Colin Bartley talks to three Galway entrepreneurs about their appointment as European Ambassadors for Female Entrepreneurship Compared with men, few women are self-employed in the EU, fewer women start-up businesses or have the ambition to do so, and women generally choose not to start and manage businesses.

However, the EU believes there is huge untapped entrepreneurial potential in this area and European Union President Jose Manuel Barroso has taken it upon himself to make the role of the female in Europe more central and evident.

The EU has created the positions of European Ambassadors for Female Entrepreneurship to encourage more women to get involved in business.

The Ambassadors will act as role models for other business women, encouraging those who may be thinking about setting up a company to get in there and do it. They will promote entrepreneurship amongst women by encouraging women to fully use their skills, talents and ambition to become entrepreneurs.

Ireland has been given ten commissioner positions and Galway is very well represented, with three local businesswomen being appointed as European Ambassadors.

Liz Cassidy of Irish Time Design, Audrey Kinahan of University Late Night Pharmacy and Judy Greene of Judy Greene Pottery were each nominated by Galway Chamber to join the EU panel of Ambassadors for Female Entrepreneurship.

The three women have a wealth of business experience in both good and bad times and therefore have a lot of relevant information to impart.

"What an ambassador represents is a person who has first hand experience of being an entrepreneur and who can serve as a source of inspiration to others and, in this instance, to women in particular."

"We have to aim at where will have greatest impact and this impact has to be focused on where we can encourage other women to consider setting up in business and becoming entrepreneurs," says Ms Cassidy.

The women have decided to start young, targeting young women still in school.

"We will give them encouragement to be a business manger or owner themselves, showing them that it is a viable option rather than following the traditional role women have adopted or areas they follow," Ms Cassidy says.

Audrey Kinahan sees her new role as an opportunity to get involved in kick-starting activity in the economy, as a role of the Ambassadors is to give the right kind of guidance to get projects and businesses off the ground.

"We have to assist people to encourage them into business. We, and the economy, would be delighted to have them. It is a pilot project and we have to listen to all ideas. I would encourage people, especially women, with entrepreneurial ideas, to further them. We also will target those who have become recently unemployed. We will help them look at being self-employed as a career route."

Ms Kinahan says the current economic climate represents an ideal opportunity for entrepreneurs.

"There are supports there and avail of them. This is the message we have to get out, showing people how to best go about getting up and running," she says.

And while the women are looking forward to getting stuck in and doing something positive for women and the economy, all three agree that the opportunity afforded to them as Ambassadors will also benefit them greatly.

Judy Greene says the programme opens up vast opportunities to the Ambassadors and in turn business women in Ireland, as they can see first hand how people in other countries run their own businesses.

"We have to understand that businesses are very different, so we have to be flexible in the way we deal with people. An experience of a craft shop is completely different to experience of a software company. Already I have seen instances I have learned from. At the launch of the programme in Sweden recently, just seeing the diversity of business there was impressive."

And Ms Greene says that when the Ambassadors meet internationally there will be networking, which benefits everyone. "There is some unusual liaisons being made and, if this brings any business into Ireland, it would be great."

A number of events and activities will take place in Galway and other regions around the West over the coming months, involving Liz Cassidy, Audrey Kinahan and Judy Greene in their capacity as European Ambassadors, which will focus on engaging with female would-be entrepreneurs.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment