After experiencing serious illness during the pandemic, Kildare-based Edel Walsh reassessed her situation and embarked on setting up her own coaching business.
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 business helps accountancy students with their personal development and with reaching their academic potential while prioritising their mental health and wellbeing”
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.
Edel Walsh Coaching and Consultancy
Experiencing serious illness during the pandemic prompted Edel Walsh to reassess her situation and to pursue something she had always wanted to do – supporting students through her own coaching business.
Edel, who is originally from Cork but based in Johnstown, Naas, Co Kildare, left her corporate role and set up Edel Walsh Coaching and Consultancy in February 2022.
“The business helps accountancy students with their personal development and with reaching their academic potential while prioritising their mental health and wellbeing,” she explained.
A student, exam and wellbeing coach, Edel has also worked as an accountant and as a lecturer – and she has written accountancy exams – so she felt well placed to put all of her experience together and run the business from her home in Kildare.
Edel started by simply googling whether there were such things as student and exam coaches. Finding very little evidence that they existed, she decided to go for it anyway.
“The business experienced steady growth from the outset and growth has increased exponentially this year. This is because when I started the business, I supported all types of students whereas it is now entirely focused on working with professional accountancy students.”
Edel had been considering making that change to her business focus for some time.
“The support of the ACORNS programme gave me the clarity to proceed with the decision.”
She now works with three of the Big Four accountancy firms, the Irish Institute of Tax (ITI) and three of the biggest accountancy institutes in Ireland.
“My plan for the short to medium term is to be a leader in the professional accountancy exam support space and to grow the business into the UK and Northern Ireland.”
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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