Fingal CEB launches details for ‘National Women’s Enterprise Day’
The Fingal County Enterprise Board is helping to plan a major national conference and an exhibition with mentoring clinics to mark ‘National Women’s Enterprise Day’ on Thursday, October 18th, and women in business from Fingal are invited to attend.
Enlisting the help of four Irish female entrepreneurs, Minister Kathleen Lynch T.D., Minister for Disability, Equality, Mental Health and Older People, officially launched plans for ‘National Women’s Enterprise Day’ this week.
The theme for this year’s conference, which takes place at the Heritage Hotel in Portlaoise on October 17th and 18th, is “Believe It & Achieve It” as research shows that self-confident women in Ireland, are ten times more likely to start their own business, than those without this self-belief** (Source:GEM).
Minister Lynch will be speaking to around 300 women at the national conference in October, along with four female entrepreneurs from today’s launch: Alison Banton from Brooke & Shoals Fragrances in Wicklow, Caroline McEnery from HR & Business Solutions in Kerry, Fleur Creed from Genesis Business College in Wexford and Sarah Nic Lochlainn from Aruna Sauces in Louth.
Oisín Geoghegan, CEO, from the Fingal County Enterprise Board said: “To share their inspiring stories and words of wisdom on National Women’s Enterprise Day, we have enlisted the help of a host of successful female entrepreneurs and enterprise experts. The full programme of workshops, talks and one-to-one mentoring clinics are designed to help boost confidence levels among women and to encourage more of them to consider setting up or expanding their own business, which is a key part of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs.”
Minister Lynch commented: "Female entrepreneurship has been identified as a key driver for economic growth and the achievement of gender equality in recent EU economic and gender equality policy documents. In particular the European Union has adopted the Europe 2020 Strategy which is a plan to guide the actions of Member States to stimulate the economy towards smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Increasing female entrepreneurship and women’s presence in industry remain key. As well as the National Women’s Enterprise Day, the Government has also invested in projects to support female entrepreneurial activity as part of the Equality for Women Measure - the Government's programme of positive actions to achieve true gender equality. A total of nine projects across the country facilitate women entrepreneurs to improve their business and network skills."
The two keynote speakers this year are: Mary McKenna, Founder and Managing Director of Tour America and Clinical Psychologist and Author, Dr. Maureen Gaffney. On the afternoon of October 18th, the ‘Fab! Females at Business’ panel includes Nicola Byrne from 11890; Orlaigh Carmody from MediaTraining.ie; Theresa Lowe, barrister and former broadcaster and Linda O’ Shea Farren from The Irish American Peace Foundation.
The ‘Focus on Technology and Social Media’ workshop is being scheduled for the afternoon of October 17th, featuring: Carol Tallon from Buyers Broker Direct, Joanne Sweeney Burke from Media Box, Janet Beck from Glass Eye Products and Fintan Murphy from Damson.
Co-funded by the European Social Fund with support from the Department of Justice and Equality through the Equality for Women Measure, the aim of National Women’s Enterprise Day is to give national recognition to the role of female entrepreneurship.
Booking forms are available for download from www.nwed.ie and the subsidised delegate fees are €100, which includes conference materials, meals and mentoring appointments on October 17th and 18th.
** Women in Ireland, who express a belief in their ability to successfully start and run a new business, are ten times more likely to be an early stage entrepreneur, than those without this self-belief (analysis of GEM Data for Ireland – more details to be published in a forthcoming report for GEM 2011).