Secret Millionaire scooped for seminar

A KILLALOE-based chartered accountant was counting his good fortune last week after securing a top United States entrepreneur to provide a presentation at a local seminar on how women succeed in business.

Serial entrepreneur, author and Secret Millionaire star Margaret Heffernan discussed why women go into business, what makes them succeed or fail and what lessons can be learned by everyone at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Mid-West branch seminar on female entrepreneurship.
The seminar, which was held in the Strand Hotel, Limerick, was organised by the president of the CIMA Mid-West branch, Seán O’Donoghue from Ballyvalley, Killaloe.
Mr O’Donoghue told The Clare Champion the seminar was very well received by the attendance, who listened with great interest to all the anecdotes provided by Ms Heffernan.
“There was no-one looking at their watch when Margaret Heffernan was talking. We had to cut the number of questions at the end because of a lack of time such was the interest. Ms Heffernan did a tour of the different branches in the country and we were delighted to secure a visit for the Mid-West. Overall, her presentation was very informative,” he said.
Mr O’Donoghue will finish his fourth two-year term as branch president inside the last nine years next month. Now retired, he enjoyed a long career as a chartered management accountant, which included spending 20 years working in the United Kingdom. He was the first chartered management accountant to be recruited by the old Post and Telegraphs organisation and he moved to Telecom, which later became Eircom.
The bestselling author of How She does it – How Female Entrepreneurs are Changing the Rules for Business Success discussed the psychology of women as entrepreneurs, what drives them and how their motivation contributes to their success. Ms Heffernan also drew comparisons with other countries such as the United States. In the US, almost half of private companies are female-owned, employ more than the Fortune 500 combined and generate sales of two trillion dollars.
In contrast, in Ireland, the ratio is three men for every one female entrepreneur, a reversal of recent trends, which had seen the gap narrow.
Ms Heffernan believes recessions can be a great time to start a business, particularly for women. “There’s more talent around than ever, partners are more open to newcomers and consumers are starved for new and interesting products. Governments always look to entrepreneurs to save the economy and all the evidence shows that women in particular excel at such times. I can’t think of any better way to revitalise an economy than to back women’s businesses,” she explains.