Richie Sadlier details business dispute with Brendan Kavanagh
Educational technology entrepreneur Brendan Kavanagh has resigned as chairman and director of Grinds 360 following a boardroom dispute. The departure highlights mounting friction surrounding Kavanagh’s business ventures, which have drawn in various high-profile Irish sports figures as investors and partners, including former footballer Richie Sadlier.
Sadlier is speaking publicly for the first time about his experience with Kavanagh, detailing how a promised collaboration on a national school sex-education program soured amid delayed financial figures and missing payments.
How the Partnership Began in January 2020
The business relationship commenced in January 2020 when Sadlier received a text message from Kavanagh pitching a mental health project involving then-minister for further and higher education Simon Harris. Sadlier declined the proposal, wishing to avoid political associations ahead of the February 2020 general election. The conversation quickly shifted toward an online sex-education course that Sadlier, a qualified psychotherapist, had developed alongside University of Galway researcher Elaine Byrnes.
Kavanagh proposed scaling the curriculum through his company Olive Media, stating that he was the chief executive of the leading e-learning company in the country. Trusting Kavanagh’s stated connections to government officials, Sadlier and Byrnes agreed to supply the content through their company, Cherry Blossom Productions, under a 50/50 revenue-split agreement where Olive managed technology and production.
Launch of the Share Platform and Growing Red Flags
The resulting platform, named Share (Sexual Health Awareness Relationship Education), officially launched in July 2021 with backing from Simon Harris, who had become minister for further and higher education. At launch, schools faced a fee of €20 per student up to a maximum charge of €2,000. Sadlier stated that the platform generated roughly €60,000 in revenue during the months following its introduction.
Operational concerns surfaced when Olive proved late in providing financial figures and disbursing fees. While Olive maintained an electronic dashboard tracking license purchases, discrepancies emerged by November 2021. Sadlier, recovering from spinal fusion surgery and spending extensive hours in bed, began receiving direct inquiries from registered schools whose sign-ups failed to match the figures reported on Olive’s dashboard.
Governance Challenges Widen Across Kavanagh Corporate Network
As Sadlier pressed for explanations, every answer yielded further red flags regarding the accurate accounting of school registrations and revenue shares. Kavanagh's recent resignation from Grinds 360 highlights the widening governance challenges within his corporate network, which includes Olive Group companies holding major public contracts for laptops, tablets and educational technology across Irish schools. Sports figures such as Babs Keating and Brian O’Driscoll have similarly been associated with Kavanagh’s ventures as investors and partners.