We look at regionally-based Irish women entrepreneurs who have graduated from the pivotal ACORNS programme and are striking out on their own paths in business.
Friday (September 20) is the final deadline for early-stage female entrepreneurs in rural areas to apply for the 10th cycle of the ACORNS business development programme.
ACORNS is this year celebrating the 10th anniversary of the initiative, which is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, under its Rural Innovation and Development Fund.
ACORNS 10 is completely free to those selected to participate. It will run from October 2024 to April 2025 and will include six monthly round table sessions, a workshop on understanding financials, and briefings by various business development agencies. All round table sessions are facilitated by a Lead Entrepreneur, who has first-hand experience of starting successfully growing a business in rural Ireland.
A survey carried out at the end of the last cycle, ACORNS 9, revealed that participants increased their total turnover over the course of the six-month programme by €1.2m, from €2.8m to €4m (+43%). All participants surveyed said that they would recommend participating in ACORNS to others
Participants also reported doubling their total workforce to 133, with 59 full-time and 74 part-time staff employed at the end of the cycle – an increase of 67. There were also four new exporters over the cycle.
Any woman with a new business based in rural Ireland — or an idea for a new venture they want to get off the ground — can get more information and register to receive an application form here
Audrey Cashman, My Palm Co
Hair stylist Audrey Cashman launched My Palm Co, a luxury hair tool and kit company, from her home in Cork City in April 2024.
Audrey was inspired to set up the online retailer after noticing that stylists typically operate with a collection of leading products from many individual brands. With My Palm Co, the Londoner has developed a series of best-in-class hair products under a single brand name, including combs, hair brushes, section clips, and hair scrunchies.
“The idea first came to me in 2018 but it wasn’t until after the Covid-19 pandemic that I felt I had the capacity to work on it,” says Audrey.
Product development has been underpinned by Audrey’s experiences as the owner of Upstyle Junkie, a personal styling and training service for hairdressers. “I simplify styling hair for hairdressers. I want them to understand how hair works and how products can help them achieve the desired effect,” says Audrey, adding that My Palm Co is launching two new products this summer followed by another one in the autumn.
She continues: “Ultimately, we hope to stock our products with high street retailers and also to sell internationally, whether that’s the UK or elsewhere. That’s our goal.”
Audrey admits to feeling shocked when she was accepted into the ACORNS programme, but says her participation came at the perfect time for the development of the business.
“The opportunity to join ACORNS arose at a time when everything was just coming together – from manufacturing to the website launch and more. The peer-to-peer support and the support of my lead entrepreneur got me through all that. It would have been quite a daunting thing to do by yourself. The other women gave the extra push I needed,” she says.
Grainne Dunne, Motly Designs
Grainne Dunne set up her business Motly Designs at her home in the village of Redhills, Co Cavan, in July 2022.
A graphic designer who still works in product design in the tech industry, Grainne was inspired to start Motly Designs after her son’s birth when she wanted to decorate his room with personalised artwork.
Everything Grainne found online was either expensive or of poor quality, so she decided to create the artwork herself. When friends and family members saw the finished room, they started to place orders, and the business has grown organically ever since.
Motly Designs creates personalised illustrative products for babies and children. Customers select from a list of themes on Motly Designs’ website and provide the child’s name. As well as the personalisation range, she also has a range of wall stickers, which are removable and won’t damage the wall surface.
Grainne grows her product line through feedback from her 13,500 Instagram followers. She has 45 products on the website, and the range is continuing to grow.
A two-page feature in Stellar magazine in 2023 and interest from a number of social media influencers have also helped to grow sales and brand awareness.
Grainne recently created a range of non-personalised products suitable for retail and will be approaching retailers this autumn.
She says one of the best pieces of advice she received while on the ACORNS programme was to figure out how to work on the business and not in the business. Through ACORNS feedback she figured out how to automate aspects of the operation to free her up to grow Motly Designs.
Grainne intends for Motly Designs to become the go-to brand in Ireland and beyond for child and baby products. She plans to extend her range of products and to create products for all age ranges of children.
