Tipperary entrepreneurs encouraged to apply for business development programme

ACORNS is inviting female entrepreneurs from Tipperary to submit their applications for the 12th cycle of the highly successful business development programme.

The programme supports women living in rural Ireland who are in the early stages of starting their own business.

It has been supporting female entrepreneurs in rural Ireland since 2014.

Tipperary entrepreneur Elaine Crosse of Bánór recently completed the programme.

She joins Fiona O’Donohoe as previous Tipperary participants calling on businesswomen to join ACORNS.

The free initiative for early-stage female entrepreneurs is funded through the Rural Innovation and Development Fund by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The deadline for applications for ACORNS 12 is midnight, September 18.

There are up to 50 places available. Those wishing to receive an application form should register on the website, www.acorns.ie.

Elaine Crosse is the co-founder of Bánór, an innovative Irish skincare company transforming sheep milk into a premium, science-backed skincare range, www.banor.ie.

Raised in a farming family, Elaine combines her passion for agriculture with a strong commercial background, having worked with Bord Bia and Danone in dairy.

The sheep milk used in Bánór’s products comes from her family-run farm near Cashel.

In just three years, Bánór has grown to more than 70 Irish stockists, including Avoca, Kilkenny Design and Dublin Airport, secured FDA approval for the US market, won its first export customers in the UK and US, and it recently received Pre-Seed Start Fund investment from Enterprise Ireland. Bánór is also a proud member of Guaranteed Irish.

Elaine says: “Starting a business can be lonely and you can regularly question yourself. ACORNS has been an amazing way to meet like-minded women, gain honest feedback and build friendships, while putting practical frameworks in place to grow the business.”

Fiona O’Donohoe admits to being something of an accidental entrepreneur.

A long-term sufferer with rosacea – a skin condition that causes outbreaks of redness on a person’s face – she used the isolation brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic to research her skin’s ability to tolerate various treatments.

The initial experiments, she says, produced transformative results and she set up Away with Nature in Drangan in 2020.

Fiona says: “ACORNS was an incredible experience. The support from the team and the Lead Entrepreneurs was vital and I would highly recommend the programme to anyone who is involved in the early stages of a start-up.”

ACORNS is based on the belief that early-stage entrepreneurs learn best from their peers.

Participants interact with each other in the monthly round table sessions, which are facilitated by a Lead Entrepreneur with first-hand experience of starting and successfully growing a business in rural Ireland.

The programme is available to early-stage female entrepreneurs living in rural Ireland who have generated sales no earlier than the end of June 2023.

Selection is on a competitive basis as ACORNS receives many more applications than there are places available.

ACORNS 12 will run from October 2026 to April 2027 and will include six monthly round table sessions, a briefing by various development agencies and an end-of-cycle celebration.

There will be no charge for those selected to participate in ACORNS 12, thanks to the continuing support of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the voluntary contribution of time by the Lead Entrepreneurs.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, TD, launched the call for applications for ACORNS 12.

Minister Heydon said: “My Department has supported Female Rural Entrepreneurs under the Rural Innovation Development Fund for over a decade. To date over 600 women in rural Ireland have completed a cycle of the ACORNS programme.”

The Minister added: “ACORNS has consistently provided the skills, and capability needs that female entrepreneurs require when embarking on their business journey. I am acutely aware of the difficulties that entrepreneurial women can come up against when attempting to start new businesses, especially in rural areas, and the ACORNS programme is a real, tangible, mechanism to mitigate and overcome these challenges.”

Minister Heydon concluded by saying: “It brings me great pleasure to be launching, once again, this innovative and progressive programme that aims to bring about real change in our rural economy, breathes life into our country towns and villages and assists women across rural Ireland to begin and grow their budding businesses.”

Feedback from the most recent cycle underlines the value of taking part.

All 53 participants who completed ACORNS 11 said they would recommend ACORNS to others, while 98% felt closer to achieving their business ambitions following the programme and 94% said their participation had brought about practical change within their business.

Nine businesses began trading for the first time during the ACORNS 11 cycle.

The combined annual turnover of ACORNS 11 participants grew from €4.1m to almost €6m, while the number of people employed by participants rose by 59 to a total of 134 by the end of the cycle.

There were also four new exporters among participants by the end of ACORNS 11.

Each of the Lead Entrepreneurs gives their time to the programme on a voluntary basis, as they believe in the philosophy of ‘entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs’.

This year’s voluntary Lead Entrepreneurs are Alison Ritchie, Polar Ice; Geraldine Jones, Skin Formulas; Karen Kerrigan, Kerrigan’s Mushrooms; Larissa Feeney, Kinore, Donegal; Mary B Walsh, Ire Wel Pallets; Orla Leahy, Ireland Chauffeur Travel, Tipperary; and Triona MacGiolla Rí, Aró Digital Strategies.

In addition, experienced businesswomen, Clare Duignan and Geraldine Kelly, who are on the Going for Growth advisory panel, will facilitate ACORNS Plus round tables for previous participants who are committed to continuing driving forward the development of their businesses.

ACORNS Lead Entrepreneur, Geraldine Jones of Skin Formulas, based in Nenagh said: “It is an incredible honour to serve as a Lead Entrepreneur on the ACORNS programme. Being part of an entrepreneur’s story, supporting them as they grow, develop, and strive toward success, is both a privilege and a deeply fulfilling experience. Over the six-month journey, it is inspiring to witness the transformation that takes place. The commitment and ambition shown by each participant is a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit thriving in rural Ireland. I am proud to play a small role in helping them shape the future of their businesses.”