Events around the country for National Women's Enterprise Day have seen record attendance levels.
Over 2,200 women entrepreneurs and women in business attended the 14 Local Enterprise Office led events nationwide, the highest attendance since its inception in 2006.
So far this year 64% of those who availed of training this year by the Local Enterprise Offices were women, while 61% of the participants in the Local Enterprise Offices Start Your Own Business programme in 2024 have been female.
This year is the 18th year of National Women’s Enterprise Day and the theme of the 2024 event is "Making it happen".
The event aims to encourage businesswomen to take that next step whether that be to act on an idea, grow their business or take steps to change or innovate in their business. It also highlights the supports available to early stage small businesses from funding and grants to mentoring and training.
Breege Cosgrave, Co-Chair of National Women's Enterprise Day 2024, said that since Covid we have seen how important these events can be for helping female entrepreneurs and women in business to grow their networks and see there is support out there within their community to help get them started and to grow their businesses.
"National Women’s Enterprise Day is vital for showcasing the very best of our female entrepreneurs and showing those who hope to take that leap in the future that the support is there," she added.
Participants in this year's events included Aimee Connolly, founder and CEO of Sculpted by Aimee, Anne Heraty founder of CPL Resources, Oonagh O'Hagan of Meaghers Pharmacy, broadcaster and entrepreneur Norah Casey, Martina Fitzgerald of Scale Ireland and entrepreneur Chupi Sweetman.
The Local Enterprise Offices also run a number of initiatives to foster entrepreneurship across the country. These include Local Enterprise Week, the National Enterprise Awards, the Student Enterprise Programme, Local Enterprise Village at the Ploughing Championships and Local Enterprise Showcase.
The Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities are funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland.
Since their inception eight years ago, the Local Enterprise Offices have helped create over 75,000 jobs across the country. The LEOs work with thousands of client companies across Ireland in a diverse range of sectors offering mentoring, training, expert advice and financial supports to small businesses.