Bríd Fanning Art
Based in Ballinacree, Oldcastle, Co Meath, where she is also from, Bríd Fanning’s business is inspired by the views from her home studio – with the Loughcrew megalithic cairns on one side and Mullaghmeen Forest, home to the largest beech trees in Ireland, on the other.
Bríd set up her business, Bríd Fanning Art, in July 2020 with the aim of revitalising the rich essence of Irish culture through creating vibrant artworks that weave stories from the past and present.
Using bold colours, she creates art works that feature Irish people, animals and landscapes and that try to find the essence of Irishness.
Bríd, who studied Visual Communications in Athlone Institute of Technology, worked in the corporate world as a graphic designer for over 20 years before setting up the business.
She had been painting all her life and prior to taking it up fulltime, she studied Colour Theory and Contemporary Art Practice at NCAD. She also did a course with renowned artist Róisín O’Farrell on setting up a business for artists.
Bríd creates a wide range of products – first she paints the original art works and from those she creates fine art prints, cushions and lamps to give her art a wider reach.
The prints, cushions and lamps are available in 12 tourist retail shops along the Wild Atlantic Way, and her original pieces have sold to collectors all over the world.
The company was one of six craft businesses selected by Meath LEO to exhibit at Showcase in 2022 and 2023. She also exhibited twice at Art Source, Ireland’s largest art exhibition.
Bríd found that the support from other participants and from her Lead Entrepreneur on the ACORNS programme was hugely beneficial.
Her plan is to keep creating, growing the business and building her collector base – particularly in North America.
Caitriona Considine, Moher Cottage
Moher Cottage is a labour of love for Considine and her husband Kevin, a local farmer.
Considine, having met and married Kevin, decided after a number of senior-level C-suite roles with large organsiations and the pressures that came with them, that it was time for a different adventure in business.
The inspiration for Moher Cottage was the cluster of former farm buildings that straddled the road leading to the Cliffs of Moher. What has followed is a thriving gift and coffee shop as well as a fudge kitchen.
Considine takes considerable pride from the fact that the gift shop sells the work of local artists and craft makers and also provides local employment. This she says, lends itself to the sustainability vision she has for her enterprise.
“Kevin had this 150-year-old Liscannor stone cow cabin and pigsty attached to it. It was cute. But it also had this view across Liscannor Bay and you can see all the way to the Kerry mountains on a clear day. I noticed people were driving to the cliffs and stopping to take pictures of the cabin and then getting back into their car to drive to the cliffs.
“When I first came here I was taken in by the view and the panoramic coastline and I realised there was no where near that was offering a place where you could enjoy a coffee with that view.
“I saw an opening in the market for a contemporary coffee shop with gifts for the visitor that would also be local.”
Considine, a graduate of the ACORNS programme for rural entrepreneurs backed by the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, said the programme is of enormous benefit to women entrepreneurs looking to diversify farms.
“It’s a mentoring programme. It allows you to flesh out ideas and work through business plans and have them challenged, tested and mentored by successful women entrepreneurs in rural Ireland. It gives me a network of people I can talk to who are like-minded and trying to achieve similar things.”
Breige Grogan, Little Rock Digital
Breige Grogan, who is originally from Carrickmore in Co Tyrone, set up her business Little Rock Digital at her home in Ennis, Co Clare, in August 2022 after spending over 15 years working in digital marketing and ecommerce for global brands.
“Little Rock Digital is a digital marketing and ecommerce consultancy which helps retailers who don’t have an internal digital or marketing resource, to grow profitable ecommerce businesses,” she explained.
Breige brings her experience to bear in providing guidance and mentorship to retailers on their ecommerce businesses.
She decided to go out on her own after having her daughter, Áine, in 2021 as she wanted more flexibility to manage her work/life balance.
As well as the personal reasons, Breige had also identified a gap in the market.
“The acceleration to online retailing that happened during the pandemic had put a lot of pressure on SMEs and smaller retailers to get their online offering up to scratch very quickly.
