Business women will share their successful start-up experiences in a special webinar hosted by GMIT.
Marking the annual Spirit of Entrepreneurship event, the webinar to be held on Tuesday September 8, will feature Galway native Lorraine Heskin, founder of Gourmet Food Parlour (2006 ); Mary McKenna, Donegal-based technology entrepreneur and angel investor who founded the online Learning Pool community; and Niamh McKenna, another Donegal native, and co-founder of ChangeX.
The event is hosted by GMIT’s Mayo Business Innovation Hub (iHub ), through the EMPOWER Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme, and three EMPOWER participants, Niamh Ryle (Homecheck.ie ), Asumpta Gallagher (Best-Practice.ie ), and Marina Murphy (Babyboss with the Twosie ) will also pitch for a prize fund at this session.
A panel discussion will follow on the subject of digital marketing and influencers with Sinead Carroll from Galway, founder of Mini Media who set up the Irish Blogger Agency; Charlene Flanagan from Mayo, founder of Ella and Jo Cosmetics; and Limerick native Aoife McNamara, Irish designer and fashion influencer. Susan Hayes Culleton, “The Positive Economist”, will host the discussion.
First year online
Maria Staunton, EMPOWER coordinator and GMIT iHub Mayo manager, says this is the first year the annual Spirit of Entrepreneurship event is being held online.
"The challenges of Covid-19 are something we are all facing and speakers will give us an insight on how these times have affected their businesses. Challenges are part of any start up - how we navigate them will determine how we succeed in business."
In the evening the group will hold an online event to celebrate completion of GMIT’s first EMPOWER programme with Noeline Blackwell, a human rights lawyer and CEO of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, as the guest speaker.
The evening event will also feature Clare Desbonnet, a recipient of two Network Ireland Highly Commended Businesswoman of the Year Awards in 2019 in the STEM and Employee categories.
