Female entrepreneurs in Louth encouraged to apply for top business programme

ACORNS is inviting female entrepreneurs from Louth 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. 

Louth entrepreneur Éadaoin Curran Clarke of Curran Building Solutions in Riverstown, Co Louth, recently completed the programme. She joins Joan McCann and Nicola Flanagan as previous Louth participants calling on businesswomen to join the programme. 

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 (DAFM). 

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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).

Éadaoin Curran Clarke formally established Curran Building Solutions in 2022 after bringing together her own business, EMC Limited, with her father’s long-established company, Declan Curran Steel Lintels Limited.

Based in Riverstown, the business provides a broad range of services for homeowners and contractors, including the supply of steel lintels and structural steel, engineering consultancy, quantity surveying, project management, and health and safety consultancy.

It also specialises in Vacant Property and Above the Shop grant applications and SEAI processes. 

Éadaoin credits ACORNS with providing the motivation to merge her company with her father’s business.

“Joining ACORNS was a big milestone for both the business and me personally. It gave me the time to work on the business rather than being stuck in the day-to-day stuff,” she says.

Joan McCann is an innovative coding education provider empowering Ireland’s young people with digital skills for the future.  

Joan had been volunteering with a community coding group when she realised she could marry the skills gleaned from her 15-year career in the IT industry with her passion for teaching kids about technology to create a viable business.

Launched in February 2021, The Code Lab offers online courses and hands-on workshops in coding, robotics, and electronics. 

Since its inception, The Code Lab  has grown significantly, with Joan now delivering a structured Schools Coding Programme to primary schools across Ireland, helping teachers to seamlessly integrate coding into the curriculum and making coding more accessible for all pupils.

Joan says: "I took part in ACORNS 8 and ACORNS Plus in 2024/25, and both programmes have been transformative for me and my business.

“They boosted my confidence, sharpened my decision-making, and helped me focus on growing my business. I was thrilled to be featured in the 10-year ACORNS report, celebrating its impact.

“I would highly recommend ACORNS and ACORNS Plus to any business woman ready to dream big and drive her business forward."

Nicola Flanagan set up Wellness at the Coach House, a day spa retreat, on the grounds of her family stud farm in Tullyallen near Drogheda  in 2020.

Nicola hails the “amazing” impact that ACORNS has had on her business, adding that the strength of the programme was in the diversity of expertise among the participants.

“I was in with a fantastic group of people involved in all sorts of industries. There was lots of energy in the meetings and a lot to take from each person’s contributions.

“The main thing is that the monthly meetings keep you accountable to your own targets,” she says, adding that access to the ACORNS network has also been beneficial.

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.