Former naval officers Conor O’Sullivan and Ronan Carey formed ARQ Asset Solutions when they saw that Irish companies were losing around €1bn annually through poor management of lubricants in their machinery.

The future role of technology agri-business is to be discussed in depth at ‘AgTech – The Future of Sustainable Agricultural Business’ in Fota Island Resort, Cork, on Wednesday, March 6.

Almost 260 jobs were created by small companies in Co Cork last year with the help of more than €1m in grant-aid.

They are both workaholics, have two children each and, spookily, turned vegetarian on the same day even though they were on opposite ends of the planet.