Meet Ireland's new breed of female entrepreneurs who are using specialist support for their start-ups (2024)

The term mumpreneur may be patronising and dated, but if you’re a mother who is starting a business to get more flexibility into your work and family life, then it still fits the bill. What it shouldn’t do, however, is limit your ambition — and that certainly wasn’t the case for Jo Browne, whose scent business sells to customers around the world.

“I can’t talk at the moment — I’ve two school runs to do and then I’ve to feed the kids. I’ll call you back in an hour,” she says when The Sunday Times calls .

Browne got into business to achieve better balance in her work and home life, as the former civil servant hated her commute from Dublin to Carlow.

“I said to myself I’d never work a nine-to-five again,” she says. Instead, Browne usually works until her children come home from school and starts again in the evening, working until 2am.

“I work more hours now but I can choose them. It’s not the easy option but I love it and I like being my own boss,” she says.

Browne set up her eponymously titled company four years ago and employs three people. Acorns, a free programme for female-led start-ups in rural areas, which is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, helped her build it up.

Acorns brings together small groups of early stage women entrepreneurs, from across the country, around a table to share information and guidance. Each table is led by a seasoned female entrepreneur. More than 200 women have taken part in the programme since its launch four years ago.

Alison Ritchie of Polar Ice, a maker of dry ice, has been a lead entrepreneur for Acorns since the scheme was established. As a graduate of Going for Growth, a similar programme for established female entrepreneurs, she could see the benefits of a peer-led network for women who are starting out.

Simply knowing other women who are doing it can help, explains Ritchie. “In Dublin you’ll have a network on your doorstep so you can feel more connected, but if you’re from a smaller town you might not know any women in business,” she says.

Ritchie grew up in a rural town in east Cork. “I knew one woman who had her own business. She used to drive around in a big black jeep and I thought that was brilliant,” she says. The impact of role models cannot be underestimated, according to Ritchie. “Because of her, the first car I bought was a big black jeep,” she says.

Aspiring mumpreneurs should be aware of the risks involved in simply creating a job for themselves, rather than starting a business, warns Ritchie.

“You still need to be ready for family, to be able to take holidays, to be sick, and for everything to be OK. You need to plan your business around that,” she advises.

The word mumpreneur should not limit you and ought not be used at all, says Paula Fitzsimons, who founded Acorns and Going for Growth.

“It is patronising. Who has ever heard of ‘dadpreneurs’?” she says. “Entrepreneurs — men and women often start in their home to reduce overheads. Bill Gates famously started in a garage, and Mark Zuckerberg in his college dorm, but the place they started was not a ceiling on their ambition.”

Fitzsimons points to Mary Ann O’Brien, who set up Lily O’Brien’s chocolates in her kitchen, working alongside her baby Lily; and Mary McKenna of Tour America, who started out in her living room.

Mumpreneur has connotations of pin money and hobbyists, according to Fitzsimons. “I see it as a put-down to many early stage female entrepreneurs who may be starting in the home but will go on to build a significant business,” she says.

According to a Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, women are less likely than men to think they have the knowledge and skills to start a business; they are more likely to fear failure; and they are less likely to have growth expectations. Programmes across the country are helping women to aim high, however. Acorns Plus, a follow-on initiative that Browne has taken part in, Going for Growth and Continuing the Momentum are open to applications from women who run growth-oriented businesses.

The local enterprise office (LEO) network is also helping develop capacity among female entrepreneurs. Its Enterprising Women initiative provides monthly peer networking sessions and guest speakers. Membership is not expensive — €50 in Dun Laoghaire- Rathdown from July to December, for example — and there is no charge for the first visit.

Last year, 21,859 women took part in LEO training programmes, up 18% on the 2017 figures. The number signing up for LEO mentoring services — another crucial support — rose by 19% to 4,565.

This year’s LEO network National Women’s Enterprise Day takes place on October 17 and offers a range of activities. Sonia Deasy, of skincare company Pestle & Mortar, and fashion tech entrepreneur Sonya Lennon will be among those talking about their experience as entrepreneurs at the event.

“The key thing for women is being able to hear how other women have done it, what they did and the mistakes they made,” says Marcella Rudden of the LEO in Cavan. “That can include hearing how other women managed to juggle entrepreneurship and family, which might include eldercare.”

Mumpreneur does seems an apt term for Erica Hargaden, who set up Babogue Paediatric Sleep Solutions, a consultancy, after struggling with her first child’s irregular sleep patterns. Hargaden, who has a master’s from University College Dublin’s Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, studied with a renowned American sleep consultant and set up her business last year.

Hargaden has helped more than 200 families and much of her business comes via Instagram, where she has hundreds of followers. Babogue is highly efficient, and makes use of technology such as Skype, but Hargaden knows that as a mumpreneur she can’t scale up.

“I’m already at maximum capacity and I’m booked out up to six weeks in advance,” she says. “I could see within six months that if that was my income level maxed out, I was never going to be able to make a living.”

Taking part in Acorns helped Hargaden look at ways to boost her business, and next month she will launch pay-per-view online sleep courses.

“Acorns helped me establish what I want from this,” says Hargaden. “Yes, it’s to help as many people as possible, to be available for my own kids and to be able to do school pick-ups. But I want to grow a business, too.”