Bringing female power into the business world
ENTREPRENEURS OFFER INSPIRATION
THREE leading Irish female entrepreneurs will be offering insights into their experiences of starting and growing a successful business to help other women do likewise.
Susan Spence co-founder of SoftCo; Andrea Doolan of Atlantia Clinical Trials; and Kate Scott of HoloToyz will speak at the Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs event at the Irish Management Institute on Friday.
Now in its second year, Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs is supported by Enterprise Ireland and KPMG and those attending will have the opportunity to apply for the Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs support programme itself.
The initiative seeks to ignite a flame among women with entrepreneurial ambitions to start a business, but who may not have yet taken steps towards making their aspiration a reality.
It is designed to appeal to females from a variety of backgrounds who are seeking a change of direction, including professionals and women in senior corporate positions, or those with doctoral and postdoctoral qualifications.
Research shows almost one in five Irish women aspire to start their own business and the initiative is focused on encouraging them to follow through on their ambitions and establish businesses that are scalable, innovative and focused on export markets.
Successful
Susan Spence is the co-founder of one of Ireland’s most successful software companies and a leading procure-to-pay solution provider globally.
SoftCo was recently acquired from its founders by Keensight Capital, in one of the largest Irish technology transactions.
Susan is a former winner of the Irish Tatler Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year Award and the Irish Exporter of the year Award. Andrea Doolan is CEO and co-founder of Atlantia Clinical Trials, a leading provider of human clinical studies to the functional food, nutraceutical, medical food and live biotherapeutic sectors.
A former winner of the Matheson WMB Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Andrea has more than 27 years’ experience in the industry, working in both the United States and Ireland.
Kate Scott formed her company, HoloToyz, with her husband Declan Fahy in 2020.
Based in Co Meath, it blends augmented reality with traditional toys like educational books, puzzles, temporary tattoos, stickers and wall decals, which all come to life in 3D animation when scanned with HoloToyz app. MC for the evening will be Paula Fitzsimons, the founder of Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs and national director of a range of business development initiatives including Going for Growth, Starting Strong, ACORNS and Back for Business.
Growth
Welcoming her involvement in the IMI event, Ms Spence said: “Having been involved with Going for
Growth for over 10 years, it has been great to see how the supporting infrastructure has developed and thrived over that time.
“I am delighted to be speaking at the upcoming event in the IMI and looking forward to inspiring a new cohort of female entrepreneurs.”
IMI CEO Shane O’Sullivan said: “With its rich history in developing female leaders, IMI is delighted to be hosting this upcoming Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs event, in asthe sociation with Enterprise Ireland and KPMG.
Panel
“We’re pleased to have an outstanding panel of experienced women entrepreneurs ready to share their journeys.
“We look forward very much to what promises to be an engaging and inspiring event.”
National Director of
Women Entrepreneurs,
Inspiring Paula