“Curiosity has always been the number one ingredient for the businesses I’ve started, right back to video games,” says Dublin entrepreneur Bobby Healy, who started his career as a teenage programmer for ZX Spectrum and later for Nintendo, before launching, among others, aviation tech business Eland Technologies, and CarTrawler, which he describes as the world’s largest mobility marketplace for airlines.
“Curiosity is the number-one ingredient that makes me do these things, or that gets me into them,” he says, “Curiosity generates learning and learning makes you stronger.”
Flight is something of a theme in his work, and now sees him building up a new drone delivery service, Manna, which is already delivering coffees and prescriptions to the people of Balbriggan in County Dublin. “We’ve been live for 18 months now,” says Healy, “and it all works, but it’ll take time before we’re ready to scale up.”
Discover the drone-based techpreneur who is driven by curiosity
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Tech guru Bobby Healy’s revolutionary new venture sees him manning a fleet of drones for fast, eco-friendly on-demand delivery service Manna. Here he shares the importance of curiosity to his ideas, way of working and approach to life…
While it was curiosity that drew him to envisage drone deliveries on a mass scale, when it comes to the obstacles Manna Drones had to overcome, Healy points to that bundle of dark energy we call ‘doubt’ – the polar opposite of curiosity. “The biggest challenge has been doubt and lack of vision,” he says. “Three years ago, 100 percent of investors said I was crazy, that it was never going to happen. It was just too mad for people to think about.”
“Now, only about 90 percent of them say I’m crazy,” he laughs. “Many experts out there say drone delivery is not viable – and they’re all wrong. They’re the crazy ones. I’m an optimist, but I’m also a realist. I’ve raised $35 million to date and now we’re flying every day, making tonnes of deliveries.”
In time, Healy will start scaling up from the current local service in County Dublin to one that goes national, then global, in the process fundamentally changing the delivery landscape. “We’re going to empower small businesses and communities,” says Heely. “A free drone delivery service allows the local bookshop for example, to have a better product than Amazon. The fishmonger will be able to reach customers within 30 square miles in three minutes. It allows all the small guys – and the big guys – to get to customers efficiently, and remove all that CO2."
With the tech and investors already in place, to scale up successfully he needs to work on changing common negative perceptions. “Drone is a dirty word,” admits Healy. “People worry about noise and privacy, and as we scale the business and roll out, we’ll have to win hearts and minds over. That’s difficult, but we’re incredibly optimistic.”
BOBBY HEALY
MANNA
He launched Manna with an eye on the food delivery industry. “Those businesses are growing like crazy and attract a lot of capital,” he says, “but they’re difficult to make successful, because of the human workload of bringing a hamburger two miles to someone – it doesn’t add up, the safety of it, the cost of it in terms of labour, the CO2 produced by delivery vehicles.”
AN EYE ON THE FOOD DELIVERY INDUSTRY
CHANGING NEGATIVE PERCEPTIONS
Some younger hearts and minds he did win over came via the Samsung-supported Founders Forum, which Healy describes as “a high quality melting pot of really smart people”. He was asked to present the concept of Manna to a class of six-year-olds. Many grown-ups would have quaked at the prospect, but not Healy. “It’s easy to talk to kids,” he says. “Kids get this instinctively. I have four kids myself, and I’m a bit of a kid too. I find it much more difficult talking to adults, because adults are pretty certain in their ways. They have preconceived ideas and convictions that are difficult to overturn.”
But overturn them he must, and will, to make Manna the success he believes it can be. “On every measurement, drone delivery is better than using the road for moving things about,” he says. “We’ll have enabled communities all over Europe to have better, more efficient, greener local commerce, and to create more jobs in local communities,” he says. “That’s the big win.”
Bobby credits curiosity as a driving force behind his innovations. “Curiosity makes me do these things, or gets me into them,” he says, “[It] generates learning and makes you stronger.” It also makes him a perfect candidate for the Samsung-supported Founders Forum, which Healy describes as “a high quality melting pot of really smart people”.
Entrepreneur Bobby Healey started out programming games for ZX Spectrum and Nintendo before launching his own tech offerings with a focus on aviation. His latest venture, Manna, also hits the heights as an eco-friendly drone-based delivery service
Hafsa's second career as a novelist came about through her love for Stormzy's music. “I really do like writing, and I loved Stormzy’s music and I was following him on social media. And because of
presenting the idea
No delivery drivers means less cars on the road, resulting in less noise pollution and less accidents
Our all-electric drones are zero-emission, so you can feel confident about sustainable shopping
On average, we deliver within 3 minutes, offering you more freedom, more time, and more peace of mind
SAFER
GREENER
FASTER
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The inventive design and intuitive tech of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 has been created to help spark your curiosity, pairing innovation with imagination to revolutionise the way you work, rest and play.
To find out more, visit samsung.com
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Produced by Independent Ignite
Project Manager: Tom Warner
Words: Laura Macbeth
Designer: Zimi Unzueta
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This content is paid for by an advertiser and created by The Independent’s branded content team.
PARTNER CONTENT
The inventive design and intuitive tech of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 has been created to help spark your curiosity, pairing innovation with imagination to revolutionise the way you work, rest and play.
To find out more, visit samsung.com
DISCOVER MORE
Produced by Independent Ignite
Project Manager: Tom Warner
Words: Laura Macbeth
Designer: Zimi Unzueta
Partner content
Produced by Independent Ignite
Project Manager: Tom Warner
Words: Laura Macbeth
Designer: Zimi Unzueta
Partner content
PARTNER CONTENT
The inventive design and intuitive tech of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 has been created to help spark your curiosity, pairing innovation with imagination to revolutionise the way you work, rest and play.
To find out more, visit samsung.com
DISCOVER MORE