Africa’s top entrepreneurs, and is associated with the top innovation hub in Sweden (Epicenter Stockholm).  Kieno is cofounder of Innovation City based in Cape Town, along with Stephan Eckbergh the top travel entrepreneur in Africa.  This venture they are embarking on is a partnership with Epicenter Stockholm.
Kieno is also head of Culture for UCT Online High School after being approached by Robert Paddock, co-founder of Get Smarter exited to 2U.  He then launched The Valenture Institute named as a world top 10 Ed-tech company by the WEF, the business Kieno now has as a client.
Collaboration in innovation and revolution in education are Kieno’s passions.

 

Rachel Quigley – Committee member JHB

Rachel Quigley Managing Partner, Head of Africa, Instinctif Partners

Rachel leads the African division of Instinctif Partners, an international business communications consulting firm. She has two decades of experience advising international and African-listed companies on strategic corporate, financial, and reputation management mandates at leading international agencies, Edelman and Brunswick. Rachel started her career with UBS Warburg's graduate programme in the UK and is a graduate of Trinity College and the Smurfit Business School, Dublin, Ireland.