By Dan Walsh
Over 130 female entrepreneurs, women in business and female-led businesses from all over County Wexford gathered in Newbay House Hotel, Wexford, yesterday (Thursday) to celebrate the 16th National Women’s Enterprise Day 2023.
Wexford town-native Theresa Grant OBE led the panel of homegrown and international speakers and shared her story of delivering high-value outcomes for communities and local governments across the UK. Generating a positive organisational culture through leadership and teamwork has led Ms. Grant to be recognised with an OBE from the Queen for her work in 2021. Sharing how she has worked for major sporting events including the Commonwealth Games and the Sydney Olympics, as well as for government bodies, Prime Ministers and parliamentarians made for a compelling and inspirational morning.
Pauline Dunne of Killowen Farm was this year’s National Women’s Enterprise Day Ambassador for Wexford also spoke at the event. An NWED Ambassador is a business who has come through Local Enterprise Office services and have proven themselves to be an inspirational ambassador, leader and mentor for other female-led businesses and entrepreneurs.
Ms. Dunne’s story of growing a small family dairy farm to a major producer of both yogurt and cream cheese, who produce 4000 jars of their signature yogurts per hour gave inspiration and encouragement to businesses of all sizes in the room.
Deborah Brock of Nua Fertility explained how her business came from personal experience and how both people and science have played such a crucial role in her business journey.
Paying tribute to female entrepreneurs and businesswomen everywhere, Breege Cosgrave, Head of Enterprise at LEO Wexford, who this year is the joint National Chair for NWED, described the event as “a celebration of female entrepreneurship, leadership and empowerment by women who are both innovation and strategic in their thinking.
“Women are intuitively innovative, adaptable and forward thinking – these are the skills that we need to harness now to secure a strong economy where female entrepreneurship is allowed to flourish,” said Ms. Cosgrave, who added; “Businesses are facing growing energy costs, a shortage of labour and skills, climate change and increasingly uncertain global security and women are well equipped to deal with these challenges.”
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