Hands-on boss learns how to be hands-off

Gerry Houlihan called his Electrical goods shop Deliver, Install and Demonstrate (DID) because back in the late 1960s people buying their first washing machine were concerned they might not know how to use it, writes Colm Keena

He bulk bought single tub and twin tub washing machines and sold them at a small profit from his basement shop on Mountjoy Square, he and his wife Carmel working from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., six days a week.

People flocked to the shop to buy the machines at a price that was hugely below that being charged by competitors. To attract attention to his shop he placed advertisements in the Irish Press, alongside that newspaper's then popular Spot the Ball competition.

He also sold freezers to farmers, again buying them in bulk, getting them delivered from the UK to the Point Depot and then having them sent on to customers. Again the profits made on each unit were very small but the number of units sold was significant. "Business absolutely exploded," he says.

So successful was his electrical goods business that within 20 months he was made an offer of £60,000 for DID Electrical, which he accepted. As well as getting what was then a significant amount of money, he remained on as finance director of the new concern. He was in his mid twenties and married, his first child on the way. The future looked promising.

It was a good start for someone who'd left school (Synge Street CBS) at 14, despite the protests of his detective father who had hopes his son might get a job in a bank or in the civil service. He didn't like school and wanted to have a few bob in his pocket.

He got his first job washing dishes in the Carrick Hotel on the Orwell Road, Dublin but soon moved on to work as a bar apprentice in the tiny Dawson Lounge, on Dawson Street, a pub then frequented by the likes of Brendan Behan and artists Sean O'Sullivan and Harry Kernoff.

On days off he would travel around working class areas knocking on doors selling electrical goods.

If they didn't want a washing machine or a fridge he would offer them sheets or pillow cases or furniture, getting commission from the shops that would supply the items. "I'm basically a salesman," he says.

He became the manager of a pub in Crumlin but after four years at that made the break into full-time sales work. He bought a van and travelled the State, knocking on doors trying to sell electrical goods. Four to five washing machine sales in a week would make for break-even. He did that for 18 months before, in 1968, he got married and opened DID Electrical on Mountjoy Square.

One day while his wife was in the maternity hospital he called into the Long Hall pub on George's Street, which was being put up for auction. He liked what he saw and had a friend buy the pub at auction. The price was £80,000 and he borrowed the bulk of it. Six weeks later he bought the Clontarf Castle in Clontarf for £155,000, again without getting loan approval prior to making the deal.

When he went back to his bank it baulked at a second, and more substantial loan. He shopped around and eventually found a bank manager with Ulster Bank willing to forward him the money.

"Bankers were different in those days. If you could tell a good story, you could get the money."

He recalls walking up and down outside the bank before he went in, rehearsing what he was going to say.

He was 27 years old and about a quarter of a million pounds in debt. In order to make the figures add up he had to sell the family home on Lindsay Road, Glasnevin, and refinance his car. His wife Carmel, he said, gave complete support.

"I thought the castle was a bargain and I couldn't resist it," he says.

After a year-and-a-half his electrical business, under its new management, was in trouble. It collapsed and he took it back and worked it back into profit. The economy in the Republic was going through a period of robust growth and all his three businesses did well. He took a hands-on approach to all three businesses, he says.

The castle, which operated as a wedding and cabaret venue, was the greatest challenge. It was in bad repair when he bought it and needed significant investment over the years. Again bank loans were used.

He became involved in a few property deals and his bank manager in that regard was Aidan Crowe. The fact that Mr Crowe came to see him rather than the other way around, impressed him. At one stage he said to Mr Crowe that if he was ever interested in going into business he, Mr Houlihan, would be interested in being his partner. This came to pass when the H Williams outlets were being put up for sale following the collapse of that group in the 1980s. He and Mr Crowe, who left the bank at the time, bought Raheny shopping centre.

With Mr Houlihan acting as a silent partner the duo worked on building up the shopping centre and looking for new, similar properties. They opened SuperValu outlets in the centres as acquired. They now have four SuperValu outlets, in Raheny, Killester, Drogheda and Wexford. They own the shopping centres at the first three outlets, and are in the business of building one in Wexford.

His interests now have a combined turnover of approximately €135 million per annum and profits of approximately €6 million. There are nine DID outlets in Dublin and Kildare and they have a turnover of €60 million. The castle, which has been refurbished and converted into a hotel, has a turnover of €10 million per annum. The supermarkets turn over about €65 million per annum.

His latest venture, the 260-bed Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Santry Demense, Dublin, is a €36 million four-star hotel that offers business guests the opportunity to be in a modern, high-tech hotel adjacent to the airport but surrounded by trees, water and tranquillity.

"I think I know my own strengths," he says when asked why he is not just sitting back at this stage of his career. "I am a good salesman and I am also good at creating business opportunities for other people."

While he was very much a hands-on businessman for most of his career he has, he says, slowed down a bit in recent years and allowed others to step into his shoes. He has learned how to delegate. "I am only interested in doing business where the managing directors are also partners," he says. "I think some people are too possessive about their businesses." In fact, he says, business is more interesting and more fun when it involves such partnership relationships and he harbours some regret that he did not begin working in that way earlier on in his career.

When he closed the castle in the late 1980s and spent £16 million on refurbishment, he told the castle's managing director, Enda O'Meara, that he wanted him to "run the hotel as if it was your own" when it re-opened.

The opening of the Crowne Plaza, he says, will provide another outlet for Mr O'Meara's ambitions, and he will again have an interest in the project. "My businesses have never been as successful as they are being run now by the people to whom I have delegated responsibility. Its all about not being afraid to let go."

The Crowne Plaza, which opened over the Christmas, is another project in partnership with Mr Crowe. They put €10 million into the project, with the rest coming from the banks.

Crowne Plaza is part of the Intercontinental Hotel group and the Santry hotel, which will employ 140 full-time staff, will be the first in the State to have Internet Protocol (IP) telephony. (The state-of-the-art telephone system cost four times that of a normal hotel system.)

Some of the rooms have been sponsored by companies such as Philips and Sanyo, who have used the rooms to showcase their latest technologies. There is a €25,000 aquarium in the lobby and an overall attempt to create a "Japanese" effect, with an emphasis on peace and tranquillity.

It was as part of the effort to push the new hotel that Mr Houlihan decided he would break the habit of a lifetime and allow himself be interviewed by the media. Hence his interview with The Irish Times.