S5E15: Kingsley Aikins - Exemplar of Global Ireland
A Trinity College graduate in economics and politics, he represented Irish business abroad, led The Ireland Funds for almost two decades, and now Kingsley Aikins combines his fervor for networking and diaspora engagement in the mission of The Networking Institute.
“Kinger,” as he’s known to his friends, talks of how rugby became his global passport and the lucky break that landed him in Sydney, Australia to represent Enterprise Ireland and the Industrial Development Authority (IDA). Finding he “didn’t know a sinner” in the Southern Hemisphere, he started what has become one of the largest Irish business networking organizations in the world, and how that initiative helped him network his way into leading the groundbreaking diaspora initiative that became The Ireland Funds.
Now his Networking Institute is helping people network their way to their full potential and nations from India to Nigeria to tap the power of their diasporas.
His “Seamus Plug” is a call to action for Ireland to position itself “as an absolute center of excellence for diaspora engagements, the epicenter for this subject around the world¸ the thought leader in this space.”
Join us for a warm, witty, quotable, and thought-provoking conversation with networking and diaspora thought leader, Kingsley Aikins.
Links
Kingsley Aikins
The Networking institute
00:00 - Introduction
03:04 - Rugby Passport
07:38 - KIngsley's Name
09:04 - Dublin Past and Present
10:23 - The Lansdowne Club
14:38 - Business Truisms and Networking
17:17 - Networking is About Giving
19:59 - How Ireland and Networking has Changed
22:07 - The Ireland Funds
26:26 - The Great Diasporas
28:57 - Connecting Diasporas
31:01 - Aging of the Irish American Diaspora
34:44 - Loneliness, Technology and Place
40:11 - Diaspora Capital
45:22 - Enhancing Irish Diaspora Outreach
48:15 - Irish Diaspora Voting Rights
51:02 - Improving Brand Ireland Awareness
53:27 - Returning to Ireland
56:50 - Choosing Not To Retire
01:00:18 - The Diaspora Galaxy
01:02:18 - The Seamus Plug
01:04:22 - John and Martin Recap
01:06:52 - Credits
CEO
An Economics and Politics graduate from Trinity College Dublin, Kingsley Aikins has lived and worked in six countries. He spent 8 years as the IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland representative in Sydney and then, for 17 years, was the Worldwide CEO of The Ireland Funds based in Boston before returning to Ireland and establishing The Networking Institute.
Throughout his extensive career he has come to appreciate the power of Networking and he sees it as the ‘glue’ that makes everything happen. As a result, he and his colleagues have developed a unique and distinctive approach to Networking training and, through The Networking Institute, they want to share their methodology with a worldwide audience.
