Women in business, surviving and thriving with sound advice

“Sometimes as women, our self-belief can falter and this is where the belief of our network colleagues can be invaluable to push us forward," says Network Ireland president

Noreen McKenzie president of Network Ireland, the women's business network, and associate director for financial services at Sherry Fitzgerald based in Galway.

In her role as associate director for financial services at Sherry Fitzgerald based in Galway, Noreen McKenzie is no stranger to family business. 

As president of Network Ireland, she also knows the importance of having people to turn to for advice and support.

Across her 21 years’ experience as an independent broker, specialising in pensions, illness and income protection, investment advice and mortgages, she has built up an extensive experience of servicing the needs of such family clients.

“Looking after the financial needs of my clients has always been my first priority, priding myself on giving appropriate advice, tailored to suit the clients individual needs,” she explains. “No jargon just plain English.” 

 Given that a relatively recent study found that two-thirds of businesses are family concerns speaks for itself, she points out: “While I work in the financial services arm of the firm, Sherry Fitzgerald itself started out with Mark Fitzgerald and Philip Sherry, and now has very many of its offices around the country run as family businesses.” The firm opened its 100th branch nationally in 2021, another secure brick in an nationwide enterprise where the vast majority of branches are run as family concerns.

“Certainly family businesses have proven themselves resilient through various downturns and recessions – often with the owners the last to be paid when times are tough. There is very much a sense of honour amongst them that the staff will be paid first, and they will feed from what is left.” 

 Yet, while the economic fallout from Covid has impacted harshly on many businesses, Noreen does admit that her area of financial services has never been busier: “We did go on a four-day week during the first lockdown, but were actually working six days as a result of people finding themselves in properties that often no longer suited their living needs.

“Coupled with this, clients were at home full-time with time on their hands, to gather their paperwork and accomplish much quicker what would previously have taken far longer.” Network Ireland, the women's business group, has named Noreen as its National President for 2022, during which time she will work with its 1,200 members in 14 regional branches throughout the year.

The Ballaghaderreen native first joined the Galway Branch of Network Ireland in 2015 and was Galway Branch President in 2017.

Her priorities for 2022 include reaching more women from diverse communities and backgrounds across the country, in addition to actively encouraging people to join the organisation who would benefit from the professional and social support built up over the years at Network Ireland. Her theme for 2022 is the Power of Belief.

“Sometimes as women, our self-belief can falter and this is where the belief of our network colleagues can be invaluable to push us forward, take the risk, face the fear and thrive,” she says.

“Our own opinion of our ability or lack of ability is often what is holding us back and this holds true in research findings on women putting themselves forward for leadership roles in family businesses. These extremely capable women often don’t view themselves as the best fit for succession and top leadership roles within the family business, so I want to harness the support available from our fellow Network members to help drive us all forward. As women with strong self-belief, we can achieve anything. We would have a substantial number of members who might have grown up within a family business, and then chose to take a solo entrepreneurial path into a business of their own — which may in time grow into another generational enterprise passed down the line.” 

 Network Ireland is unique in that it offers support, mentoring and confidence building for women, in particular those starting in business or returning to the workplace.

Members can develop and pool their individual skills through interaction and collaboration with other women in a supportive environment which offers training, mentoring and an opportunity to tap into the skills and specialist expertise of other members.

While the pandemic brought massive challenges for many businesses, Noreen points to the advantages of technology that quickly became second nature due to necessity.

“Prior to Covid I would have met all of my clients on a one-to-one basic, but over the past two years have only met people on Zoom. Technology has enabled far greater efficiency and time management for us and clients alike.

“While there was a degree of discomfort at the start, that was quickly overcome in the way that it allowed for greater flexibility and working from home. In the main, clients are far happier with this newer, more efficient and slicker process.” 

 Already practically halfway through 2022, Noreen predicts a continued upward graph for business in the Financial Services sector: “From our perspective, business has never been busier – there seems to be a huge level of interest in finance. And from an auctioneering perspective, there is a lack of supply.

“There is a huge demand out there by people who have been approved for finance - all looking for houses from a pool of limited stock. The fact that our staff here in Financial Services has grown from 18 to 28 in the last year tells its own story really.”