50 female entrepreneurs in rural Ireland to be selected for free development initiative

Deadline to apply for the free ACORNS development initiative is September 21

Aisling Kelly, WB’s Coffee Shop; Anne Marie Feighery, Feighery's Farm Beetroot Juice: Mary B Walsh, Ire Wel Pallets; Triona MacGiolla Rí, Aró Digital Strategy, Furbogh, and Maeve Sheridan, Western Herd Brewing, reminding female entrepreneurs that next Monday is the deadline to apply for the ACORNS initiative. Picture: Michael Dillon

50 female entrepreneurs with new businesses based in rural Ireland will be selected for a free, government-backed development initiative.

Any woman with a new business or ‘well-developed’ idea for a new venture they want to get off the ground can apply for the latest cycle of development initiative ACORNS.

To be considered, applicants must have set up a new business which has generated sales no earlier than the 1st January 2018 or be actively planning a new venture and has made good progress towards getting the new venture off the ground. They should own or part-own the business and it should be located in an area outside the administrative city boundaries of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, They must expect to become an employer within three years.

The final deadline to apply for the latest cycle of development initiative ACORNS is next Monday, September 21.

The initiative will be run on a part-time basis over six months from October 2020 to April 2021.

ACORNS is based on peer support and collaborative learning with each participant given the opportunity to learn from the ‘Lead Entrepreneurs’ who act in a voluntary capacity.

The lead entrepreneurs are all running successful businesses in rural Ireland and will share their insights and experiences with the participants to address the issues and challenges they face when starting and growing a business. This year’s lead entrepreneurs include Anne Reilly of Paycheck Plus, Co Louth; Caroline McEnery of The HR Suite, Co. Kerry; Mary B. Walsh of Ire Wel Pallets, Wexford; Eimer Hannon of Hannon Travel, Co. Meath; Larissa Feeney of Accountant Online, Co Donegal; and Triona MacGiolla Rí of Aró Digital Strategies, Co Galway.

This is the 6th year of the Government-backed ACORNS programme, which is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, under its Rural Innovation and Development Fund.