Press Release                                                                  Thursday, October 28th 2010
*Businesswomen to Help Narrow Gender Gap in Irish Enterprise*
Men still “three times more likely” than women to set up a business in Ireland

Five female entrepreneurs have been recruited by the organisers of National Women’s
Enterprise Day on November 19th, to help boost the number of women setting up their own
businesses in Ireland.

The stories of the home-grown entrepreneurs, who all run their own established
businesses in different parts of the country, will be showcased in front of 300
delegates at a major conference in Limerick that day, to inspire confidence in other
women and help bridge the gender divide.

Although the County and City Enterprise Boards have supported nearly 13,500 female
entrepreneurs in 2009, 1000 more than in 2008, men are still almost three times more
likely than women to set up their own business in Ireland.

To help address this imbalance, Donna Daly Blyth from Donna’s Dance Studio in Cork,
Alison Boardman from Unique Voice Language Institute in Kerry, Ann Marie Durkin from
Shasta in Longford, Alison Ritchie from Polar Ice in Laois and Jennifer Ryan from
Pónaire Roastery in Limerick have been invited by the County and City Enterprise Boards
to share their experiences, challenges and advice with other women on November 19th.

“Research from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor shows that women who know an
entrepreneur are five times more likely to become an entrepreneur themselves,” said
Georgina Sweetnam of the County and City Enterprise Boards’ Organising Committee.
“Through profiling the success stories of female entrepreneurs in Ireland on National
Women’s Enterprise Day, we hope to encourage more women to seek out new business
opportunities by setting up their own business,” she added.

Co-funded by the European Social Fund with support from the Department of Community,
Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs through the Equality for Women Measure, the aim of
National Women’s Enterprise Day is to give national recognition to the role of female
entrepreneurship.

The founder of the UK High Street Chain Coffee Republic, Sahar Hashemi, is one of the
keynote speakers, along with local entrepreneur and hotelier, Mary Fitzgerald and Ivan
Yates, broadcaster and founder of Celtic Bookmakers. The Minister of State for
Equality, Integration and Human Rights, Ms Mary White, T.D. has been invited to
officially open the conference, which takes place at the Strand Hotel in Limerick.

Tickets cost €100 each and are available to buy through www.nwed.ie.  The conference
also includes an exhibition of enterprise support agencies, one-to-one mentoring
clinics and networking sessions.