The newly refurbished offices of the First Trust bank, Coleraine were packed to capacity last Thursday evening as we kicked off our Women in Business programme for 2019. The event reached out to our local female entrepreneurs who all made the most of the opportunity presented to connect with new contacts, share experiences and support each other.
The Coleraine branch of the First Trust bank were the hosts for the evening, in partnership with Women In Business NI, Causeway Enterprise Agency and Causeway Chamber of Commerce. We welcomed Eleanor Chambers McEvoy, serial entrepreneur and Northern Ireland’s newly appointed Ambassador for Entrepreneurship (on behalf of Invest NI) as our keynote speaker. A former Dragon on RTE’s Dragons Den and having successfully built and sold two companies and broken new ground as the first independent low-cost supplier in the NI electricity market with Budget Energy, she had great insights and experience to share with the audience.
Eleanor encourages us to dream big and develop a plan to deliver, shaking off the mindset of fear and the “I can’t do it” attitude we are all so good at adopting. “It’s time we realised that its none of our business what others think of us and we need to get out of our own way and break through those glass ceilings we impose on ourselves” she urged. A fear of failure she said, is a Northern Irish trait that we too readily allow to take a grip on us, holding us back from our true potential.
Eleanor’s message was loud and clear – we all need to embrace failure and learn from our mistakes so that we can be stronger, wiser smarter and more successful in our businesses. We need to realise that failure is our journey to significance.
The next Women in Business event in Coleraine is on 27th February 2019, followed by the 3rd Annual Female Entrepreneur Conference in the Galgorm Resort & Spa on Friday 8th March. More details of these events can be found HERE
View the full gallery from the event HERE