Fast tracking female entrepreneurs

Encouraging women in rural Ireland who have an innovative business concept to explore its commercial potential, is the main aim of an enterprise programme that is being rolled out in Gaeltacht speaking regions of the country in the coming weeks.

The CUMASÚ programme is the first of its kind in Ireland in that it is specifically targeted at women living in Gaeltacht communities who have fledgling business ideas they are trying to get off the ground.

A collaboration between Údarás na Gaeltachta, Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Innovation Hubs, the Munster Technological University (MTU) Rubicon Centre and the Gteic network of digital and innovation hubs, CUMASÚ is based on the EMPOWER programme that has been supporting female entrepreneurs throughout counties Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo since 2017.

Following a collaboration with Údarás na Gaeltachta in 2023, where a pilot programme was rolled out across Galway and Mayo, the CUMASÚ Tús programme is now taking shape in Donegal, Kerry, Cork, Meath and Waterford.

Pilot programme

“There are a lot of women out there who are at home with young children who are not sure of their next career move,” explains Michelle Lee, EMPOWER Programme Co-ordinator at ATU.

“The women living in the Gaeltacht regions who participated in our pilot programme were women who had an idea but didn’t know how to kickstart that into a business.”

One such woman, Elaine Dunne turned an idea she came up with while on maternity leave from her teaching job, into a start-up enterprise, Gifts le Grá.

“I was working as a secondary school teacher, teaching home economics and Irish and was on maternity leave with my daughter when Covid struck,” she says.

“People couldn’t visit us but they sent the most beautiful gifts and I remember the excitement and emotion of the postman arriving with parcels during that time. I have always had an interest in curating gifts so when I was pregnant with my son, I contacted my local Údarás office in Spiddal and they told me about the pilot progamme being run by Atlantic Technological University’s iHubs in Galway and Mayo.

“The course was invaluable to me as it gave me a focus and a helping hand in so many areas of my gift hampers business, particularly those aspects I had no knowledge or experience of.

"The market research I conducted with the help of my mentor on the programme gave me an even sharper focus and I was delighted when I was offered a six-month extension to the original programme as it helped me develop the business further.

Business concept

“Having the continued support of my mentor was invaluable as it proved a massive help in moving my business from a hobby to a viable enterprise.”

Elaine says she and the other women on the pilot programme went on to set up their own group and the support they have provided each other has been an important step along her entrepreneurial journey.

“We were meeting up once a month before the summer and have been checking in with each other constantly,” she says.

“It’s another way of holding ourselves accountable and it’s great to be able to bounce ideas off each other when we know each other so well and have shared the same journey, even though our businesses are all completely different.”

The experience of CUMASÚ has meant I have tightened up on loads of aspects of the business and I would love the opportunity to grow further with the support of the Empower team

Michelle explains the true extent of the EMPOWER programme which has been supporting women throughout rural Ireland for almost seven years.

“EMPOWER delivers two distinct programmes; EMPOWER Start (CUMASÚ Tús) which is designed for those with an idea who are seeking to validate their business concept while EMPOWER Growth (CUMASÚ Fás) is for individuals established in business and looking to grow and scale,” she says.

“The programmes are delivered by Munster Technological University which supports our participants in Cork, Kerry and Waterford and Atlantic Technological University which oversees the project in Galway, Mayo, Donegal and Meath.

Competitive process

“Our aim is to have facilitated 150 women on the programme over the next three years and we’re very grateful for the support Údarás is providing.”

Maria Staunton, who manages the ATU iHub in Castlebar says while places on the course are limited to 40, 20 in ATU and 20 in MTU, the programme seeks to support as many women as possible.

“Places are limited so it’s a very competitive process but we would encourage women to come forward with their ideas and we’ll find the support where we can,” she says.

“While participation is exclusive to women, we have both male and female mentors who we draft in through our New Frontiers connections and these are matched with the women on a regional basis.

“There is no requirement for women to speak Irish but we will have an Irish language component on the course, living in a Gaeltacht region is the only stipulation we have.

“We will certainly encourage conversational Irish as we’ll all make the effort, including our mentors.”

Michelle said that the original EMPOWER programme came about after female entrepreneurs sought support after being turned down for funding from other State agencies.

“Enterprise Ireland offer incredible support to businesses the length and breadth of the country but they are more geared towards helping established businesses grow,” she says.

“Our programme is all geared towards helping women establish themselves and turning their concept into a real business model whereas Enterprise Ireland are looking for export potential and the capacity to scale up.

“Our women may well get to the stage of export but to get that far they need our help to give them a firm footing as they set out on their entrepreneurial journey.”

Elaine has now applied for a place on the CUMASÚ Fás (Growth) programme, hoping that she will continue her journey with the Empower team.

Role models

“It’s been amazing the shift in my own mindset the past few months, I’ve come so far but I have a lot still to learn,” she explains.

“The experience of CUMASÚ has meant I have tightened up on loads of aspects of the business and I would love the opportunity to grow further with the support of the Empower team.”

Maria said the benefits of small rural enterprises in the Gaeltacht regions was huge and said every support that could be offered to women with business ideas was being made available.

“Women have a lot more external things to consider when setting up their own business, childcare being the most obvious, but we have to find ways of giving them the freedom to develop what are viable business models,” she says.

“The ladies we supported on the pilot programme are huge role models in their communities and the incorporation of the Innovation and Digital hubs in Gaeltacht areas, GTeic, makes it possible for participants to complete the online aspect of the course, as well as create their own network.”