The Network Ireland Limerick Businesswoman of the Year Awards, sponsored by LEO Limerick and AIB, will be hotly contested by 24 businesswomen across five categories this year. Representing a broad range of businesses, everything from garden centres to hotels to professional services, the contenders will find out their fate at a special awards evening on Thursday 27 August.
The ceremony will be a live event at the Savoy Hotel, Limerick and will also be streamed online.
Entries were spread across five categories: Business Innovation, Emerging New Business, Solo Businesswoman, Transformative Employee and the ‘Power Within’ Champion. Most categories are new this year and were introduced to recognise the unprecedented challenges presented by the pandemic; transforming how a business operates while caring for family and others, remote working, coping with a period of isolation or all of the above.
The winners of each award category will go on to compete at the Network Ireland National Businesswoman of the Year Awards which will be announced on October 2nd. This event will also combine live, on-stage and streaming elements. Several Limerick branch members have been successful in the past and including Hannah Wrixon, Get the Shifts, who took home a national award in 2019 and Caroline Dunlea of Core Optimisation in 2018.
Speaking about the upcoming regional awards, Petrina Hayes, President of Network Ireland Limerick said, “Our annual Businesswoman of the Year Awards have been transformed this year to reflect the vastly altered working world in which we all find ourselves. 2020 has become a time for reflection, drawing on the power within ourselves to transform and create a new way forward. We are delighted to have the opportunity to acknowledge our members who have demonstrated how strong, capable, and courageous they are in a time of crisis.”
Special guest speaker at the Limerick awards night will be Dr Sinead Kane, an international Visually Impaired motivational speaker and ultramarathon runner.
The finalists of the Network Ireland Limerick Businesswoman of the Year Awards for 2020 are:
Emerging New Business
- Breda Deedigan, Deedigan HR Services
- Aisling Stack, Namaste Skin clinic & Urban Day Spa
- Aisling Finn, Lingweezy
- Aoife McNamara, AOIFE Ireland
- Elizabeth Andrzejewska, MUSH Cupcake Specialist
- Denise Brazil, Bedford Townhouse
- Amanda Sawyer, Irish Girl in Brooklyn
Business Innovation
- Patricia Roberts, No 1 Pery Square Townhouse, Restaurant & Spa
- Bernie Carroll, Student Programmes Ireland Ltd
- Neisha Aherne, Catwalk Hair Consultancy
- Fiona Doyle, Fiona Doyle Personal Stylist & Image Consultant
- Monica Forde, The Bookkeeper
- Lynda Sheehan, Rockbarton Garden Centre
Solo Business Woman
- Charanjeet Marwha, KAYA Brows & Beauty
- Fiona Brennan, Success Coach & Project Manager
- Andrea Moran, Wig Specialist
- Ursula Stokes, Ursula Stokes Agency
- Moira Geary, Moira Geary Ltd
Transformative Employee
- Lyndsey Hall, Piquant Media
- Lorna Horgan, University of Limerick Conference & Sports Campus
- Aishling Casey, Limerick Strand Hotel
- Sophie LaTouche, 101 O’Connell Street
Power Within
All of the above PLUS
- Susan Pena, Villiers Schools
- Karen Brosnahan, Shannon Regional Conference & Sports Bureau