Having spent most of his professional career with Colgate Palmolive in various project roles, Stephen O’Connell is now the managing director of Safe2o, a company which tests the safety of drinking water.
What journey did you take to arrive at where you are?
I completed my Masters Degree in business studies in the Smurfit Business School and spent twenty fantastic years in Colgate Palmolive in various project-based roles and I was part of the original team of their EMEA Service Organisation based in Dublin. I gained invaluable experience working on international assignments, leadership roles and commercial projects.
Why are you doing what you are doing?
I wanted to take my Colgate experience and apply it to a business in Ireland. Establishing a company really appealed to me as a challenge and also for my personal development. Last year I set up my company Bring It To The Lab Ltd to simplify the experience of accessing Irish laboratory services, and started by testing the quality of drinking water. There are plenty of excellent companies providing this service with different offerings, but I felt there was an opportunity to simplify the whole experience, by taking a more consumer centric approach and revise the channel approach. I launched the brand Safe2o with a mission to ‘simplify the experience’ end-to-end for the consumer.
“Safe2o is as much about water education as it is about simplifying the experience”
What need is Safe2o meeting?
In the current environment with the shortage of water, there is a greater appetite to understand more about this resource which we often take for granted. Safe2o is as much about water education as it is about simplifying the experience. Everyone has an opinion on the quality of their home drinking water but not everyone would know where to start to get the facts about it. Water consumption