“Having often dealt with blue chip clients in my previous role, I love working with small retailers, because they are often family businesses, and you develop a deeper connection with the client.”
Since setting up Little Rock Digital, Breige has had wonderful support from larger agencies that she subcontracts work from, and she built on that to the extent that she recently hired a digital marketing executive to help her three days a week.
“The ACORNS programme provided a structured framework for my thinking and helped me define what I wanted the business to be. One of the best things about it was the sharing and learning from each other as participants.”
Breige’s immediate plans are to consolidate existing growth and win new business on the consulting side.
“In the longer term, I will look to hire new team members.”
Munaza Gilmore, The Brow Movement
When Munaza Gilmore’s talent for threading eyebrows became known around Swinford, Co. Mayo, she soon became so overwhelmed with requests for her services that she had to open a room in her home to accommodate them.
However, it wasn’t until the arrival of her second child that the London native felt like she should move beyond her former role as an Employment Facilitator with Western Care and turn what had been a means to supplement her income into a full-time business.
Munaza’s company The Brow Movement now operates out of its own premises in Swinford and has its own range of products, including The Potion, a natural growth stimulant for eyebrows, The Pencil and Eyebrow Gel. Munaza explains that all products are developed in response to feedback from her clients.
“I listen to clients about what they want from their beauty products and then I respond to that. I’ve done eyebrow courses in Poland, Germany, Luxemburg, and elsewhere, so product development will form a key part of my business going forward,” she says.
Munaza hails the ACORNS programme for helping her to understand the fundamentals of the business so that she could more accurately measure her profit margins.
“ACORNS showed me how to look at the detail around my pricing and my materials. I knew prices had gone up, but it wasn’t until I started doing my numbers, and how much of everything I was using with each client, that I realised that I had been pricing correctly,” she adds.
Looking to the future, Munaza hopes to roll out her first online course in eyebrow threading in a bid to demystify the hair-removal technique for those who are unfamiliar with the process or have had bad previous experiences.
“It’s the most natural form of hair removal – just a spool of thread. You couldn’t find anything better,” she adds.
Maureen Hoey, mojo&co
Maureen Hoey, who is from Dundalk in Co Louth, started her business mojo&co from her home in October 2021 after taking redundancy from her role as a Global Sales Support Manager with a call centre in 2020.
Maureen approached redundancy with a positive frame of mind, but when her father passed away at around the same time, she turned to journaling to support her wellbeing.
Sometimes finding a blank page daunting, Maureen was inspired to create a guided approach to journaling and mojo&co journals were born.
The journals use prompts to help users navigate their days, stay organised, and plan self-care activities. Maureen’s goal with mojo&co was to develop a straightforward journaling style that promotes personal development and goal achievement but also prioritises self-care and wellbeing.
Maureen got the business up and running with the help of mentoring and a trading online voucher from Louth LEO.
She started with online sales and has since expanded into retail, with mojo&co products now available nationwide in stores like Meadows & Byrne, Dubray Books, Foxford, Arboretum, and numerous independent shops.
Maureen also supports corporate wellbeing programmes for major companies such as PayPal, Meta, Zoetis, and Kepak and offers customised workshops focused on journaling and wellbeing, as well as co-branding options for mojo&co products.
She found that the ACORNS programme helped her to think more strategically, focus on specific business areas and prioritise key tasks. She says ACORNS also provided an invaluable network of likeminded women in business, offering a supportive community where she can seek advice and support whenever needed.
Maureen’s plans for the business include exporting her product range globally, targeting both retail markets and corporate wellbeing programmes. She is also expanding her range of wellbeing products and tools, envisioning mojo&co as a globally recognised brand for high-quality wellbeing support tools. She is working with the World Trade Centre Dublin to help achieve this milestone.
Aoife Keogh, The Grazing Goat
Aoife Keogh set up her business, The Grazing Goat, 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.
Gemma Kingston, The Family Edit
It was while she was on maternity leave that Gemma Kingston realised that there might be a commercial answer to repeated complaints of fellow mothers about the lack of available information on baby classes and other family-related activities.
