Women's Rural Entrepreneur Network

The WREN Project (Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network) is a Female Entrepreneurship project co-funded by the Dept of Justice and Equality and the European Social Fund as part of the Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) 2014-2020.

The Project will support women across Cork and Limerick who have a business idea and wish to become self-employed or who are already in the early stages of business development ie. up to two years. The overall aim is to promote entrepreneurial skills amongst women, by providing the necessary skills and tools to suit their needs and stage of development and to encourage a greater number of female led start-ups and business expansion in the region. The training programmes will include personal development modules, business modules, mentoring, interaction with female business founders, showcasing of business ideas as well as a major emphasis on networking and the formation of the Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network.

SECAD Partnership CLG is the lead partner in the project and is working with Ballyhoura Development and Cork Institute of Technology (Rubicon Centre, Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence and the Dept of Technology Enhanced Learning). The programme will be accredited through CIT.

The WREN project was launched in 2017 and Year 1 of the training programme commenced in October 2017 in both Cork and Limerick. Training supports will be delivered over eight months and networking will be facilitated throughout that time, as well as further support on completion of the programme.

Year 2 will commence in October 2018. SECAD and Ballyhoura Development will shortly begin recruiting female entrepreneurs for the October 2018 to May 2019 programme.

Programme Co-ordinator Details:

Cork	Limerick
Frances Doyle  SECAD Partnership  021 4613432	Eileen O’Keeffe Ballyhoura Development 087 6833661