The Corkman

Rebel women urged to sign up for business programme

- MARIA HERLIHY

HIGH profile business women are urging fellow ambitious female entreprene­urs to join a developmen­t programme in the Rebel county.

Going for Growth is looking for applicants for the 11th cycle of their award winning programme. It is a six month part time programme which is sponsored by Enterprise Ireland and KPMG.

Female entreprene­urs from Cork can apply for the programme before the deadline of Wednesday, Novemeber 29.

Two past participan­ts are Breda O’Sullivan of Bluebell Falls artisan cheese company, which is based in Charlevill­e, and Joan Woods of waters + wild perfumery in Glandore. Bluebell Falls was founded by Victor and Breda O’Sullivan in 2003 and is a multi-award winning company.

Most owner/managers agree that growing a business can be a very isolating experience and it can be difficult to find someone on your wavelength who understand­s the issues involved. The Going for Growth round table initiative is designed to address these challenges and those selected will join interactiv­e round table sessions led by Lead Entreprene­urs.

The Lead Entreprene­urs are successful business women with personal experience of growing a business and urge others to apply for Going for Growth. These high-profile business leaders volunteer their time to encourage participan­ts to set and achieve personalis­ed goals and milestones to address the opportunit­ies and challenges they face in driving growth in their businesses.

At the conclusion of the 10th cycle, the 65 participan­ts reported a combined sales of €66.8 million and the creation of an additional 90 full time jobs, bringing to over 740 the total number employed.

“Supporting ambitious business women to start new businesses is a key priority for Enterprise Ireland and in 2017 more than one in three Enterprise Ireland backed start-ups were led by women, an increase from one in 10 just five years ago,” said Julie Sinnamon, CEO of Enterprise Ireland. “Having impacted successful­ly on the number of start-up businesses led by female founders, a key focus for Enterprise Ireland is to increase the number of companies that achieve scale.”

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