Entrepreneurship often entails ploughing a lone furrow in the early stages of a business, but an initiative for female entrepreneurs organised by Going for Growth has been attempting to remedy this. Going for Growth, established by Paula Fitzsimons, encourages female entrepreneurs to stay the course once they get into business.

Fitzsimons is founder and MD of Fitzsimons Consulting and an expert on entrepreneurship. The most recent Going for Growth initiative – it launched its first one in 2008 – is Starting Strong, a six-month programme that finished in July. The programme took a different approach than previous schemes by focusing on 21 early-stage female entrepreneurs.

Fitzsimons got a number of corporate sponsors such as KPMG and law firm Beauchamps on board to help fund Starting Strong, which paired groups of participants with lead entrepreneurs for monthly meetings, ‘homework’ tasks and ancillary, topic-specific workshops. The idea was that participants would benefit from their mentors, Perfect Card founder Nikki Evans, Siofra Flood, COO of Drop, and Susan Spence, co-founder of SoftCo.

Broad Specturm

The business women who participated cover a broad spectrum of sectors, including food, clothing and gaming. Jennie McGinn, co-founder of Opsh, set up her venture in 2013 with her sisters, Grace and Sarah. The company is an e-commerce publisher that lets consumers shop across multiple brands with a single account.

In Association with

Opsh is the third startup that the three sisters have launched. According to Jennie, she took part in the Starting Strong course to see her business from a new perspective. “We’ve been existing in this startup environment for a long time, and it’s all about firefighting and struggling to secure cashflow. Starting Strong allowed me to take time out to look at the bigger picture. It’s also important to meet a peer group that is experiencing exactly what you are going through.”

The main benefit of Starting Strong is its focused nature and the accountability for tasks. “I took a lot from the course but one piece of advice stuck with me – the need to train yourself to think financially,” says Jennie.

Another participant in the programme was Kelley Burke, a former pilot who founded StyleJump in 2014. The business is an online pre-owned designer clothes emporium, selling brands such as Hermes, Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton and Celine.

Kelley says that entrepreneurs can find it hard to keep motivated when out on their own. “It’s important to break down the barriers of psychological isolation, and for me that was done by collaborating with other female entrepreneurs.”

Collaboration

She adds that the course impressed upon her the importance of reaching out for help and collaborating with others. It also convinced her to approach business management assertively. “The course encouraged us to ask the tough questions about what happens if the business fails, what’s the plan B. That’s an important practical exercise.”

Síofra Flood, one of the three Lead Entrepreneurs, commented: “The programme is massively valuable because it focuses participants on tangible progress and results. It is personally very motivating to see how topics covered in meetings can lead directly to founder and business growth.”

Paula Fitzsimons (centre) with Starting Strong participants Jennie McGinn, Bernice Moran, Ollwyn Moran, Melissa Curry and Elaine Lavery