Mayo winner in Visa Ireland’s inaugural She’s Next grant programme
Visa has today announced the winners of its inaugural She's Next grant programme in Ireland. As an extension of Visa's global She's Next programme, created to boost and empower women entrepreneurship, five women business-owners from across Ireland received a grant of €5,000 and one-year business coaching through IFundWomen to support, grow and expand their businesses.
Among the winners was Mayo-based The Habit Store, co-founded by Rosie Joyce, who was awarded the She’s Next grant for the early-stage business category. With the goal of reducing single-use plastics, The Habit Store is a sustainable refill shop where customers can buy and refill food, household products and toiletries by weight. All products in the store are dispensed into containers that customers bring from home.
The store was opened in September 2021 by business duo Rosie Joyce and Alex MacNaughton, who started with a refill stall at the local market in Castlebar each weekend before moving into a permanent store in the town.
Speaking about her win, Rosie said: “The She's Next grant programme is a fantastic opportunity. Having one year’s business coaching is going to be invaluable as we focus on our goals. The grant itself will allow us to expand our product range and give us a little more financial security for the day-to-day running of the store in its early stages.”
The pandemic continues to impact small businesses, and women business-owners have been disproportionately affected. Visa’s mission is to provide support to women-owned businesses in Ireland through its Visa She’s Next programme. The grants and coaching can make all the difference to a business in its early stages or one in need of a boost.
The programme received over 200 entries from Ireland’s women entrepreneurs with representation from multiple sectors including technology, education, retail and culture. The judges were particularly impressed by the ingenuity, the passion for their business and entrepreneurial spirit of the five winning recipients.
“We were blown away by the response to Ireland’s inaugural programme and it’s clear from the calibre of entries that entrepreneurship among women in Ireland is flourishing” said Dominic White, country manager, Visa Ireland.
“But the feedback we have received from entrants is that women need more support and can benefit hugely from coaching and the opportunity to network with like-minded entrepreneurs. We warmly congratulate the five fantastic winners and look forward to seeing them take the next step in growing their businesses.”
In Ireland, there are nearly double the number of men for every woman who is an early-stage entrepreneur, which is well above the average across the OECD. More than half (58%) of men in Ireland perceive that they have the necessary skills to start a business, compared to just 38% of women.
Other west of Ireland winners in the programme include Suzanne Moloney of HidraMed Solutions, Galway (innovation category), and Carolanne Rushe of Sweet Beat, Sligo (general small business category).
Since March 2020, through its global She's Next grant programme, Visa has awarded more than €1.25 million in grants and coaching scholarships to women entrepreneurs across the globe.
“We are extremely proud of our ongoing collaboration with Visa globally, and all that we have been able to accomplish so far through the She's Next grant programme,” said Karen Cahn, founder and CEO, IFundWomen. “Visa walks the walk and is consistently offering funding and business resources to women-owned businesses around the globe, so partnering with them to launch the inaugural She's Next grant programme in Ireland made perfect sense for us.”