National Women's Enterprise Day 2025
A celebration of female entrepreneurship, Waterford Local Enterprise Office is hosting a special event for this year’s National Women’s Enterprise Day at the Majestic Hotel, Tramore. The event promises a morning filled with networking, learning, and inspiration, featuring an impressive lineup of successful female entrepreneurs.
The event kicks off with a buffet breakfast and networking session, providing attendees an opportunity to connect and share experiences. Following breakfast, the focus will shift to a workshop led by Mags Boland titled "Engage your Authentic Leadership – Be Yourself." In this insightful session, Mags will delve into topics around Female Leadership, covering key areas such as:
Choosing your leadership style
Trends in Female Leadership today
The Leadership we don’t Talk About
Your Leadership Map
This workshop will interactive with practical activities (including fun and humour!).
After a break and further networking, the morning continues with a compelling panel session emceed by Nichola Beresford. The panel titled “Leading with Impact: Stories from Women in Business” will explore challenges, opportunities and lessons learned providing attendees with valuable insights and practical advice from their diverse experiences.
A light lunch will be provided after the session to enable you to continue networking so please ensure you tick the box when booking if you’d like to avail of this.
The event is proudly supported by Waterford Chamber, Network Waterford, and Dungarvan and West Waterford Chamber. It is one of many events held nationally on October 16th to mark National Women’s Enterprise Day, celebrating and empowering women in business across the country.
Join us on October 16th at the Majestic Hotel, Tramore, for a morning of inspiration, networking, and learning, and be part of a national movement celebrating the power and potential of female entrepreneurship.
Éadaoin Carrick
Cantec Group, Executive Chairperson
Éadaoin Carrick is the Executive Chairperson of Cantec Group. Cantec provides Canon multifunctional printers and print-management solutions to business and the public sector, as well as document automation and workflow solutions. I’m a committee member and former president of Network Ireland Waterford branch, and I’m a firm shop-local advocate.
Éadaoin is the Deputy President of Waterford Chamber. She is a director of Waterford Area Partnership and a committee member and former president of Network Ireland Waterford branch. Éadaoin also sits on Waterford City & County Council's Strategic Policy Committee for Roads & Infrastructure.
Maggie Breathnach
Award-winning Director/Producer
Maggie Breathnach is an IFTA and RTS award-winning Director/Producer with over two decades industry experience. Her award-winning productions and nominations include “Voices of Ireland” for Sky Arts, and “Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: Between Worlds” for RTÉ. Her recent directing and producing credits include “Tarrac na Farraige” – a four-part series about the fishing industry in Ireland for RTÉ; “Lily & Lolly: The Forgotten Yeats Sisters” for Sky Arts; “House of Art” for Oireachtas TV; and “Imeall” for TG4. She is currently in post-production on a six-part series for RTÉ, tracing the footsteps of the great song collectors, presented by Imelda May.
Primarily embedded in the arts, Maggie has also gone on to direct and produce a number of highly successful music programmes including “Gradam Ceoil” for TG4 - the traditional Irish music equivalent of the Grammys - which she transformed from a pre-recorded awards show to a 2-hour live extravaganza of Irish singing, music and dance, whilst also generating partnerships with various organisations in Belfast and establishing a solid programme of fringe events as well as the live broadcast of the main show. She has also produced and directed “Fleadh Cheoil” for RTÉ, showcasing the best of Irish traditional music from the annual Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.
A fluent Irish speaker, Maggie relocated her company Red Shoe Productions from Dublin to the An Rinn Gaeltacht, to contribute to the cultural landscape in the regions and to create employment. She is a strong and passionate advocate for women in the arts, and on a production celebrating the work and lives of Susan and Elizabeth Yeats, she mirrored their work ethic, employing women as the core team behind the camera, as well as on screen. In 2016 Maggie was elected to the Board of Screen Producers Ireland (SPI), where she was an active member and sat on both the Committee for Irish Language Programming “An Coiste Gaeilge” and the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Committee.
Maggie’s passion lies in culture and the arts. As a long-time advocate for the artistic community, her vision and ambition is to push the boundaries of the reach of arts programming. As well as promoting the use of the Irish language in the sector, Maggie is keen to contribute to the preservation and archive of the Irish arts. Red Shoe Productions is a small female-owned and operated company with big ambitions for partnerships and co-productions in the future, championing and promoting Irish arts worldwide.
Janice Taylor
Founder & Director of Taylors Recruitment Company Ltd
Janice Taylor is a Founder and Director of Taylors Recruitment Company Limited, specialising in local and international recruitment across Ireland, the UK, Australia, and Asia. With over 26 years’ experience in HR, industrial relations, and talent acquisition, she has supported leading organisations including Dawn Meats, Gamestop, Unitec, and Keelings. Having overcome significant personal challenges, Janice is driven by her strong faith. She sees incredible value in community. A proud member of Network Ireland Waterford, she credits its supportive, inspiring network with providing invaluable relationships and opportunities that continue to shape her journey.
Kim Whyte
Kim Whyte, Waterford NWED Ambassador
Kim Whyte is the Founder & Designer of Pawpear, an Irish stationery company inspired by Ireland’s culture, language and landscapes. Kim was recently named as the Local Enterprise Office Waterford Ambassador for National Women’s Enterprise Day.
She was delighted to be asked to fulfil this role, “It’s an honour to represent Waterford as an Ambassador this #NWED. The support of my Local Enterprise Office has transformed my business, giving me the momentum to grow from selling online into a wholesale brand with international reach.”
Originally from Youghal, East Cork, Kim gained a BA (Hons) in Visual Communication from the Limerick School of Art & Design and moved to London, where she worked as a stationery designer and later led a design team at a global not-for-profit organisation. On returning to Ireland, Kim set up a successful brand design consultancy, Figgydoo, before launching Pawpear in 2022. What began as a one-woman studio in Knockanore, West Waterford, has since grown into a stationery business stocked in over 70 shops across Ireland and beyond.
