How I made it: Downturn was a boon to our business, but now we’re choosing to grow slowly

13 january 2013

 

M artin Casey, founder and chief executive of Arekibo

Sheer determination carried Martin Casey over the biggest hurdle he faced in life — a stutter endured since childhood. School was particularly hard. “Every new year was a nightmare because we all had to stand up and say who we were,” said Casey, 40. “And I couldn’t do it.”

The upshot of his stammer was that he “underperformed significantly” at the expensive private school in Johannesburg he attended.

“My father was a plasterer from Dublin,” he said. “They weren’t wealthy, but they made enormous sacrifices to make sure my sister and I received the best education we could.”

On leaving school Casey came to Ireland to stay with one of his grandmothers, studying graphic design and visual communications in Waterford and Limerick, before gaining a master’s degree in interactive media from the Dublin Institute of Technology.