300 women in business celebrate 20 years of National Women’s Enterprise Day

OVER three hundred women in business from South Dublin – and the wider Dublin area – gathered in Stillorgan this week to celebrate National Women’s Enterprise Day, Thursday, October 15th.

Organised by the four Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) in Dublin, including Local Enterprise Office South Dublin the sell-out event at the Talbot Hotel Stillorgan marked 20 years of National Women’s Enterprise Day (NWED) and was one of sixteen events taking place across the country this week.

Figures released by the four Local Enterprise Offices in Dublin to coincide with NWED, show that 13,500 training places and 3,700 mentoring assignments have been taken up by women in business over last two years, across Dublin. The four LEOs in Dublin also support more than 2,250 female entrepreneurs annually through Women in Business Networks.

As part of the Female Founders’ panel at this year’s event, LEO South Dublin client, Sofie Rooney of Chimac shared her business journey on stage alongside, Mags Morgan of MizzRio, Áine Devlin of ExamRevision and Dervla Arthurs of Snugabugz.

They were joined by multi-award-winning entrepreneur Jennifer Rock of the Skin Nerd and Danica Murphy of Prism with Broadcaster Anna Daly acting as the M.C. for the morning.

Speaking about the figures released to coincide with NWED, Peter Connolly, Head of Enterprise: “Our research shows that thousands of women and female founders across Dublin are already accessing supports through their Local Enterprise Office. We want to see even more women coming through our doors, whether they are thinking about starting a business or looking to grow an existing one.

Come and talk to us about your plans, and we can help identify the supports that are right for you and your business.”

One of the busiest areas on the day was the Exhibition Zone, where representatives from major state support agencies and organisations were giving out information to those starting up or running a business.

They included: Local Enterprise Offices (South Dublin, DLR, Dublin City and Fingal), Enterprise Ireland, Enterprise Hub, Microfinance Ireland, Credit Review Office, Department of Social Protection (Employer Relations), Revenue, InterTradeIreland, IADT, NovaUCD, TU Dublin, Southside Partnership and Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board (Services for Business team)

Chimac was one of the local companies featured on stage at the event. Founded by Sofie Rooney, Chimac is both a restaurant and an Irish-owned, Dublin-made range of bold Korean-inspired sauces.

Originally created in the kitchen of their Dublin restaurant, the sauces were tested on thousands of customers before being brought to market. Today, the range is manufactured in Tallaght and sold through more than 900 retailers across retail, foodservice and export markets in over 16 countries.

Speaking about National Women’s Enterprise Day, Sofie said: Visibility matters too. Seeing women building ambitious businesses, raising finance, manufacturing products, exporting and taking on leadership roles makes those paths feel more achievable for the next person considering them.

Next year’s National Women’s Enterprise Day event for the Dublin Region will take place in October 2027 in South Dublin.