LEO Dublin City Women in Business Network

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LEO Dublin City Women in Business Network

LEO Dublin City Network for women starting and running businesses. The annual membership fee is €50 but some of our events are open to non-members.

While women are setting up businesses in greater numbers than before, women still lag behind men in the percentage involved in early stage and growth businesses. This network is an initiative of Local Enterprise Office Dublin City to encourage and support women who are starting business or are already up and running and to provide easy access to a supportive network, expert speakers, etc., to maxi

mise their success and growth potential. Visit https://www.localenterprise.ie/DublinCity/Start-or-Grow-your-Business/Networking/Women-in-Business/ or email [email protected] for more information.

11/06/2026

We had a packed room for last night's networking event in the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin featuring a talk by Stephanie Brady of StephBe on The Science of Success. Stephanie explained the power of understanding your mindset, how behaviour follows mindset and how you can build a loop that attracts your brain to what you want to move to. Thanks to all the members for the great questions and the lively networking afterwards!
Thanks especially to the five members who took display tables to tell us more about what they do:

Karo Skorwider, DIVINE EVOKE by Karo .skorwider
Anna Kuznetsova, Women Travel WomenTravel.Ireland
Margaret Farrell, Artist Margaret Farrell
Siobhán McCarthy, Póchette /61566920904536/
Samantha Mata, XpressO Espan̈ol

LEODublinCity

13/05/2026

A huge thanks to our Guest Speaker Katie Farrell, Co-Founder of SQUID Loyalty, for telling us about how he came to set up SQUID and the story so far. Katie talked about how important it is to meet with other founders where you can help each other and to pin down messaging that will address possible questions potential customers will have. She also talked about how you need to take steps to maintain the culture you want as the team grows and you also need to be aware of the need to balance your commitment to business success with your own health and wellbeing.

Thanks to the 40 Members and Guests for attending, asking such insightful questions and staying for some very enjoyable networking over a soup/sandwich lunch! Hilton Garden Inn Dublin City Centre LEODublinCity

16/04/2026

We had a great turnout for our April event in the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin last night when both Elaine Walsh and Gabriela de Paula brought social media back to the essence of what it takes to get results as a business owner.

Elaine focused on LinkedIn and emphasised the importance of being clear about what you are offering, who your customer is and what value you can bring and communicating this and sharing experiences online.
Gabriella focused on Instagram and TikTok and talked about the importance of the 'hook', understanding your audience's behaviour and building a repeatable series of episodes that will attract the attention of your audience.

Thank you Elaine and Gabriela for sharing your expertise and practical tips!
There was lively networking after the talks, with one group still chatting at the table
Thanks to all the members who added to the night with their display tables: Tugba Fuatoglu of Cholpan, Penny Pu of W.S. Ltd, Margaret Farrell and Samatha Mata. LEODublinCity

12/03/2026

We celebrated International Women's Day this year with a night of inspiration and networking in the Wood Quay Venue on 10th March. The night started with Prosecco and cake and the energy in the room rose as we kicked off with five attendees volunteering to share their news. We all settled down to listen to Joanne Hession, Founder of LIFT Ireland, talk about how she came to set the organisations up to build leadership capability in all walks of life and from teenagers upwards and you could hear a pin drop during her talk. Joanne embodies the Giving theme of IWD 2026 and is clearly driven by motivation to make a real difference one person at a time. Joanne was in discussion with Lorraine Bowen, CEO of Entrepreneurs Academy who stepped in after Eileen McHugh of Hair Together couldn't take part to tell the Hair Together story in discussion with Joanne unfortunately. Really sorry to miss you Eileen and thanks Lorraine for stepping in!
We moved on to networking, starting with speed networking facilitated by Jane Manzor of Manzor Marketing, followed by informal networking over wine. Thanks to Grainne Denning of LEODublinCity for closing the event with an address and thanks to Paul Berry in the LEODublinCity , Sarah Walker of Enterprise Ireland and Aoife Blowick of TrailblazHer at TU Dublin for providing information about supports at the event. Thanks to Raquel Hickey in the LEO for making everything run like clockwork as always and thanks to Ash Lynch for the super photos. And thanks to all the attendees for making it such a great night for networking and having fun!

03/02/2026

We were delighted to be part of the Dublin City Council Brigit: Dublin City Celebrating Women festival with our Dublin Celebrating Women in Business event in the Wood Quay Venue last Friday morning and thanks to the Lord Mayor Councillor Ray McAdam and Warren Crane from the LEODublinCity for addressing the event and putting it in the context of the overall festival and the importance of women in business to the Dublin economy and society.
Our two speakers explored the ways in which we as businesswomen can own our power, the theme of the festival:
Lindsay Brady, Founder of The Big Life Project talked about Daring to Dream and led the group through an interactive exercise to explore new perspectives, finishing with encouragement to start by talking one action to make your dreams a reality.
Laura Maloney, Coaching & Wellbeing Manager of Reilly People & Wellness talked about how important wellbeing is to you accessing the power in you. If you look at wellbeing as a performance enabler, you can be more mindful about how you are using and gaining your energy and she finished by stressing the importance of consistency over intensity when you are making changes. As with Lindsay, Laura asked us to commit to one small change that could better support our wellbeing and therefore energy.
The speakers shared more insights in the Q&A that followed and attendees also asked some fundamental questions about the challenges of accessing that inner power as an entrepreneur/self employed person without few supports in many cases which generated a supportive and compassionate conversation.
The event ended with networking over a light lunch. Thanks to Lindsay, Laura, the Lord Mayor Councillor Ray McAdam and Warren Crane from the LEODublinCity and all the attendees for making the morning so special. Thanks to Ash Lynch for the great photography!

