Former Ireland and Leinster rugby player Jamie Heaslip has said “survival” is the key motivation pushing retired athletes into the business world.
“Rugby is great, it can pay very well for a limited time, but it’s not soccer money,” he said. “So the majority of players have to figure out what will happen in chapter two.”
Mr Heaslip, who is now growth lead at Stripe, was speaking at the Trinity Business Summit 25, an event that raises money for the Trinity Access Programme which broadens third-level participation among underrepresented groups.
“If you’re smart, you can set up a solid foundation during your career for that second chapter, taking accountancy exams or furthering your education during your professional [rugby] career,” said Mr Heaslip, who had earlier addressed the event alongside former France international Benjamin Kayser, founder of VC firm Teampact.
Mr Heaslip always intended to go into business, starting with angel investing before opening his own pubs with retired international team-mates as part of Grand Slam Bars.
“I always knew I wanted to work in a high-growth global company,” he said, an environment in which he has developed “nothing but admiration” for entrepreneurs and founders.
“It is incredibly tough and failure rates are massive,” he said of the venture capital space. “What do you need for success in any industry? You have to have talent, the right attitude and discipline – and founders need all three at every stage – and even with all that you need luck.”
Separately, the dean of Trinity Business School, Prof Laurent Muzellec, labelled the dismantling of diversity practices in business and education as “disappointing”.
Introducing a discussion with former president Mary McAleese titled Diversity against Adversity, Prof Muzellac noted his concerns that the concept of diversity had become increasingly political in recent months.
“Diversity drives performance and performance drives diversity,” Prof Muzellac said, pointing to the world of sport where “it doesn’t matter where you come from as long as you perform”.
He told The Irish Times that in business “in order to be successful, you need to perform, and in order to perform, you need to welcome people from wherever they come from and judge them on their ability”.
The French academic labelled recent moves against diversity as “disappointing” and called for a doubling-down on the drive for social diversity.
“It is disappointing, to say the least, that the ideas of diversity and inclusion are being dismantled,” he said, “but it’s more the reason as to why they were dismantled. It’s because they were opposed to the notion of merit and performance.”
The idea that diversity practices in business oppose meritocracy is “simply not true and counterproductive”, he said.
“I think one thing that we should double down on and be even more aware of is the notion of social diversity – social diversity and social inclusion.”
He said a lot of progress had been made on diversity in business and academics but noted “there’s a lot of progress still to be made” suggesting that universities are the conduit for driving opportunities for underprivileged people in business.
The event featured elite athletes who have ventured into business. The Trinity Access Programme has 125 beneficiaries, but the school is seeking to increase that number.
