Irish Female Entrepreneurs Are Starting Strong

Last Wednesday, 8th July 2015, Elevate had the pleasure of celebrating with a wealth of inspiring Irish female entrepreneurs as Starting Strong hosted its 2015 celebratory event. Starting Strong, the most recent in the Going for Growth suite of complementary initiatives is designed for ambitious female entrepreneurs who are at an early stage in the development of their businesses. The event recognised the significant progress made by the 21 Starting Strong participants who have completed the 2015 cycle.

When the programme began in January, 16 of the 21 participants had already achieved annual sales of over €900,000 collectively. By 2020, the successful participants aspire to have a combined turnover of €250 Million. The companies between them also aim to increase the number of jobs created from 70 to over 500 in the next five years.

The inspiring entrepreneurs recognised at this year’s Starting Strong celebratory event this year include:

1. Áine Behan, CortechConnect
2. Ann Hunt, Chasing Returns
3. Bernice Moran, The Be Sweet Company
4. Ciara O’Halloran, The Redbank Food Company
5. Elaine Lavery, Improper Butter
6. Elizabeth Fingleton, Obeo Ltd.
7. Emer O’Daly, Love & Robots
8. Gina Galligan, Laganti
9. Helen Cahill, InvoiceFair
10. Isolde Johnson, The Cool Bean Company
11. Jennie McGinn, OPSH
12. Joanna Lovegrove, Chilly Moo
13. Kelley Burke, StyleJump
14. Marjorie O’Malley, Achill Island Sea Salt
15. Martina Skelly, YellowSchedule
16. Melissa Curry, Melissa Curry Jewellery
17. Moira Kiely, Xhail
18. Olivia Mai Typrowicz, The Stork Exchange
19. Ollwyn Moran, Creeper Crawlers
20. Sinead Kenny, DiaNia Technologies
21. Tara Van Zyl, Seamless

Starting Strong is designed to complement Going for Growth, which is a similar initiative but geared towards women who have been trading for at least two years. Each of the women involved in Starting Strong gain first-hand knowledge from the deep experiences of the volunteer Lead Entrepreneurs who act as mentors on the programme. The entrepreneurs involved are of an extremely high calibre and have first-hand experience of the challenges when starting and growing a business.