In The Trenches with Dr Eoghan Colgan CEO of Continulus & COVID-19 Best Pivot Service Award Winner
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In The Trenches with Eoghan Colgan
9 September 2020
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
FREE FOR MEMBERS, £7 + VAT FOR NON-MEMBERS
Dr Eoghan Colgan is one of the most inspiring entrepreneurs we’ve ever known. His route to entrepreneurialism has been far from the norm for many and we’re delighted he’s joining us to share his amazing journey to date.
From studying medicine at Queen’s University Belfast, to contracting near fatal malaria in the Ivory Coast whilst working as a medical student, to a highly successful musical career, working as an Emergency Medicine Doctor at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and founding Continulus, Eoghan has done more than most of us would achieve in a lifetime. He is also an Honorary Lecturer at Glasgow University and an instructor in Adult and Paediatric Life Support. To cap it all, last month, he won the Best Pivot Service Award in our COVID-19 Scottish SME Business Awards.
Eoghan’s idea for Continulus was born during his near death experience from malaria whilst working in the Ivory Coast during his third year at medical school.
“The doctor who looked after me said afterwards that he was not sure if I would survive. But I wasn’t in intensive care or anything, just in a mud hut with a drip nailed to the wall.”
After qualifying in 2001 he was advised by tropical disease experts not to work in Africa. He moved to Glasgow, via Australia, and in 2007 quit his career as a doctor and focused full-time on music.
Eoghan won the top spot as O2’s finest unsigned act, a cash prize and the opportunity to play at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park.
“It gave me a lot of exposure, especially in London, and money to buy instruments. After winning the O2 Undiscovered, I played The Grazia Magazine Fashion Awards as well as the Q Awards Nomination Ceremony at the London’s O2 Arena alongside Athlete, Hard-Fi and the Manic Street Preachers. In 2009 he performed in Dublin as part of the global celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of Guinness.”
Eoghan returned to medicine in June 2011 and over time, when he started exploring the courses and conferences on offer to medical professionals, he realised the limits on accessing training. Most were expensive and required travelling.
He eventually decided to bring the training to his doorstep and launched Critical Care Events in Scotland.
“It became the new rock’n’ roll for me. I had years of experience organising my own events. These training events were like gigs – you book the venue, get a line-up and you sell the tickets. I took all of that experience and applied it to organising medical events.”
Some of what emerged from Critical Care’s events was “so impactful” that he felt it should be available to a wider online audience. This grew into what was initially known as MedReach, later re-branding as Continulus. Continulus offers all health professionals globally equal access to world-expert medical and nursing education. Their video-learning platform offers high-impact courses, conferences and tutorials with leaders in their field. It is affectionately called ‘The Netflix of Continuing Healthcare Education.’
Continulus also has social good impetus supporting healthcare learning and delivery in low-income countries with a modest fee is charged to health professionals in higher-income countries. This enables them to provide free access to health professionals in low-income countries with a proportion of every course fee donated to healthcare projects in poorly-resourced areas.
Links to more about Eoghan:
- Clip from a movie with Vanessa Kirby and Virgina McKenna in which Eoghan is the singer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB6FbZaC92k
- Song written for his wedding and used in the TV Show “Reign”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKrCdSGj19U
Join us to hear Eoghan’s incredible journey from this hugely inspiring and impressive entrepreneur.
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