Leading Business Women to Speak at Free Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs Event

Three leading Irish female entrepreneurs offered insight into their experiences of starting and growing a successful business at an Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs event at the Irish Management Institute (IMI) on Friday, June 21.

Entrepreneurs Susan Spence, co-founder of SoftCo, Andrea Doolan of Atlantia Clinical Trials, and Kate Scott of HoloToyz addressed and answered audience questions at the IMI Conference Centre on the IMI Campus in Sandyford, Dublin 16.

Now in its second year, Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs is supported by Enterprise Ireland and KPMG. Those attending the IMI event had the opportunity to apply for the Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs support programme itself.

The Inspiring 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 women from a variety of backgrounds who are seeking a change of direction, including female professionals and women in senior corporate positions, or those with doctoral and postdoctoral qualifications.

Research shows that almost one in five women in Ireland aspire to start their own business, and the initiative is focused on encouraging women to follow through on their entrepreneurial ambitions and establish businesses that are scalable, innovative, and focused on export markets.

The IMI event follows events at University of Galway and DkIT aimed at inspiring future female entrepreneurs and informing them about the supports available. Tickets are free but those hoping to attend are requested to register in advance as spaces are limited. Places can be booked here.

A further Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs event will take place with Chartered Accountants Ireland set to host its own information evening at its headquarters on Pearse Street in Dublin city on Wednesday, June 26, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.

Speakers at the Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs event on Friday, June 21:

Susan Spence is the co-founder of SoftCo, 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 of 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, the company blends augmented reality (AR) with traditional toys, like educational books, puzzles, temporary tattoos, stickers and wall decals, which all come to life in 3D animation when scanned with the HoloToyz app.

MC for the evening is 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.

Welcoming her involvement in the IMI event, Susan 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 association with Enterprise Ireland and KPMG. We’re pleased to have an outstanding panel of experienced women entrepreneurs ready to share their journeys, including Susan Spence, co-founder of one of Ireland’s most successful software companies, as well as Andrea Doolan of Atlantia Clinical Trials and Kate Scott of HoloToyz. We look forward very much to what promises to be an engaging and inspiring event.”

National Director of Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs, Paula Fitzsimons, said:

“The objective of this compelling and inspiring initiative is to increase the number of female-led innovative businesses of scale focused on export markets. Through the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research, we know that more women in Ireland are aspiring to start new businesses and that the rate of early-stage female entrepreneurs who aspire for significant growth is also increasing.

“Building on this fertile ground, we want to introduce the possibility of an entrepreneurial career to particular groups of ambitious women who may not have considered it previously and where we believe untapped entrepreneurial potential lies.”

Key to the overall programme itself is the panel of Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs who have all volunteered their time and have been selected based on their professional experience, their backgrounds in corporate life and academia, and their experience of building innovative companies across a range of sectors.

Panel members are drawn from the Going for Growth Community and include:

Áine Kerr, entrepreneur and broadcaster; Áine Denn, entrepreneur and adviser; Dr Anne Cusack, co-founder of Critical Healthcare; Dr Barbara Anne Murphy, Head of Equine Science at UCD and Chief Science Officer at Equilume; Dr Emmeline Hill, Professor School of Agriculture and Food Science at UCD and founder of Equinome; Fidelma McGuirk, Founder and CEO of Payslip; Jennifer Corley, co-founder of EquiTrace; Leonora O’Brien, founder of Pharmapod; Louella Morton, co-founder of TestReach; Vanessa Creaven, co-founder of Spotlight Oral Care.