Faces of Galway 86/100
Meet Jim from Rahoon Road.
When you meet Jim there is an air of openness in the way he greets you. He is a talker and within seconds it is obvious that there is no act, he is a very genuine man. As we walked by the rowing clubs in Woodquay he reminisced of the long days of his youth he spent out rowing with the Bish Rowing Club, the Galway Rowing Club and the then UCG Rowing Club. These weren't carefree days of youth but those James, an angst ridden teenager and young adult, would use to provide him with solitude. After completing his University degree in Civil Engineering James became Jim, a confident man who would end up as Managing Director of a company by the age of 26.
You get the feeling that Jim's mind is going at one hundred miles an hour, as he tells one story he interrupts himself with another. This sense of connectivity seems to sum him up. He uses a life analogy that as a bee sets out to pollinate one flower it carries with it the pollen on its feet, this pollen gets dispersed as the bee travels and can have an impact on both the bee and everything else it touches. Jim's life journey seems to be a series of unintended events. After quitting his MD job at the age of 29 he met another Galway man and fellow "Face of Galway" Pádraig Ó Céidigh. Inspired by the entrepreneur Jim founded his own company, PulseLearning, offering web based training solutions across multiple sectors. The company went on to become a global leader and Jim's success attracted the attention of the producers of the RTE series "The Secret Millionaire".
While taking part in the series Jim swopped his busy jet-setting lifestyle to live amongst Dublin people who were struggling with day to day life. What they were going through stuck and Jim finally opened up about his lifelong battle with depression. Wanting to better the lives of those struggling like him, Jim founded "Cycle Against Suicide". His aim was to raise awareness of mental health in Ireland and signpost people in need, to the considerable supports available for suicide prevention in Ireland. Five years later and the orange cycle tops are recognised in every school and community in the country. If you would like to get involved or support the cycle by offering a homestay for the cyclists please click here.
We look forward to seeing what he future brings for Jim as he continues on his unexpected journey.