Think PINC for profit
WHEN college student Tracey Ryan invented a luxury moisturiser she never dreamed it could become a business. But the lotion, developed as part of her coursework for a degree in Herbal Science was an instant success.
Encouraged, Tracey developed a whole new range of skin-care creams, which she dubs ‘Bia’ — a ‘gourmet skin nutrition’ containing fruit, herbs, spices and nut-oil.
Now she wants to become an entrepreneur.
First, however, she needs to learn the nuts and bolts of business.
Enter PINC, the women-only Programme for Innovative and Networking Cailíní, established by Cork Institute of Technology earlier this year and already a roaring success.
Offering women such as Tracey the basics in business know-how over a 10-week run, PINC came into being because females stopped signing up to Genesis, the college’s existing entrepreneurship programme.
Explains Carole O’Leary, Industry Liaison Manager with CIT:
“Our flagship programme for entrepreneur development is the Genesis programme which is a fulltime 12-month programme.
“Over the years we always had female participants, usually about two or three out of the 18 places, but the numbers dropped to the point where last year the Genesis Programme had no women for the first time ever.”
It’s not absolutely certain why the women stopped coming, but O’Leary puts it down to a complex mix of factors; from lack of self-confidence and insufficient role models, to the ball-and-chain of domestic responsibility and a reluctance to take risks. The male-dominated atmosphere on the Genesis programme may also have acted as a disincentive to some potential participants, she believes.
On top of that, many of the male Genesis participants seemed to have supportive wives or partners who were prepared to keep working while the man took a full year out to return to college — but the women applicants who came in did not appear to have that kind of long-term backing.
O’Leary had a brainwave — why not establish a female-only part-time programme which was shorter than Genesis, running two mornings a week and focusing on women who want to either start or grow a business?
“A lot of women had started something in the kitchen or the garage, but were constrained by time and a lack of direction and focus.” she says.
“Women seem to have less confidence in themselves — they would see entrepreneurs and business as very male-dominated and a male area.
“What PINC is doing is giving them an opportunity to put a toe in the water to test out a business idea in a supportive all-female environment — and to build up their confidence and help them network with other women.”
The programme, which has had three 10-week sessions since it was first launched in January of this year, is a tremendous success:
“On each occasion to date the course has been over-subscribed and we have had to increase what was originally 10 places to 12. There is a big demand for the places and so far we have had technical writers, businesses in the area of baby gifts, wedding cakes, dresses, photographers and online hosiery business and a sushi business.
Feedback on the course has been phenomenal:
“The best type of feedback we could get has been reflected in the fact that six of our PINC graduates have already moved on to the Genesis programme. This is the highest number of female participants we’ve ever had on Genesis — we went from a record low to a record high in just one year!
“We’re discovering that PINC is proving to be a launch pad for women who want to go out and set up on their own — and also those who wish to progress on to Genesis.”
There is a growing awareness of the need to nurture female entrepreneurs — in early September the Minister for Small Business, John Perry, launched the National Mentoring Programme for Female Entrepreneurs.
The initiative is being led by Galway Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the four Chambers of Commerce in Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Sligo. The Mentoring Programme is geared towards early stage female entrepreneurs and sees them matched with a mentor for a 12-month period of mentoring support. Carole O’Leary was clearly ahead of the posse. Over the 10 weeks, PINC participants study everything from market research to financial planning, legal issues such as employment law and the legal requirements of setting up a business to the complexities of Human Resources management.
For freelance photographer and author of two books, Joleen Cronin, the PINC programme, which she finished in June of this year, was a revelation:
“I first found out about it on Twitter — it sounded interesting so I went in and had a chat. At the time I was a bit lost as to how to move my own business on.”
A lifestyle photographer who covers everything from weddings to fashion and travel and has published two books of photography, Cronin spent several years working abroad before returning to Ireland to set up a business:
” Setting up in business is quite a difficult thing to do and there’s an awful lot to learn — you might be very good at your particular trade but turning it into a successful business is a completely different skill.”
She felt PINC would give her focus and direction, she says, and it did:
“I felt I was a bit scattered as regards the business end of things and I wanted to know how to move forward my business to the next level.
“We had a lot of different professions in to talk to us and got to meet people who had all sorts of successful businesses. We went into the areas of marketing, research, business-planning, accounts and other issues – it was very condensed programme and we covered a lot of valuable information. I made some great contacts and there was a very strong support network.”
Did it make a difference to how she ran her business?
“I learned how to organise my business better and be more focused – I’m busier as a result of learning how to market myself better and I find I am more confident as a result of doing the course. Photography is a very personal and emotional thing and you can forget about the hard- headed business side of things if you are not careful.”
Someone with the germ of an idea, but as yet no solid business plan is Annaliese Dressel, a self-employed nutritional therapist who sees “a huge number of opportunities” in the health sector – particularly in health supplements.
Says Dressel, another member of the September batch of PINC recruits:
“Irish people are very open to alternative ways of managing their health such as food supplements. I’ve a number of different businesses ideas but no formal business training, so I want to get some of that behind me to help me to crystallise my ideas and come up with a viable idea for a business.”
Dressel, who has spotted an opportunity in the growing alternative health supplement sector, is considering a possible career as a consultant to the pharmacy sector in helping to grow the alternative health side of their business, or perhaps becoming a distributor of alternative health supplements. She also has plans for a possible online business in health supplementation.
“I have a number of ideas so my aim is to crystallise the most viable of these ideas and turn it into a business.”
PINC is an intensive programme for female entrepreneurs who want to take their business ideas to the next stage. The programme, which is run two mornings a week over a period of 10 weeks, offers participants office space in a first-class business environment, providing the opportunity to grow an idea whilst gaining knowledge on all aspects of business. Each participant is appointed an experienced business mentor for the duration of the programme.
A good solid business idea or a start-up business with good potential that needs a push
Everything from drawing up a business plan to studying market research, investigating funding for your business, networking and business introductions
The course is held in CIT’s Rubicon Business Incubation Centre, which is home to 50 knowledge-based start-up companies. The centre is jointly financed by CIT & Enterprise Ireland. Clients based at the Rubicon are at different stages of development, from concept stage to completing their first customer orders and many are already trading on the International Market.
The course is free
- For further information : contact Padraig O’Sullivan, programme manager on (021) 4928900 or visit www.rubicon.ie and see under programmes.
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