The O2 Women Mean Business Conference and Awards 2008, designed to recognise the outstanding achievements of Ireland's businesswomen, takes place on Monday September 29th 2008 at Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel, St. Stephen's Green. The awards will feature guest speaker Karren Brady, Managing Director, Birmingham City Football Club. The unprecedented number of entries received for these awards has now been reduced to a shortlist of finalists from which an overall winner from the five following categories will be chosen:
Finalists for the O2 WMBusinesswoman of the Year Award 2008 include Tina Roche from BITCI; Anne Dooley from Winthrop Engineering; Patricia Rooney from Murphy Environmental and Letrecia Tippett from Premier Group
Finalists for WMB Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2008 include Rosie Sheehan of Broadway Bagels; Michelle Lynch & Carol Lynch of Crannagh & Co.; Paula Lawlor of PMMS Ltd and Joan Bree of Cush 'n Shade Ltd
Finalists for the Accenture WMBig Idea Award 2008 include Anni Kilgallon of Chocolate Heaven; Joan Bree of Cush 'n Shade Ltd and Alison Bell of Spa-Ireland.com
Finalists for the Irish Life WMB Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2008 include Mary Lawlor of Front Line; Melanie Verwoerd of UNICEF; Tina Roche of BITCI and Barbara O'Connell from the Peter Bradley Foundation
Finalists for the CEB WMBreakthrough Award 2008 include Jennifer Ryan from Pónaire; Shirley Teskey of Shirley's Herbal Care; Michelle Lynch & Carol Lynch from Crannagh & Co.; Jennifer Barker from Fusion Photography; Nicola Byrne from 11890 and Karen Jackson from Gardini.ie
The awards will be presented at the O2 Women Mean Business Conference & Awards 2008 at the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin on September 29th 2008. The conference features a diverse range of speakers such as: Karren Brady, Managing Director, Birmingham City Football Club; Pat Falvey, Adventurer and Motivational Speaker; Hilary O'Meara, Senior Executive, Accenture and Caroline Casey, Founding CEO of Kanchi (formally the Aisling Foundation.) From 2.20 - 3.00pm the O2 Women Mean Business Awards will be presented to five of Ireland's leading businesswomen. Rosemary Delaney, publisher of WMB Magazine says: "We were overwhelmed not only by the number of entries that we received this year but by the high calibre of entrants. The judging was a difficult but exciting undertaking. September 29th will represent a day when businesswomen prove they are raising the bar in successful business even higher."
