This innovative programme is funded under the Rural Innovation and Development Fund through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Its objective is to encourage a stronger level of enterprise development in rural areas by seeking out and assisting start-up female entrepreneurs living in rural areas to grow and develop their businesses. Following a competitive tendering process, the ACORNS initiative developed by Fitzsimons Consulting was selected as the most suitable to achieve the stated objectives. It is designed to unleash the potential of female entrepreneurs living in rural Ireland, who have recently started a business or who have taken concrete steps towards starting a business. The objective is to equip these early stage entrepreneurs with the appropriate knowledge, confidence and networks to successfully start and develop sustainable businesses.
Martin Heydon, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine says: “Following a decade of support from my Department for female rural entrepreneurs under the Rural Innovation Development Fund, I am delighted to launch the latest cycle. The programme continues to go from strength to strength and has supported over 550 women in rural Ireland over the last ten years. ACORNS is a hugely successful programme, designed to support early-stage female entrepreneurs in rural Ireland. It aims to address the skills, enterprise and capability gaps that female entrepreneurs can face and in doing so provides support to help overcome the barriers which often limit entrepreneurial activity in rural areas. Encouraging female entrepreneurs in rural Ireland to apply for support under the ACORNS programme will help them realise their dreams of starting and growing successful businesses.”