SheGenerate Showcase & SheGen2.0 announcement
What an incredible way to round off the 1st ever all island of Ireland very early stage women founders programme at our Showcase event on 14 June last.
It was a jam packed evening with 6 women founders representing their fellow cohort of 56 women from 23 of 32 counties, across all age groups and sectors . Michelle Connor Kinva, Katrina Gormley of NumeraSee, Lara Hanlon of PortionCollaborative, Cate O' Connor Boxable, Bernadette McTiernan BA LLB TEP of BabaDreams and Lisa Breslin of ImagineLab all presented their businesses with a mixture of those up and running and others preparing for invesment. Huge congratulations to Michelle who won the audience vote and £500 prize pot on the night.
We also asked the cohort to vote offline before the event for eachother as a little bit of fun and to acknowledge how the formal part of such a programme albeit super important is only one piece of a successful founder journey. They picked the following to be recognised on the night for their contribution to the SheGenerate programme.
Most Valuable Player - Lyn Mutch and creator of our lovely taster video below.
True Grit - Carol Doherty
Best Buddy joint winners Dee McMeeking and Sophie Nicol
Big Sister Legend - Louise O'Conor
Being an active contributor to your community/ tribe/ network of choice - call it what you may - is where the true magic happens. Supporting others through good and tough days and building genuine relationships will far outlast any workshop or template.
The reason why AwakenHub even exists was born out of this premise as we realised how significant a change could be made collectively as friends and women who have a tonne of experience and carefully curated (and much loved 💚) networks built up over decades to include Denise McQuaid; Mary Ann Pierce and a shed load of amazing women who have responded to our call to action from day 1.
A huge thanks to InterTradeIreland for supporting our SheGenerate Showcase event and to Shane Hanlon for sharing some valuable insights into the supports availabe to founders looking to scale. Be sure to check out their website and sign up to the newsletter to keep up to date on what’s happening.
Shana Chu, Founder of Tailr also spoke to guests about her founder journey, participation in and ultimately winning Seedcorns in 2021 at InterTradeIreland and some of her valuable lessons learned along the way including:
Managing your team and allowing them to shine
Taking time out where you can to regroup and mind your self
Being part of founder ecosystem and availing of the supports that are available, including the valuable prize pot as winner of Seedcorns. But to be persistent and take the knock backs as par for course. It’s rare to be successful first time around. Use rejection and learn from it to make yourself and your company a better proposition
Be fearless and know your worth. Don’t be afraid either to tell others about it.
A special note of recognition as well to Rethink Ireland, Ulster Bank Northern Ireland and Pulsar Northern Ireland for their support in making SheGenerate (cohort 1) possible.
EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST for SheGen2.0 are now live and open until 9 September so please spread the word and encourage fabulous women founders to apply. It only takes a few minutes but literally could change their founder journey (and according to Dee McMeeking from SheGenerate 1 - ‘changes peoples’ lives’).
Team AwakenHub
