From The Running Track to the BoardroomHow Emma Coffey’s FinalBend Turned Adversity into Opportunity
by Mark Cooper (Sports Editor)
When an athlete comes around the final bend of a running track, their race is well and truly in the melting pot, with a world of opportunity before them. Some will lose their lead and fall to the back of the pack, while others will find something deep within themselves to push for the top spot on the podium. The young Emma Coffey is most certainly one of those who continually finds another level within themselves to push to the next level. When injury cut short her promising athletic career, Emma was in a final bend in her own life. She could have felt sorry for herself and put her time into more leisurely pursuits, as most seventeen-year-olds would have done. However, such was the unrelenting ambition and drive of the young Cork student, an eco-friendly sportswear brand was born; Aptly named “FinalBend”. I was lucky enough to chat with Emma this past week to speak about everything from her early sporting life to her ambitious future business plans.
An Active Upbringing
From an extremely early age, Emma and her sisters were involved in a myriad of sporting pursuits. “Our parents would bring us straight from school to ballet, then onto gymnastics and swimming, and we got our homework done in the car along the way”. Such was the packed sporting schedule of her younger years, it was no surprise that Emma excelled in athletics, where she found her niche in the pole vault. Success in competition for the event brought widespread attention, in particular when the young athlete took home the 2017 National Girls Under-17 Pole Vault title in Athlone. With the world at her feet and eyes firmly locked on a UCC Quercus Sports Scholarship, disaster struck for Coffey. A back injury would spell the end for a promising career on the track, and as Emma puts it “There was now a void in my life, some spare time, for the first time ever, and I didn’t know what to do with myself.”. As previously mentioned, most fifth year students in secondary school might have decided to knuckle down and focus their energies on the Leaving Certificate; not Emma Coffey.
The Emergence of FinalBend
She decided that she wanted to stay connected in some way to athletics, the sport she loved. “I had really put all my eggs into the one basket.” Coffey says, but now was a chance to try something new. A new sportswear brand called FinalBend was born, in a bid to cover a gap in the market that the young entrepreneur had spotted. Smaller clubs and smaller markets were not being served by the “big brands”, and Coffey was willing to take on club orders in the tens, rather than the hundreds. Clubs were delighted to finally have access to sleek, high-performing athletic wear which did not break the bank. Partnerships with Munster Athletics and Athletics Ireland’s ‘Forerunners’ campaigns were the next steps to bringing the brand to wider audiences, but Emma’s focus with FinalBend remained on athletes in competition. One major global catastrophe would dramatically change the way her business was run.
The Lock-Down Years
“All my business was based around events and competitions happening up and down the country.” Whether it was Nenagh, Athlone or Castleisland, Emma relied upon athletes competing to sell her products. “When the pandemic hit, everything was stopped.” From March 2020 to late January 2022, there were some level of restrictions on athletics events in Ireland. For many months, every event was simply cancelled in the name of public health. Emma’s business model had fallen apart overnight, and as she puts it, her decision was simple. “Adapt or die”.
Coffey decided she would take her business directly to consumers, utilising digital marketing to attract athletes from across Ireland. As a Commerce student in University College Cork, Emma was no stranger to marketing practices, but her use of new trends and media platforms set her apart. With “zero-cost customer acquisition”, a series of viral TikTok videos and Instagram posts saw “exponential growth” for the brand. One unique aspect of the online marketing space was that the young entrepreneur had no control over who engaged with FinalBend’s posts or purchased her products. “The people purchasing were no longer just purely athletes who wanted performance… [they were] people who simply liked the brand and the design of the sportswear.” Coffey was quick to diversify her offerings, leaning into the ‘athleisure’ market. Her products now fell in a space between performance and leisure wear, allowing her to attract a broader client base. As a result, her sales revenue increased rapidly, even allowing her to take on staff members for the first time. This new-found success was capped off with an appearance on the Late Late Show with Ryan Tubridy, in an episode celebrating indigenous Irish brands.
Balancing Act
While the success story of Emma Coffey is certainly to be admired, one would have to say that her daily life must be exhausting. When pressed on her workload, the student / business owner reminded me of her days in the car doing homework. “I’ve always had a lot on, I’ve always been busy, it would feel wrong if I wasn’t doing a million things at once”. A Commerce student at UCC, Coffey is also a member of the Quercus Programme where she is a recipient of the Innovation / Entrepreneurship scholarship. Besides financial support, this programme’s most important contribution for Emma is in helping her build connections. “You’re surrounded by people as motivated as you, which is always helpful as you’re a product of your environment”. The programme aims to offer support to students who are excelling in areas outside of academia, and for FinalBend’s founder, it has “opened many doors I might not ever have known where even there for me.”. Balancing a full-time university degree and a blossoming business cannot be an easy task, but Coffey takes it in her stride. Even when there were hard times, such as when the busiest shopping season of the year coincided with her Christmas exams, the student never let the workload get the better of her. Her ability to stand back and look at the “bigger picture” is what truly sets her apart.
Giving Back
In spite of her packed schedule, a key priority for Emma now that she has become a shining beacon for young entrepreneurs is to share her experiences with as many people as she can. “I give talks at primary and secondary schools as much as I can, to…show them what’s possible.” Especially for girls and young women, Coffey feels it is important to let them know that there is a pathway for them. Cutting down any gendered narrative, Coffey is resolute in mentioning that she “never saw any adversity as a woman in business”, and is eager to share that message with the hopeful young girls she interacts with. She feels that her position has led her to be an accidental “spokesperson”, and a duty is now there to share her experiences and her story to help others. Taking time to speak on the support for women in sport, Coffey welcomes the evolution over the last five to ten years, and that “a great ecosystem” is now developing for female athletes in Ireland. Emma’s work with ‘The Shona Project’ and ‘Forerunners’ to promote opportunities for women and share her own story will undoubtedly inspire future generations of young athletes and entrepreneurs.
Where to Next
In terms of FinalBend, Emma is determined to branch out into the European market, with 99% of sales currently coming from Irish customers. The brand has a powerful mission statement of providing eco-friendly, affordable sportswear to its customers. Developing the brand and diversifying their product line is the current goal. However, never one to focus on one aspect of her life, Coffey offered an insight into her new project; A digital marketing agency. UCG.ie is a “creator led” Business to Business marketing platform where Irish and European creators can be linked to brands in order to produce “authentic advertising”. Teaming up with her sister Orla for this new venture is an exciting new challenge for Emma, and the two Coffeys are enjoying “exponential growth in an emerging market”.
There is no doubt that whatever the future holds for FinalBend, UGC, or Emma Coffey, it will not be static and it will not be dull. Once she finishes her final university exams in May, the world will most certainly be her oyster.
