A n ambit iousmentoring in-itiative for wo-men aims tohelp young en-t r e p r e n eu r s

build viable ventures by learn-ing from successful businessveterans.Going forGrowth involves a

series of roundtable discus-sions led by established femaleentrepreneurs who have first-hand experience of managinghigh-growthbusinesses.The idea is that participants

have the opportunity to learnimportant lessons from these‘lead entrepreneurs’, who givetheir time voluntarily.Mary McKenna, managing

director of Tour America, isone of ten lead entrepreneurstaking part in the next Goingfor Growth cycle.‘‘I am passionate about this

because, when I was startingout with my business, I wish Ihad had role models and peo-ple to talk to,’’ she said.‘‘I will give four days next

year to work with a group ofeight people.To take part, theirbusinesses will need to be trad-ing for at least two years. Themeetings will be informalroundtable meetings.We willbrainstorm and throw ideasout there.’’McKenna established Tour

America 16 years ago to pro-vide holidays in North Ameri-ca to the Irish market.The company has since di-

versified, launching Tour Afri-ca and Cruise Holidays. It has

revenues of e20 million andemploys 50 people at officeson Dublin’s Abbey Street andPatrick’s Street in Cork.Having begun her career in

the travel industry in her earlytwenties as a duty managerwith Club Air, McKenna be-lieves on-the-ground experi-ence in your chosen sector is ahuge benefit when setting up abusiness.She also worked on the

agency side of the travel busi-ness in marketing and officemanagement roles with Amer-ican Holidays.‘‘When I look back, I was

very raw when I started outwith my own business. I didn’tknow too much, but I had anidea and I did my market re-search,’’ saidMcKenna.‘‘I had no money, so I

brought Club Travel’s LiamLonergan on board as a silentpartner. Liam owned Club Airat the time and I told him Iwasstarting a business and he saidhe’d give me the money Ineeded.‘‘As it turned out, I didn’t

need themoneyand it is impor-tant to be aware that some-times you can start a businesswithout cash. With share-

holders, I would say to start-ups: ‘know how to go about va-luing your business, knowabout figures and learn abouthow shareholding works.’‘‘That is really important.

Market intelligence is also hu-gely important, especially ifyou are in the retail business.You need to get your pricesright for the consumer.’’

Going for Growth is fundedby the European Social Fund,Enterprise Ireland and theDe-partmentof Justice &Equality.

For more information, log onto www.goingforgrowth.com.

Mentoring move to aidwomen entrepreneurs

OUTONYOUROWN

Discussions aim to helpwomen learn the skillsneeded to succeed

ElaineO’Regan

‘‘I have read a lot of books onbusiness over the years and Ithink it’s important to continueto educate yourself all the time.‘‘My top three include Dra-

gons’ Den – Success from Pitchto Profit by Richard Farleigh.‘‘This book gives great exam-

ples of many start-up busi-nesses and also highlightswhere people do not prepareenough and how that can hindertheir business.‘‘Emotional Intelligence by

David Goleman is another fa-vourite – I believe the most

important ingredient in startingany business is emotional in-telligence.‘‘I would also recommend The

Naked Leader by David Taylor. Itis a fantastic read – again withthe theme of emotional intelli-gence running throughout.’’

Mary McKenna’s top reads

This year’s National Wo-men’s Enterprise Day(NWED) will be marked witha two-day event in Portlaoi-se’s Heritage Hotel onNovember 16 and 17.Organised by the County

and City Enterprise Boards,NWED will have a half-dayconference programme,supper and informal net-working on November 16and full-day conference andlunch on November 17.Speakers will include:& Lisa Myers from the

Wig Clinic in Cork;& Birgitta Curtin of

Clare’s Burren Smokehouse;& Elena Brennan of

Cavan’s Elena BrennanJewellery;& Anotherfriend.com’s

Grainne Barry from Limerickcity.

The NWED delegatefee is e100. For more,log on to www.nwed.ie.

Women’sEnterpriseDay

In the secondpart of this newseries on usingsocial media,we examine howTwitter can helpyour business

Twitter is a micro-bloggingservice you can use tocommunicate withcustomers by exchangingshort and frequentmessages. These messagesare called ‘tweets’ and arecomposed of 140 charactersor fewer.With more than 100million users, Twitterpresents an opportunity forcompanies to keep up todate with developments intheir competitors’ activitiesand to interact withcustomers.Twitter has also justannounced the launch of ananalytics tool, which will beof great benefit to businessusers.Setting up a Twitteraccount is very easy. To getstarted, go to http://twitter.com, click the signup button and enter yourdetails. The shorter theusername you choose thebetter. Remember you arealways restricted to just 140characters.

FollowersOnce you have created youraccount, you can startbuilding your profile byfollowing people andcompanies.

Define your Twitterstrategy by finding andfollowing the Twittercontent that is best alignedwith your business andonline marketingobjectives.Follow the keyinfluencers in yourindustry, your competition,your business partners,your customers, potentialcontacts and sales leads.Once you opt to follow aparticular Twitter user,they will usually do thesame in return.

