Carlow entrepreneur Ciara Stanley has expanded her agri business Coppennagh House Farm to include a farm shop and online store for wagyu beef.
We talk to rural women entrepreneurs from across Ireland who recently took part in the ACORNS 9 programme.
Acorns recently celebrated a decade of support for female entrepreneurship in rural Ireland. 57 women entrepreneurs who completed the recent programme saw their turnover increase by more than 40%.
“The support ACORNS participants gave to each other was invaluable as were the connections and contacts made through the programme”
Women in rural Ireland with new businesses or at least with well-developed ideas are being invited to join next phase of the programme, ACORNS 10.
The ACORNS programme is designed to support early-stage female entrepreneurs living in rural Ireland through a peer learning approach. Thanks to the support of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the voluntary contribution of time by Lead Entrepreneurs, there is no charge for those selected to participate.
Only early-stage female entrepreneurs living in rural Ireland, and who have had no sales before the end of June 2021, are eligible to apply.
ACORNS 10 will run from October 2024 to April 2025 and will include six monthly round table sessions, a workshop on understanding financials, a briefing by various development agencies and an end-of-cycle celebration.
Coppenagh House Farm is a cut above
Ciara Stanley, from Tullow, Co Carlow, is something of a serial entrepreneur. She and her husband Robert have run Coppenagh House Farm, which specialises in rearing and selling wagyu beef, since launching the farm shop in August 2022.
Ciara has also run her own business, Ardattin Embroidery, for over a decade, and in November 2022, she purchased Ballybar Ireland, a clothing and lifestyle brand.
“In May 2023, we expanded the range of products in the farm shop and added a takeaway café with outdoor seating, floorspace for Ballybar and a dedicated workspace for the embroidery business.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ciara left her fulltime employment in media advertising and sales in March 2022 to focus on her burgeoning businesses.
“Essentially, Coppenagh House Farm is a farm shop that aims to bridge the gap between consumer and producer and showcase our working farm to the general public.”
The couple initially started selling their own beef in 2021 but food regulations meant they were not allowed to store the beef, so they had to have all their sales made in advance.
“Opening the farm shop allowed us to overcome this limitation, and we now employ five part-time staff to help run it.”
Last year, Ciara won the Carlow Powerhouse Female Entrepreneur of the Year and Start-up of the Year awards, as well as a Google You’re the Business award.
“The support ACORNS participants gave to each other was invaluable as were the connections and contacts made through the programme.”
With one eye always on expansion, Ciara is in the process of creating an online shop for her meat products and is looking at introducing corporate hampers and gift boxes in the run-up to Christmas.
She also has a longer-term plan to build a walkway around the farm and begin offering tours.
What is ACORNS?
ACORNS, which stands for Accelerating the Creation Of Rural Nascent Start-ups, is in its 10th year. It is funded through the Rural Innovation and Development Fund by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). ACORNS was a runner up in the 2018 European Enterprise Promotion Awards, Investing in Entrepreneurial Skills. The programme was developed by Fitzsimons Consulting.
Eligibility Criteria for participation on ACORNS
To be considered for ACORNS, applicants must:
- Have set up a new business which has generated sales no earlier than the end of June 2021 or be actively planning a new venture and have made good progress towards getting the new venture off the ground. Indicators of actively planning a business would include organising the start-up team, sourcing equipment / facilities, money saved for the start-up, writing the business plan, etc.
- They must own or part-own the business and be living in a rural area, that is in an area outside the administrative city boundaries of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.
- If selected, applicants must be available to attend the launch Forum and first round table session on October 21 and 22, 2024.
- They must expect to become an employer within three years.
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