15/01/2026

We started our 2025 in-person networking events with a Masterclass from Broadcaster, Lecturer and Communications Specialist Aisling O'Rourke Thecommunicationscoach.ie on How to Attract Media Attention in an AI Age. Aisling shared valuable points not only about the fundamentals of attracting media attention but also how to use the AI tools that are available but Aisling cautioned "Good prompts support judgement but they should not replace it".
Thank you Aisling for sharing your expertise and experience with us and for facilitating the group discussions on how members are using AI. Great to see so many members join us on a cold January night! LEODublinCity

05/12/2025

We finished our in-person event schedule for 2025 with a special awards and networking night on Wednesday evening in the Mansion House. The winners of our annual awards were announced and a big congratulations to Paola Shanahan from HTP Travel, known particularly for Irish Weddings in Italy won the Entrepreneur of the Year. Congratulations also to Katharine Deas of Oriana B. Interiors Inspiration Group. Interiors Inspiration Group who won the Rising Star award and Siobhán McCarthy of Póchette who won the first Solopreneur of the Year Award. The Lord Mayor of Dublin Councillor Ray McAdam welcomed us to the historic Oak Room in the Mansion House and talked about the importance of women in business to Dublin City and particularly in how they inspire young women and girls. Gráinne Denning acting head of LEODublinCity encouraged members to avail of all LEO support such as mentoring particularly mentoring. The Awards were followed by a talk by Network Ireland Networker of the year 2025 Denise O'Brien on practical networking tips for business owners and her talk set the scene for a very lively networking reception over wine and finger food. Thanks to Ash Lynch for the fantastic photos and all the members for making the night so special. It was phenomenal to see over 80 members present even with the taxi disruptions going on in town that night!

12/11/2025

It was a great treat to have Aoife O’Brien, founder of Happier at Work and host of the Happier at Work® Podcast, back to speak to the network at our November event last night on the topic of From Imposter to Empowered. Aoife is a renowned speaker and author on the topic and she explained the different forms of imposter syndrome and typical coping behaviours such as staying small and perfectionism. She finished up with the ABC of dealing with Imposter Syndrome including acknowledge the thought (you don't have to agree!), believe and take courageous action, reminding us that confidence comes from action, and then she added a D of doing it anyway think about regret if you don’t try. It wasn't surprising to see that the most common words on the Slido word cloud summarising attendee's responses as Inspired, Reassuring and insightful. Speaking of insightful, the fascinating questions afterwards opened up discussions on diverse aspects such as avoiding socialisation and the impact of schooling.

During the networking part of the night, we were delighted to be able to get some unique gift ideas from eight members who took display tables! Thank you Emma Bees on the Roof, Siobhan https://pochette.ie/, Luiza Tuman of Photobooks by Luiza, Tugba of https://www.cholpan.com, Sofia of https://www.crocaiistudio.com/, Yana of https://www.yanakoretska.art, Mary of Overleaf Eco BOOKS and Orla of Easy Treesie.

It was great to see Sarah Blake of Earthology with the group of members and others who completed training in Carbon Literacy to celebrate Carbon Literacy Action Day!
LEODublinCity

08/10/2025

Our October event in the Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin last night provided inspiration from a few different sources.
***Our 2024 Award Winners Richella Boggan, Co-Founder of Sandown Business School (Female Entrepreneur of the Year) and Sinead Crowe, Owner, Adonis Flower Designers shared their fascinating business stories so far, what drives them to success and the benefits of entering awards, even if it is just an opportunity to set down your achievements to date and how far you have come.
***Yanessa Koretska, Artist and Art Educator talked about the importance of creativity for wellness and she brought us through an exercise to show how we can 'tap into our inner child' that will unleash that creativity we had as children. LEODublinCity

10/09/2025

A huge thanks to Yinka Martin, founder of , an e-commerce business servicing 56 countries, for telling us her story and how she stays motivated at last night's networking event in the Wood Quay Venue.
Yinka’s talk and answers to questions showed great ambition, determination and compassion throughout the talk and questions and the feedback from attendees was super positive.
Yinka's recommendations to other women in business were

* Celebrate the wins along the way by rewarding yourself. Acknowledge that you are showing up and honour the progress.
* Be rooted in purpose and open to evolving.
* Remember that building something meaningful isn't supposed to be easy! But it's yours.

You can follow Yinka's Instagram feed at .insta for updates on her story and tips on how to succeed.
Thanks to our wonderful Networking Ambassadors for making sure that the networking was lively and that it was easy for everyone to get involved!
LEODublinCity

Address

Local Enterprise Office Dublin City, Civic Offices, Block 4, Floor 1
Dublin
8

Website

https://www.localenterprise.ie/DublinCity/Start-or-Grow-your-Business/Networking/Enterprise-Network-for-Women/

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