FLI work in energy, remediation, water and geosynthetics
Flynn, the Executive Chairman
of the FLI Group, provided an
excellent insight into business
life when addressing a Business
Breakfast held during the recent
Bank of Ireland Enterprise
Week.
A graduate of WRTC as it was
then known, Michael provided
the Granville Hotel audience
with background on his work
as an Environmental Service
Project Manager, which evolved
into international business, in
which he now employs over 140
staff, mainly in Ireland and the
UK.
Michael became a sole
trader in 1987 and founded
FLI International two years
later; he remains the majority
shareholder of the group. FLI’s
Executive Team also includes
Chief Executive Cormac McCarthy
and Chief Financial Officer
Peter Gaynor.
He had previously worked
in Waterford for American firm
Schegel, and trained there to see
how the States dealt with mining
services, landfill and environmental
impact projects.
Michael said he sees “potential
in landfill projects being used
to create renewable energy,” and
also spoke about the important
of industrial site clean-ups in
land remediation.
FLI have undertaken many
projects on such clean-ups in
both the UK and France, and has
over 10 years of practical and
technical experience in the field.
“We offer sustainable, cost
effective, integrated remediation
solutions, with the ability
to combine engineering, remediation
technology and enabling
works,” according to the company’s
official literature.
“The remediation system
design process is undertaken in
house by our experienced team
of geologists, chemists, civil
engineers, remediation engineers
and waste management
professionals.”
The company also designs
Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants,
processing agricultural organic
feedstocks to produce biogas and
generate renewable energy.
This technology “allows
our customers to convert their
organic waste into green energy,
turning a possible disposal cost
into a revenue stream”.
On the waste water front, FLI
provides engineering services
and process technologies to
water and water waste utilities,
along with food & beverage and
industrial process customers in
Ireland and Britain.
Turnover at FLI has reached
€70 million and the future looks
bright, which is great for a local
firm being run by one of our
own. Profits have always been
used for expansion, and Michael
doesn’t believe in major borrowing
to fund such developments.
Work has brought him to
France, Holland, Spain as well
as the French territory of New
Caledonia (750 miles east of
Australia), where the company
worked in nickel mines over the
past decade.
The group has four subsidiary
companies, three in the UK
and one in France, with Michael
admitting that the past few years
have been tougher in France.
“Trust and verify has become
something of a slogan of mine,”
he said. “You need to be up to
speed on HR, as is the case when
it comes to R&D. You’ve also
got to be cognisant of tax treatments
in business, and how they
apply differently in different
countries given that some have
special rules on repatriation.”
With 85 per cent of his
work based outside of Ireland,
Michael Flynn told the Granville
audience that it’s “important to
get on well with people and to
think with the head rather than
the heart”.
He concluded: “You must
have courage and commitment
to branch out abroad but
it can be very rewarding and
stimulating.”
