A Giant Has Left Us: Remembering Martin Naughton
Last week, Ireland lost one of its greatest ever entrepreneurs.
Martin Naughton, founder of Glen Dimplex, passed away at the age of 87 while travelling in the United States with his wife Carmel. He took ill in Seattle and died a short time later.
Around twenty years ago, a few years after I had qualified in Estate Management, Ulster University invited me back to an event where Martin Naughton had agreed to be interviewed about his life in business. At that time, I wasn't overly aware of Martin and his achievements in business, but looking back, those couple of hours made a real impact on me on a personal level.
Former UTV presenter Gerry Kelly, who was interviewing Martin that day, told the room we were in for a treat, as Martin rarely gave interviews, never mind an open Q&A in front of 200 people in Belfast. It became clear early on that Martin was a quiet man - understated, sober, but very clear around his ideas and philosophies in life and business. His drive, determination and resilience came across in abundance, and it was fantastic to listen to a master craftsman share some of his knowledge and life experiences.
Martin started out with seven employees in Newry in 1973, under the name Glen Electric. Four years later he brought in Dimplex, and from that came the Glen Dimplex Group, a business that grew into one of the largest privately owned manufacturing companies in Ireland, turning over around €1.5 billion a year and becoming one of the world's biggest manufacturers of domestic heating appliances, with operations stretching across the UK, Europe, the US and China.
What always struck me about his story, and what feels especially relevant given some of the headwinds that industry has faced over the decades, is that he built serious manufacturing operations right across this island, including here in the North, through the Troubles, without missing a beat. Former Glen Dimplex chief executive Sean O'Driscoll, who worked alongside him for 26 years, said the business managed to operate across communities in Northern Ireland even at the height of the conflict, with sites in Newry, Bangor and Portadown running without issue. That's not a small thing. That's a man who understood that commerce, done right, can hold a place together when politics can't.
He was also, by every account, one of the most generous men this country has produced. Through the Naughton Foundation, he and his wife gave away extraordinary sums - including €25 million to Trinity College Dublin, funding scholarships that have opened doors for a generation of young people who'd never otherwise have had the chance. He gave £1 million to Belfast's Lyric Theatre back in 2007, at the time the largest personal donation ever made to an arts organisation in Northern Ireland. He was honoured with a KBE, France's Legion d'Honneur, and even recognition from Pope Francis for his philanthropy in education and the arts.
Tributes have poured in all weekend from the great and the good right across the world, all saying the same thing in different words: here was a man who proved you could build something world-class from this island and still be, in the words of one former colleague, "an absolute gentleman" the whole way through. That's the model. Build it properly. Treat people well. Give back harder than you took.
Why This Matters Now More Than Ever
Martin Naughton's death lands at a moment when it's worth asking a bigger question: who is going to do what he did next?
Because that's what men and women like Martin actually do for a country. It's not just the balance sheet, though €1.5 billion in turnover and thousands of jobs sustained over five decades is nothing to sniff at. It's the compounding effect underneath it, the apprentices trained, the suppliers kept in business, the towns and communities held together because there was a factory worth showing up for.
Every entrepreneur who takes the risk of building something real is quietly doing the work that no government programme can replicate: creating employment where none existed, pulling in investment that wouldn't otherwise land, backing ideas before they're safe bets. That's exactly why it matters that business people keep stepping up and stepping forward. Not for the ego of it, not for headlines - Naughton famously avoided those - but because somebody has to be willing to put capital and years of their life behind an idea that might not work, in the hope that it creates something that outlasts them.
Every business that scales, every deal that gets financed, every job that gets created is a small act of faith in the future of this place. We need more of that faith right now, not less. This island is full of untapped potential, full of ideas sitting in someone's head, garage, workshop or office, that will never become anything unless someone with capital, nerve, courage and patience decides to back them.
That's how I like to think when people like Martin Naughton pass on, and I am sure I know what he would say to anyone thinking about developing an idea...
Take the risk. Build it. Keep going. Employ people. Give back when you can.
Where GDP Partnership Fits In
At GDP Partnership, that's the spirit we try to bring to every deal we touch.
Right now we're in the process of transacting over £20 million worth of deals across Northern Ireland on behalf of our clients, funding for SMEs who are expanding, investing, hiring, and backing their own ideas the way Martin Naughton backed his all those decades ago in Newry. Every one of those deals represents a business owner willing to take a risk, and our job is to make sure the finance is there to back up that risk.
So if you need funding to support your own business, we are active across a number of sectors right now, including development finance, hospitality, healthcare, renewable energy, and refinancing products, amongst others. Finance is energy, and it's often the missing piece in turning an idea into reality.
Martin Naughton showed what's possible when someone commits fully to building something that lasts. The rest of us in business here owe it to him, and to the next generation, to keep doing the same.
Rest in peace, Martin. And thank you.
Conor Devine, Founding Partner, GDP Partnership