Norah Casey: How a nurse became a Dragon

Norah Casey, one of Ireland’s most famous businesswomen and the owner of Ireland’s biggest publishing company, started out as a nurse and only went into publishing because she wanted to 'try something different'.

At 50, Norah Casey is one of Ireland's most famous businesswomen and a regular on the country's version of Dragons' Den. The owner/manager of Ireland's biggest publishing company started out as a nurse. Her publishing career began when she was 28 years old and decided that she wanted "to try something different".

Casey studied journalism and worked for magazines in London before joining a Dublin-based magazine publisher. "We had some great titles but we weren't getting the most out of them." The magazine business "was a distraction" for the parent company, an international corrugated paper producer. In 2004 it decided to dump the business. Casey, MD at the time, decided to lead a management buyout. "I was prepared to take a gamble because I thought I could make a success of it. "As most of the other senior management had become disillusioned and already left, she "had to go it alone."

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James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.