Launched in September 2022, The Family Edit is a comprehensive online directory of businesses providing services in hospitality, children’s classes, camps and other activities, and more. The directory covers all 32 counties of Ireland and businesses are approached to register with The Family Edit only after being recommended by the site’s users.
Gemma explains that the lack of a centralised information hub for families had been a source of much frustration for both her and her peers. “The idea has been brewing ever since I asked a colleague where I could find out about classes I could do with my baby and they said I should check the notice board in Supervalu. I knew then that there had to be a better way,” says the Clonakilty-based entrepreneur.
Gemma has harnessed her experience as a primary school teacher, her undergraduate degree in Commerce from UCC, and her former life as a professional working in project management for ACC Bank, to grow the business over the past two years. Indeed, the hard work culminated last year with The Family Edit’s victory in the Best Baby and Family Website in Ireland category at the Mums and Tots Awards.
Gemma credits ACORNS with giving her affirmation and belief in herself as a businesswoman. “It felt validating to have ACORNS recognise the potential of my business. Building a business is a lonely experience but the peer-to-peer support and from my lead entrepreneur throughout was incredible,” says Gemma, who is leading the development of The Family Edit’s inaugural family friendly business awards this October, with honours available to the best businesses in 11 categories.
Fiona Lynch, Almond Rose Designs/Pawsome Pet Cards
Fiona Lynch, from Clogherhead, Co Louth, set up Almond Rose Designs in a home studio in November 2022 after leaving her job as a graphic designer in a large financial services firm for 25 years.
This decision came about after the pandemic made her realise that she wanted to bring her design skills to bear on work she found more fulfilling and joyful.
Fiona loves the way animals communicate with us on a daily basis, so she created a large range of pet cards to celebrate all of life’s big and little occasions. She is assisted in the business by her Inspiration Manager Lexie, a four-year-old collie, and one-year-old collie Leia, her Junior Creative Assistant.
All the cards are designed in-house and printed in Ireland using eco-friendly inks on FSC-certified paper. The business is targeted at pet businesses and pet lovers and also does corporate branding.
To get the company up and running, Fiona did a start your own business course with Louth LEO and participated in a six-month programme called Creative Conversations, a gathering of creative businesses from Louth, Monaghan and Cavan.
Almond Rose Designs was selected by Louth LEO to take part in the emerging Irish business section at Showcase Ireland 2024 which led to Fiona getting her cards into a number of retailers and animal-related tourist attractions. She also sells the cards directly through her website.
Fiona describes the ACORNS programme as a very positive experience because of the opportunity to learn from Lead Entrepreneur Anne Reilly about how she built her business, and because of the support that participants on the programme gave each other.
Her plans for the company include creating more retail opportunities and increasing the personalised cards share of the market with a view to becoming the best-known pet card business in Ireland.
Sue Nelson Designs
A realisation that she needed to create a more artistic life for herself led Sue Nelson, who had worked as an engineer in supply chain management for over 20 years, to leave her job and become an artist.
The native of Glanmire in Cork, who now lives in Ballygarvan, set up her business, Sue Nelson Designs in November 2022.
Sue, who had always loved art and all things creative, had her first exhibition – a significant success – in 2019, and it ultimately led her to leaving her corporate role behind.
There are two sides to Sue’s business – fine art paintings of landscapes and abstract art inspired by nature; and photographs she takes of well-loved locations in Cork which she then digitally illustrates to transform them into works of art in their own right.
Sue created an exclusive collection of her photographs for Adare Manor earlier this year, comprising of digitally illustrated photographs of their resort, and she hopes to grow that collection as the hotel builds momentum towards hosting the Ryder Cup in 2027.
The photography can be adapted and personalised, and Sue plans to grow that side of the business within the corporate gifting market.
She also sees opportunities in creating art to enhance workspaces – and thereby encourage people to return to the workplace – and has partnered with a company that builds and outfits offices called Interiors at Work.