TweetingBy tweeting a person orcompany, you can increasethe number of people yourprofile is visible to. Placethe ‘@’ sign before theperson’s username to postthem a public message suchas @socialmedia_ie.When you tweet someone,you are making yourselfvisible to a widercommunity and you couldpotentially gather followers.A direct message (DM) isa private message sent viaTwitter to one of yourfollowers. You can onlysend a direct message toyour followers and it is theonly way to have a privateconversation on Twitter as

tweets can be viewed byanyone.Re-tweeting (RT) is whenyou repost other people’scontent to your Twitternetwork of followers. This isa great way to enhance yourreputation by associatingyourself with relevantcontent and information. Byre-tweeting other users’content, they are likely toreturn the favour,communicating your tweetsto a larger community.

HashtagsA hashtag or ‘#’ is a reallyuseful Twitter tool, which isused to categorise keywords or topics in a tweet.The hashtag symbol isplaced before the keyword –for example #SocialMedia.By clicking on a hashtaggedword, you can see all othertweets in that conversation.The hashtag ensures youare following and engagingin the right conversations.

Twitter toolsThere are a number of freetools that make Twittermore user-friendly, helpingyou to spot opportunitiesand minimise the time youspend on Twitter.These tools allow you tomeasure the impact of yourtweets and other socialmedia updates, monitorwho is talking about youand manage your socialmedia activity. The fivetools we recommend areHootsuite, Tweetdeck,Pluggio, Socialoomph andTwitterfall.

Tips1. Integrate your marketingeffortsBlend your Twitteraccount with traditional

media and other socialmedia sites to make yourcompany visible to morepeople interacting online.

2. Be interestingIt is important to makeyour tweets exciting and topost photographs andvideos to keep yourfollowers interested. If yourtweets are boring, there is arisk of losing key followers.

3. Engage communitiesIt is important to listen tothe Twitter community soyou know about onlinecomments on your brand.This will enable you toengage effectively inconversations.

4. Don’t spamSpammers don’t survivelong on Twitter as theydon’t build followers. Thosethat do follow them tend tochange their mind prettyquickly. Spam on Twitterusually involves a companytweeting constantly topromote its brand. Whilecompanies can use Twitterto promote their brands,they should not do so all thetime.

5. Avoid poor grammar andspellingIn order to gain as manyfollowers as possible,businesses need to ensurethat they write in thecorrect manner. Twitter isnot like sending a text, soyou should spell each wordcorrectly and not useabbreviations.

Conor Lynch is a socialmedia strategist and founderof SocialMedia.ie, a Dublin-based firm that advisesbusinesses nationwide. Formore information, log on towww.socialmedia.ie

Social media for start-ups

Tapping into Twitter toboost your business

Spirit ofentrepreneurship inMayoGalway-Mayo Institute ofTechnology (GMIT) is ex-pecting a substantial turn-out at an entrepreneurialevent it is hosting tomorrowevening as part of MayoIdeas Week.Spirit of Entrepreneurshipwill take place on GMIT’scampus, showcasing pro-ducts and services fromstart-ups based in the in-stitute’s Innovation in Busi-ness Centres (IiBC).Speakers will include en-trepreneur Sean Gallagherand Ciaran Crean, co-foun-der of micksgarage.ie. Thisis the fifth year GMIT hashosted Spirit of Entrepre-neurship.‘‘We want to get peoplethinking about setting uptheir own business or de-veloping their existing busi-ness further. This event willoutline the funding sourcesand supports available,while successful entrepre-neurs who have beenthrough it all will tell theirown stories,’’ said MariaStaunton, manager IiBC,GMIT.To book a place at this

event, e-mail iibccastlebar

@gmit.ie or call 094-

9043198

Free training forSME ownersThe Small Firms Association(SFA) has launched a newmanagement training initia-tive for SMEs.Speaking at the launch ofthe Business Bytes trainingseries, SFA director PatriciaCallan said the eventswould take place on the

second Wednesday eveningof each month at a numberof venues.The first event will be heldat SFA offices on Dublin’sBaggot Street. It will behosted by Leanne Pa-paioannou, managing di-rector of Chilli PepperMarketing, and will focuson customer retention.Callan said the BusinessBytes training events wouldbe free to attend.‘‘The two factors that oftendiscourage owner-managersfrom engaging in trainingare time and money, whichis why these events areentirely free of charge andare operated in a two-hourslot outside of key businesshours,’’ she said.For more info, log on to

www.sfa.ie

Swords to getpop-up bankA pop-up bank will opentemporarily as part of FingalEnterprise Week later thismonth.The pop-up bank – thebrainchild of Fingal CountyEnterprise Board – will openfrom noon to 6pm onSeptember 28, at theEuropa Academy in Swords,Co Dublin.The aim of the initiative willbe to offer small businessesand entrepreneurs adviceon loans, grants, venturecapital funds and BusinessExpansion Scheme invest-ments.It will involve collaborationbetween state supportagencies, financial institu-tions and BES investmentcompanies.

For more info, log on to

www.fingalenterpriseweek.ie

OUT ON YOUR OWNBRIEFS

Mary McKenna, managing director, Tour America

ConorLynch

n22THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST

SEPTEMBER 18 2011