Kildare and Carlow Celebrate National Women’s Enterprise Day
14 Events took place nationwide
The programme of events for National Women’s Enterprise Day took place on 19th October. An annual initiative of the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), including Kildare County Council’s Local Enterprise Office. The theme for this year’s event was “Empowering Business Together” with the aim of inspiring more women in Ireland to start and grow their own business.
The networking event for entrepreneurs in Kildare and Carlow took place in The Clanard Court Hotel, Athy and was organised in partnership with Network Ireland branches in Kildare and Carlow. The event was supported by the Enterprise Europe Network. Master of Ceremonies for the event was Susan Keogh, Ireland’s Director at H/Advisors Cicero, a leading public affairs and corporate communications agency.
Over 160 local entrepreneurs and businesswomen participated. The keynote speaker on the day was business owner and author, Rachel Doyle. The event also featured Ambassador for Kildare LEO and panelist Fiona Uyema of Fused by Fiona, Ambassador for Carlow LEO and panelist Lucy Gernon of Powerhouse Revolution, and panelist Emma Early Murphy, National President of Network Ireland 2023.
National Women’s Enterprise Day was officially opened by the Leas Cathaoirleach of the County if Kildare, Councillor Tracey O’Dwyer, she said; “Today’s event not only provides valuable networking opportunities and connections with industry experts, and highlights what supports and incentives are available and how to access them, but it also tackles the real-life subjects affecting women in business. While finance, marketing, innovation and new product development are important, so too are family, well-being and mental health and these all have their place in National Women’s Enterprise Day.”
National Women’s Enterprise Day, Ireland’s largest female enterprise event promotes, encourages, and stimulates female entrepreneurship across Ireland. It is designed and led by women and is an annual high point in promoting entrepreneurship to women in Ireland. The Local Enterprise Office along with Enterprise Ireland provide a wide range of help, incentives, training, and development programmes to female entrepreneurs.
National Women’s Enterprise Day has grown year-on-year with 14 events taking place across the country with over 1,800 female entrepreneurs in attendance. This growth in popularity has been reflected in the national growth in female entrepreneurship across the country. Since Enterprise Ireland introduced measures targeting women, the number of women who are setting up their own businesses has grown year-on-year. In 2012, just 8 out of 97 participating high potential start-ups were female-led (8%) which had increased to 37% in 2022, when 34 of the 91 participating in the programme were female led.
The Local Enterprise Office in Kildare has already exceeded targets for support to local entrepreneurships for 2023 in areas such as training (1547 already participated this year), mentoring (505), Lean/Green/Digital (88) and Start Your Own Business courses (105).
National Women’s Enterprise Day is just one of the initiatives of the Local Enterprise Offices aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and assisting companies to start up and grow.
