SHONA TAKES THE REINS OF THE CHAMBER
IN the same week our new mayor is championing Drogheda’s future, a new Drogheda and District Chamber President has also got the town’s success firmly in her sights.
Local businesswoman Shona McManus may be relatively new to the chamber, but her company Osborne Recruitment has been involved for decades, and as she accepted the chains of office from outgoing President Paddy Callaghan, she said she is excited for the future of her adopted town.
“Drogheda is a fabulous place for investment and there is a bank of talent here, and it has been very encouraging to see the votes of confidence from the IT and pharma sectors in recent years, showing it really is an attractive prospect for investment,” she told the Drogheda Independent.
“I am delighted to be President this year, and we have a number of new members on the council, who will look at things with a fresh eye, and hopefully breathe new life into the chamber.”
Ms McManus is quick to praise the work that has already been done by the local branch in the past.
“There has been fantastic work done over the years, and we had our 124th AGM last week, and we have a three to five-year strategy, to develop services to offer incubation projects and start-ups, and focus on our Skillnets courses to support the local economy.”
Although born in Dunshaughlin, Shona made Drogheda her home many years ago, and is in the process of buying a house here.
“I have a lot of confidence in the town and having brought Osborne Recruitment to Drogheda three years ago, I have invested here both personally and professionally.”
Although a thriving business now, with an annual turnover of €7m, a staff of 36 and three busy offices, this was not the case when Shona took over as CEO in 2013.
“The company had been founded in 1996 and wasn’t in great shape when I joined in 2009, however hard work and a great team have brought it to where we are now, with three more Irish offices opening, as well as Toronto and another overseas bureau,” she says proudly.
“We recently won the National Recruitment Federation agency of the year and we are all so passionate about the industry, which is so dynamic, and we have invested heavily in learning and development, we all work really well together.”
Shona feels Drogheda has a number of unique selling points which makes it an ideal location for investment and growth.
“As well as being ideally located on the M1 corridor, which can attract candidates from Dublin, as well as multilingual candidates, we are a region which will benefit from companies from the UK being nervous about the fallout from Brexit,” she explains.
“This is a really big couple of years from Drogheda, with the Fleadh this year and next, and we are all looking forward to exciting times ahead.”
Drogheda and District Chamber has been in business since 1894 and is a volunteer-led business & enterprise group which tries to improve the general business conditions in the locality.
They currently have around 190 members in over 40 sectors. For more details on becoming a member, check www.droghedachamber.ie.