Farm shop The Grazing Goat set up by ACORNS alumni Aoife Keogh was devised to make the family farm more viable.
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 of the Lead Entrepreneur and the other women in the group was invaluable”
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.
The Grazing Goat
Aoife Keogh set up her business, a small, family run farm shop in Rockcorry, Co Monaghan, in December 2022.
Originally from Bray in Co Wicklow, Aoife and her husband moved from a small townhouse in Bray to a farm in Rockcorry in 2021 because they wanted more space for their eight children to play in.
The couple spent the first year restoring their new property, and Aoife then decided to set up The Grazing Goat to help make the farm economically viable and to have an outlet for the produce they were making.
“The family keep goats, pigs, chickens and sheep on our 30-acre farm, and The Grazing Goat sells their own rare breed meats and goats’ milk while also supplying produce from other local producers.”
While neither Aoife nor her husband are from a farming background, Aoife had previously run her own children’s clothing business.
She started The Grazing Goat by making products and selling them to shops before opening her own shop and café in Monaghan town. However, there was an issue with the premises, so she moved the business online.
“I am inclined to be a bit scatterbrained in terms of constantly moving from one task to another and the ACORNS programme helped me to focus attention on the nitty-gritty of the business.
“The support of the Lead Entrepreneur and the other women in the group was invaluable.”
Her plans for the future of the business include further developing the website to realise its full e-commerce potential and to get a new premises. Aoife is looking into the possibility of setting up the shop and café on their farm if she can resolve some logistical issues with access for customers.
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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