Recognising the achievements of businesswomen and entrepreneurs across Ireland, the annual Women Mean Business Conference & Awards celebrated its 11th year in the Shelbourne Hotel on October 2nd.
Organised by WMB, the day-long event saw an impressive line up of speakers, including: Sinéad McSweeney, VP Public Policy & Communications EMEA and MD Twitter Ireland; Consultant Psychologist Dr. Damien Lowry; and Evelyn O’Toole, Founder & CEO of Complete Laboratory Solutions (and WMB Businesswoman 2016).
The day also included a panel discussion on the theme ‘Walk the Talk’ with Ciara Donlon, Founder THEYA Healthcare; Sonia Deasy, Co-founder, Pestle & Mortar and Columnist & Broadcaster, Dr. Ciara Kelly.
The event was opened by An Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation, Frances Fitzgerald TD who said:
“As an avid supporter of female entrepreneurs and businesswomen, I am delighted that the Women Mean Business Awards is in its 11th year and going from strength to strength. With the variety of awards here today, we can see the breadth of women’s ingenuity and ability to perform at a high level in the business world.
“Women networks and platforms, such as Women Mean Business, are crucial to encouraging more women to advance their careers and establish their own businesses”. As Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation, I am now in a job where I will seek to ensure that women in business are the leaders in business. I would like to wish all the competitors, and especially the winners, every success in their future ventures.”
There were six awards given out in total. Lisa Dillon, MD of EMEA Inside Sales at Microsoft took the overall WMB Businesswoman Award for 2017.
As partners of the event, Newstalk also sponsored the WMB Social Entrepreneur Award, which was won by Keren Jackson, Founder and CEO of BlueFire. The award was presented by Newstalk Technology Correspondent, Jessica Kelly, on the day.
Aoife Lawler & Niamh Sherwin Barry, co-founders of The Irish Fairy Door Company received the Matheson WMB Female Entrepreneur Award. Louise Kenny, Founding Director, Metabolomic Diagnostics was the WMB Woman in Technology Award recipient. Natalie Walsh, Executive Director, Blackstone LaunchPad, NUI Galway received the Boots WMB Empowering Women Award 2017; and Kate & Annie Madden, Co-founders, FenuHealth.com received the Sodexo WMB Female Newcomer Award for 2017.
To learn more about WMB, visit: www.womenmeanbusiness.com