Her clients include PWC Cork, University College Cork, Dell Technologies, Hopkins Communications, Network Cork, Avenues Consulting, Sinead Cassidy Designs, McCarthy & Co Solicitors and Mortgage Navigators.
She says that one of the biggest drawbacks of starting your own business is that you are on your own and having the support and encouragement of everyone on the ACORNS programme was a great benefit.
Her plans for the year ahead are to grow both sides of the business and to help companies create better cultures by making work environments that people want to be in.
Brosna O’Donovan, Mighty Grays Studio
Brosna O’Donovan decided to set up her own 3-D animation company Mighty Grays Studio after she had grown accustomed to living in her native Sligo during the pandemic.
The call to return to work in Dublin after the pandemic was the catalyst for her to strike out on her own – which is something she had always wanted to do.
Now based in Sligo town, where she is originally from, Brosna had been working in TV operations and production in Dublin for RTÉ and then Vodafone before setting up her company, Mighty Grays Studio, in October 2023.
“Mighty Grays Studio is a 3D animation company specialising in creating short explainer videos for businesses and government agencies.
“I knew there was a gap in the market for good quality 3D animation – having attempted to source specialists in the area in her previous roles.”
While still in Dublin, she undertook a course in Drawing and Visual Investigation at NCAD to refresh her skills. Then, in Sligo, she did a Start Your Own Business course with LEO Sligo and launched the company.
She got her first two clients – Ardán and CÚRAM – through a successful tendering process.
When she joined the ACORNS programme, Brosna was apprehensive because she had yet to set up her business whereas other participants were further along.
“I had yet to set up the Studio when I began ACORNS. This turned out to be a good pressure, because it made me feel I had to earn my place, and I learned a lot from the group.
As the business develops, Brosna wants to continue creating explainer videos for business clients and to do idents work for tv stations. Idents are the short series of animations tv stations use to promote their channels.
Over the next couple of years, she expects to hire staff on a project basis and rent a space in a premises.
Diletta Panero, DP Language Services
Diletta Panero, who is originally from Cherasco, near Turin in Italy, set up her company DP Language Services in Kinlough, Co Leitrim in 2023, having previously lived in Galway and spent significant time in Spain and Latin America.
With a diverse background spanning from academia to corporate and legal sectors, her career has consistently centred around language and culture. After 15 years of experience in the language industry and a year dedicated to market research and entrepreneurial programmes, she identified an opportunity to improve existing practices, which led her to start trading in January 2024.
DP Language Services aims to create cultural competency by offering in-depth language expertise in Italian, Spanish, and English, with a specialised focus on the cultural landscapes of Ireland, Italy, Spain and Latin America.
The company offers a comprehensive range of services, including training, communication, research, interpreting, translation, and consultancy, each designed to explore language and culture from multiple perspectives.
One of its offerings is the International Relocation Training, which is of particular interest to banks and large companies because they have found that a significant percentage of employees offered opportunities overseas either return prematurely or prefer not to go.
Diletta also offers a course called Practical Irish Living and Cultural Integration, designed to assist government agencies, companies, and individuals relocating to Ireland in accelerating integration processes.
DP Language Services has a team of contractors who Diletta has collaborated with for over 15 years and who she calls in on projects according to client needs.
Diletta says that ACORNS helped her to refine, promote and, where necessary, modify her services and was incredible in terms of support from other participants and their Lead Entrepreneur.
Her plan for the upcoming year is to further establish her presence in Ireland before expanding her services internationally.
Úna Ryan, REMind Ed
Úna Ryan is the owner of REMind Ed, a wellbeing company specialising in mindfulness products, events and training for parents, children and school communities.
After experiencing the fallout of the pandemic as a primary teacher and a mother, Úna felt there was a need for a simple tool that could promote wellbeing in children and adults.
“REMind Ed has rolled out a range of products and services since its formation in 2021, including Mind Moments, a series of wellbeing prompt cards that offer moments of connection, regulation and mindfulness in both homes and schools alike.”
