‘Satellady’ set for Cork conference

EUROPE’S “most dangerous woman” is expected in Cork next month to advise businesses on how to do better.

Candace Johnson said that there has to be investment in Europe’s start-ups.

She said that if the area’s economy is to prosper “everyone is going to have to do his or her part to keep young entrepreneurs from moving elsewhere”.

Ms Johnson was named one of Europe’s most powerful women by Time and Fortune. She has earned herself labels such as “The Satellady” in an Economist article in 1996, “the most dangerous woman in Europe” by an angry media mogul and “Enemy number one” by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom.

Ms Johnson says she has earned all of these titles over the course of a 35-year career in the tech industry by “always trying to create something new” and usually breaking monopolies in the process.

She will deliver the welcome address at CorkBIC’s Going International Conference on 13 October and will share her experiences as an entrepreneur and investor.

Ms Johnson is co-initiator of SES ASTRA and SES Global, one of the largest satellite systems in the world. She is also the founder and president of Europe Online, the world’s first internet via satellite network. She is also the founder of the continent’s first independent, private trans-border satellite communications company, Teleport Europe-Loral Cyberstar.

The conference will be held at the Grain Store, Ballymaloe House, Shanagarry, Co Cork.

Other speakers include serial entrepreneur, Bill Liao and investor, Liam Kelly, founder and chief executive of Nualight.

For more information on the event, log onto www.corkbic.com.