NWED Open for Sligo’s Female Entrepreneurs
5th October 2022

Female entrepreneurs and budding businesswomen from across Sligo are being encouraged to look to the future and register for this year’s National Women’s Enterprise Day, an initiative of the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) initiative, and now in its 17th year.
Traditionally National Women’s Enterprise Day has taken place locally with the Sligo Women in Business Network (SWIBN) putting on a special event for established local businesswomen and those who may have a business idea they want to get off the ground.
The free event, titled “Our Future, Our Way”, takes place in the Swan Suite of the Glasshouse Hotel at 7pm on Thursday 13th October in the glasshouse Hotel, and will feature female entrepreneurs including SWIBN’s Leading Light for 2022, Helena Boland of Neptune Financial (pictured).
The Keynote speaker is Jenni Timony of FitPink, an activewear brand for women that has experienced rapid growth since its launch in July 2019. Jenni was a national finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in 2007.
The evening’s programme will focus on creating a future for a business, covering topics like how to get started, internationalization, finding new markets, trading effectively online, sustainability and innovation.
New figures released by the Local Enterprise Offices, who are funded by the Government of Ireland and supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Local Authorities, have shown that the number of women engaging in entrepreneurship and business supports continues to rise. In 2021 over 40,000 women engaged in training and upskilling with their Local Enterprise Office, that’s almost double that of their male counterparts (20,200)! In Sligo alone, over 550 women engaged in nearly 50 different training and upskilling programmes in 2021.
Liam Kiely of Sligo LEO said; “National Women’s Enterprise Day has always been a day of celebration of the very best in female entrepreneurship and highlighting the strength of that community. This year is no different, but we are very much looking forward. How can we help female entrepreneurs in Sligo sustain and develop their businesses and ideas going into the future?
The last 2 years have created huge challenges for businesses all across the region but also great opportunities.
NWED is going to look at areas where you can build your business for the future and what supports are there to help you do that. Everyone who registers and attends on the day spend it with a fantastic community of female entrepreneurs and experts from around the country.”
Those looking to attend National Women’s Enterprise Day event in Sligo can find more information and register for free on www.localenterprise.ie/sligo and join the conversation online using the hashtag #NWED22.