O2 Women Mean Business Conference & Awards 2007

A Unique Event

Visit our website www.womenmeanbusiness.com/awards

On October 1st, the Shelbourne Hotel will be all a buzz as attendees gather for the inaugural 02 Women Mean Business Conference & Awards 2007. It is seldom that you have an opportunity to attend at an event where the line up guarantees to motivate and inspire to such a high degree. Here at WMB, we’re proud to present this event with our title sponsor 02 Ireland. We are also very excited to announce the speaker line up which is inspiring and positively electric.

“It’s going to be a fantastic day”, says Rosemary Delaney, Managing Director of WMB Publishing. “Not only has 02 embraced the merits of such an event but we have also received support from key industry players to include Accenture, Irish Life, County & City Enterprise Boards and Bank of Ireland which makes for a very credible and unique event.”

“Our speakers include Jacqueline Gold, CEO of Ann Summers and Knickerbox. Jacqueline increased Ann Summers’ turnover from £85,000 to over £155 million — I for one would like to know how she did it! In addition, Jack Black of MindStore is on board. Jack’s motivational courses have had a huge impact on me both personally and professionally and he’ll blow the socks off the audience. Accenture has completed some very interesting global research entitled ‘Empowering women from within’ which Senior Executive, Hilary O’Meara will be presenting. Also, we will be enjoying coffee with Kristina Grimes, the Irish businesswomen who ‘almost’ became Alan Sugar’s Apprentice — a lucky escape I’d say! Finally, it is my great pleasure to confirm that Danuta Gray, CEO of 02 Ireland will be sharing her business experiences in what can only be described as a highly dynamic and competitive communications environment”, says Rosemary.

“I am delighted to be able to take part in the first ever Women Mean Business conference as a keynote speaker. Women really are blazing new trails across Irish business, whether as entrepreneurs or as corporate leaders. In areas as diverse as science, technology, tourism, business services and manufacturing, Irish businesses are benefiting from the fresh ideas, dedication, and leadership that women can bring. The conference will hopefully allow those attending to interact with fellow businesswomen from all walks of life and to share their experiences to date. O2 is also sponsoring the first ever Women Mean Business Awards. In recognising their achievements, these awards will hopefully encourage even more women to succeed in their chosen field, and give budding entrepreneurs the impetus they need to start their own business”, says Danuta Gray, CEO, 02 Ireland.

THE MENTORING PROGRAMME FROM ACCENTURE
Linked into Accenture WMBig Idea Award is a mentoring programme, which the winner of this Award will receive. Accenture is the largest management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company in Ireland. They collaborate with clients to help them become high-performance organisations. In the same way, through the mentoring programme Accenture will use these skills to help turn a big idea into something tangible. Accenture’s Graham Healy will provide four, two-hour mentoring sessions to advance your concept.

The package includes expert advice from Accenture personnel during these workshops, which will cover such areas as:

Personal Leadership (to create understanding of personality traits, strengths, weaknesses; areas for growth and areas for exploitation).

Organisational (to consider the business, to help decide what people and behaviours are needed to turn your idea into a business);

Commercial (to consider how to market and sell and to create cash flows to sustain the viability of your company);

Operational (to understand how to implement and operationalise the business — the practical implementation).

In addition, Accenture will host a one-day session to help with your plan — to shape the business based on your idea. And it doesn’t stop there! Accenture is delighted to commit to two further meetings for the Award winner with a Senior Executive from their organisation with a view to discussing progress and strategy going forward. We’re delighted that Accenture has recognised the natural link with 02 Women Mean Business Conference & Awards 2007. This package is of considerable worth to a new business and offers an opportunity for you to realise your dream. At WMB we have decided to track your progress through a series of diary notes in our magazine over the period of the consultation.

Read more about O2 Women Mean Business Conference & Awards 2007 in the August | September 2007 issue of WMB, subscribe now.