Noting the pressures on wellbeing within school communities, Úna created wellbeing workshops for schools for both staff and children.
These have become a key focus of the business in the last 12 months.
“Among other things, the workshops teach staff strategies to support their wellbeing.
“If health and wellbeing are embedded in a school, everyone benefits,” says Úna, who has a Master’s degree in Education and is a certified Creative Mindfulness Practitioner.
Mind Moments is now stocked by Discovery Playtime, an online shop specialising in holistic and play-based products that are designed to build connection and regulate mood and behaviour.
Indeed, such is the social benefit of her work, Una has also received a research and innovation voucher from Enterprise Ireland to work with Munster Technological University to explore the further development of her brand and products.
Crediting the structure of ACORNS with helping her build belief in both herself and the business, Úna aims to spend the coming months broadening the range of stockists for Mind Movements and expanding her offering in terms of the range of workshops for schools.
She also hopes to expand her weekly classes to include new areas and offer her latest service, Play Days Wellness Camp, to new locations around Ireland.
Carina Roseingrave, Burren View Farm
Carina Roseingrave started her free range eggs business Burren View Farm on the family farm she grew up on at the foothills of the Burren in Crusheen, Co Clare.
She and her brother Gerry have been running the 350-acre farm – which also has 100 dairy cows, sucklers and pedigree herds registered with the Irish Limousin Cattle Society and Irish Charolais Cattle Society under the Burrenviewfarm prefix – since their father passed away.
Carina, who also runs an after school childcare business in nearby Tulla, came up with the idea for Burren View Farm free range eggs when the childcare service was closed during pandemic lockdown in 2020.
She started with 50 hens and a small chicken coop, and she gathered the eggs by hand every day before selling them through an honesty box at the farm gate.
As well as word of mouth, Carina generated sales through TikTok and Instagram – with her videos on the platforms often getting over a million views.
When she joined the ACORNS programme in November 2023, Carina found that it gave her the confidence to expand her operation.
“I built a fully functioning hen shed, registered it with the Department of Agriculture and increased the flock to 1,200 hens, which roam the lush green pastures of Burren View Farm producing a wholesome nutritional free range egg.
“We now supplies free range eggs to local shops, cafés and restaurants as well as to regular loyal customers and passing trade through the honesty box.”
Carina found that the ACORNS programme boosted her confidence and really focused her mind on the business.
“It was brilliant to be surrounded by likeminded people going in the one direction and supporting each other.
“My plans include building a larger hen shed, breeding and showing top quality pedigree bulls and growing the dairy herd while ensuring that sustainability is at the heart of their farming process.”
Ciara Stanley, 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.
Anna Sutcliffe, House of Achill
Anna Sutcliffe’s business grew out of her desire to create something that would allow her to live and work on Achill Island – a place she has strong family connections and which she considers to be magical.
The native of Crumlin in Dublin had been visiting Achill throughout her life, but the pandemic allowed her to spend more time there and to consider making the move permanent.
“I decided to create a range of candles inspired by Achill with the scent of each candle evoking a sense of the island – thereby bringing the scent of ‘home’ home – wherever you might be in the world.”
With a background in fashion buying and business procurement, Anna set about sourcing a good manufacturer who would be happy to take on an initially small project.
She invested her savings in the business and launched House of Achill in June 2023 with a range of four candles that she has since expanded to eight.
With the support of LEO in Mayo, Anna was invited to Local Enterprise Showcase 2024. Off the back of her attendance at Showcase, she is exploring expanding into Italy and is working with the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland on an island guild of craftspeople from all the islands off the coast of Ireland.
Her products are currently stocked by major retailers in Ireland including Foxford Woolen Mills, Brown Thomas, the National Gallery of Ireland, Kylemore Abbey, the Beehive in Achill, and Achill Island Kitchen.
“The most beneficial aspect of the ACORNS programme was being in a group of female entrepreneurs who were on similar journeys and were able to help and advise each other on different business issues as they arose.”
Anna’s plans for the business include opening a shop on Achill and exporting to the US and mainland Europe.
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.”
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