Female entrepreneurs and budding businesswomen in Galway are being encouraged to look to the future and register for this year’s National Women’s Enterprise Day next month.
Now in its 15th year, the annual event is organised by the Local Enterprise Office network to connect emerging businesswomen with information to help them flourish, and with a network of their peers.
This year’s free virtual event, titled “Build The Future”, will take place online on October 7, with a lineup featuring some of the best known female entrepreneurs in the country.
Representing LEO Galway at this year’s event is Lorraine Lynch, CEO and Founder of the Child Psychology Institute.
The Child Psychology Institute is an international education technology company which aims to empower parents, healthcare and education staff who work with children using online courses, training and programs.
Established in 2019, Child Psychology Institute aims to be the world’s leading EdTech software platform to holistically enable all learning methodologies, such as training, conferences, online learning programs and knowledge resource sharing, that enable individual self-improvement and professional development.
Lorraine is a client of LEO Galway, having received support for her business website from the TOV scheme which got such a boost in recognition and funding during the pandemic.
“I received the Trading Online Voucher which provided me with the support of an online digital marketing strategy, as well as adding e-commerce functionality on to our website.
She said that the improvements she has made to her business as a result of the TOV funding have helped to increase brand awareness, and gain traction in online commerce.
Traditionally, National Women’s Enterprise Day has taken place locally, with LEO Galway putting on events for female businesswomen across the city and county, and those who may have a business idea they want to get off the ground.
But last year the event went virtual due to COVID-19, and the organisers have decided to continue with that format this year.
‘Build the Future’ will be hosted by founder and broadcaster Aine Kerr, and the lineup of speakers will include the likes of Aimee Connolly of Sculpted by Aimee, Rachel Doyle of The Arboretum and Sharon Keegan of Peachy Lean, who was recently supported on Dragon’s Den UK.
The day’s programme will cover a whole host of areas on how to build the future of a business covering topics like, how to get started, internationalization, finding new markets, trading effectively online, sustainability and innovation.
This will be coupled with breakout rooms for networking and a host of one-to-one advice clinics for any business issues.
New figures from the Local Enterprise Offices show that the number of women engaging in entrepreneurship is one the rise, with 47,000 women making use of training an upskilling from the LEO in 2020, up from 23,466 the year prior.
NWED coordinator at LEO Galway, Valerie Kelly, said “National Women’s Enterprise Day has always been a day of celebration of the very best in female entrepreneurship and highlighting the strength of that community.”
“This year is no different, but we are very much looking forward. How can we help female entrepreneurs in Galway sustain and develop their businesses and ideas going into the future?”
“The last 18 months have created huge problems for businesses all across the city and county but also great opportunities and businesses have to grasp those.”
