WOMEN IN BUSINESS In association with Business & Innovation Centres (BIC)

Mary Ryan, Assistant Director, WESTBIC

Entrepreneurial activity amongst both genders has seen a dramatic increase in recent years, but Ireland still faces challenges to increase the number of females embarking on an entrepreneurial way of life

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2006 (GEM) early stage entrepreneurial activity in Ireland has been to the fore in Europe in recent years with an overall rate of 7.4% in 2006. Author’s of the GEM report, Paula Fitzsimons and Colm O’Gorman found that the rate of entrepreneurship is significantly higher for males (10.5%) than females (4.2 %). They also discovered that gender difference is even wider when the rate of established business ownership is examined, with men owning 12.2% yet only 3.4% of women are at the helm of their own businesses.

The report highlights that opportunity rather than necessity is the primary motive for early stage entrepreneurship among both men and women, but women exhibit a greater degree of drive towards entrepreneurship due to opportunities rather than due to necessity.

The report points to Irish policymakers who could be considered the key to change and urges Irish companies to strengthen their business base if they are to remain competitive and in order to grow their business in the future. The GEM report shows that in order to meet this challenge, Ireland needs to be able to draw on the entrepreneurial talents of both men and women.

SUPPORTING & ENCOURAGING BUSINESSWOMEN

The South East BIC is involved with an initiative that is assisting female entrepreneurs in the region who wish to concentrate on an expansion strategy for their business.

The Female Entrepreneurship Ireland Wales (FEIW) programme was conceived to facilitate the growth and development of women-led businesses in the South East of Ireland and South West of Wales. The programme is run as an enterprise training programme, specifically for women business owners in both regions, with businesses in the growth phase. Funded via Interreg IIIA, the project is run by WIT Centre for Entrepreneurship in partnership with the University of Wales, with the South East BIC having a seat on the steering committee and providing mentoring services.

Maximising Potential

Based on research results, the FEIW enterprise development programme was tailor-made for women in business. The programme is being delivered as a course for 20 women who have been in business for at least a year and who wish to grow and maximise their businesses’ potential. It commenced in September 2006 and is running over 12 months. It addresses the issues that women face when running and growing their businesses, such as access to advice and funding, accessing new markets, dealing with staff issues, developing networks and contacts and managing the work/life balance. The programme incorporates the areas that were identified by women in business in the region, as being important in an enterprise development environment. The participants come from a wide range of industries; including architecture, agri services, retail, interior design and financial services.

Practical Support

FEIW is assisting these businesswomen to further develop their businesses through a mix of classroom workshops and mentoring. South East BIC is providing monthly mentoring sessions to four women participating in the programme. An initial analysis of the businesses was undertaken, prioritising all the issues into an action plan for each of the participants. During the monthly sessions the BIC consultant is providing practical help and advice on these strategic issues e.g. finance, organisational structure, HR, marketing. At each session end targets and milestones are agreed to be achieved before the next session. The feedback from the participants has been very positive for both the programme and the mentoring.

DEDICATED TO GROWING THE BUSINESS

Female entrepreneurship is thriving in competitive indusrty sectors in the west of ireland with the support of Westbic.

Evelyn O’ Toole from Clifden, Co Galway, originally studied Applied Biology and Environmental Science and worked in industry for over three years. In 1994 she established Saotharlann Chonamara Teo or Complete Lab Solutions (CLS) in Rosmuc to provide micro and chemical testing for the food and pharmacutical industries.

Today CLS clients include market leaders in retail and clean room technology plus food servies. Its core business is testing and analysis of water, waste water, food samples, as well as clean room monitoring and the provision of technical backup, validation and training support. In addition CLS provides salvia testing for HIV, Hepitatis B and C, and Cotening testing (which confirms if someone is a smoker).

State of the Art Facilities CLS are currently expanding and extending their current facility and have developed a centre of excellance in Rosmuc for food and water analysis including investment in state of the art technology and facilities in line with clients needs. They are also building a 30,000 sq foot faciliy in Parkmore, Galway for the medical devices sector, which will provide the medicare sector with a modern testing and vailidation facility.

With 26 employees and plans to double this level in the next two years, employees include a mixture of leading scientists including pharmacologists, environmentalists, microbiologists.

Growing the Business

According to Evelyn O’Toole, Managing Director CLS, “we started off as a small company and have been pushing ourselves forward based on innovative strategies and with the support of WESTBIC in Galway”. CLS were the first contract laboratory to develope their own interactive website to allow clients to download results fast via the internet. The company also has a dedicted department that has up-todate trained laboratory technicians that it contracts to various companies, mainly in the pharmaceutical and medicare industry.

Evelyn further outlines that she has “a passion for business, in that it is always challenging and changing. I think being able to adapt to the changing needs of your client base is really important - their future needs should be your current challenges and priority”.

Contact: Complete Laboratory Solutions
T: 091 574355
E: www.completelabsolutions.com