Joan Bree Winner of the Dublin City Female Entrepreneur Award 2007

Cush’n Shade is the brainchild of Joan Bree. She was presented with the Dublin City Female Entrepreneur Award on Monday 12 November to acknowledge her enterprising achievements in 2007. But her story dates back to 5 years ago...

(Grainne Duggan Photography) Left to Right: Daire Coffey (DCEB Mentor) Joan Bree (Cush n Shade) Eibhlin Curley (Assistant Chief Executive DCEB) Pauline Logan (DCEB Network Manager) - Trophy crafted by Ayelet Lawor Cush’n Shade is a portable, foldable, device that combines a cushion and a sunshade that provides neck support and protects the face from the direct rays of the sun while the rest of the body tans. Joan first developed the idea in 2002 and through the support of a feasibility study grant and mentoring from Dublin City Enterprise Board has successfully developed the concept to the global success that it is today. From the creative thought to the first unit of Cush’n Shade coming off the production line took four long years and great effort to overcome the many difficulties encountered. “My greatest difficult was keeping myself motivated,” says Joan. “If you are working on your own you really need to keep focussed. In staying motivated and focussed, I had great support from by Mentor, Daire Coffey,” she recalls. Further support came when her son Jamie Jenkinson, a marketing and business graduate, in October 2005. Jamie recently pitched on the Dragons Den and three Dragons wanted to invest. In the end he picked Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones. They have come a long way. The business have also received Preference Share investment from Dublin City Enterprise Board in 2007 to help the ongoing development of the business. Statistics on Women Entrepreneurs • Men are 2.5 times more likely to be active as an early stage entrepreneur than women. • One in ten Irish men and one in twenty four Irish women are early stage entrepreneurs. • Only four out of ten women believe that they have the knowledge and skills to start a business. • Women are less active across all age categories, across all income categories, whether they are employed full time or part time and across all education categories bar one. (Women with post graduate qualifications have the same rate of early stage entrepreneurial activity as men). • Irish women are less likely to have a recent entrepreneurial role model. • Irish women are less likely to believe they have the skills and knowledge required to start a business. • Women are similar to male entrepreneurs in terms of age at start up and education levels. • A higher percentage of women entrepreneurs come from part time employment or from a ‘homemaker’ role. • GEM has reported a difference in rates of entrepreneurship between Irish males and females every year for the past five years. • As income rates increase for men, rates of entrepreneurship also increase. This is not the case for women. Dublin City Initiatives Dublin City Enterprise Board initiatives to assist and encourage more women include 'Women Starting Their Own Business' course and the Dublin City Enterprise Network for Women and Female Entrepreneur competition. We hope to commence a 'Grow Your Business' course for Female Owner/ Managers in 2008. For more information click here. National Networking Opportunity The County & City Enterprise Boards and other state agencies have come together with the specific intention of providing a holistic offering to women in business -the National Womens Enterprise Day on 21st November in the Mullingar Park Hotel. The outcome for the women attending is that they can access much of what they need to know to help them in starting or expanding their business, in one place on the one day. The event has been sold out. Developing an existing business? Are you a woman entrepreneur committed to growth? Are you facing challenges in growing your business? Could you benefit from peer support and learn from the insights and experiences of successful entrepreneurs? Then the Going for Growth initiative may be just what you need to support you in successfully growing your business. This initiative, led by Paula FitzSimons is aimed at women who are serious about growing their business. Going for Growth is centered around a group of women entrepreneurs at the same stage of development getting together at monthly meetings - six over the next seven months. Each of the Going for Growth round tables will be led by a more experienced woman entrepreneur. The lead entrepreneurs, who have agreed to give their time on a voluntary basis to this initiative, are very enthusiastic about the initiative. Most of these will be familiar to you; Amanda Pratt, Anne Heraty ' Anne O'Leary, Julie Colclough , Martina Minogue , Mary Ann O'Brien , Monica Flood and Rita Shah. If you want to network from your office or home try the Irish Business Women Forum click here. Notes: The GEM Report for Ireland is sponsored by Enterprise Ireland, Forfás and the Gender Equality Unit at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The members of the GEM Irish research team are Paula Fitzsimons and Professor Colm O'Gorman. The report contains an analysis of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs in Ireland (e.g. who becomes an entrepreneur, planned financing of new businesses); a comparison of Ireland with other EU and OECD countries; an analysis of women’s entrepreneurship in Ireland; and the profile of recent entrepreneurs.

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