Our sustainability focus at Veri brings to mind the lovely quote from Warren Buffet that said “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

This shade of support and encouragement came to me through my journey in the Going for Growth programme from the former CEO of Amplify  Aine Denn and Payslip founder  Fidelma Mc Gurke. These two amazing women have walked the walk in growing hugely successful international businesses, and voluntarily each year leading a group of earlier stage female founders through a six month professional development networking programme.

Being asked then this week to tell my story to the new round of over 100 female business leaders was such an honour  and a challenge. The added stress of being sandwiched “excuse the pun” between the driving force of Jeanneane O’Brien, the hugely successful food entrepreneur and the Tainiste Leo Varadkar on the agenda didn’t make it an easy Monday morning!

I decided to tell my story  through the three groups of people that have helped so much in developing my business.

The people in my personal story

The people in my company’s story

The people that use our products

The people in my personal story,  people like my mother, an amazing person with a work ethic that I feel is what has helped me and many of my family achieve our successes. It’s by her example that I’ve now come to a place where I’m leading a team of 19 and growing.

The people in our company’s story, our clients and supporters , the people who have helped us to grow , Like The REHAB group and Impact training  who help so many people reach their potential through programme delivery. This means funded support to deliver large scale programmes of learning in employability, education and specialist training services, biodiversity or anything that involves large groups of people sharing person to person skills based knowledge.

And finally the over 15,000 people that are currently our dashboard users. Like the volunteers in biodiversity programmes across the full Island making change happen through their passion for our planet. They participate in a blended delivery of shared  knowledge and skills all using Veri, a concept I came up with and I’m very proud of its ability to facilitate better communications and bring data to life.

I am delighted that my story seemed to  resonate with the group, and in particular  how much I stressed the importance of  family support in the entrepreneurial journey. I told the story of a difficult time in the business and being told  to stop overthinking things by my daughter. Joanne’s  sage advice, “Take a spoon of cement and harden up a bit Mum! ” An email just arrived from the lady that was sitting beside me on Monday, saying well done and that “We all need a spoon of cement at times, I had to take one today”.

If I was to offer advice to anyone participating in this phenomenal opportunity that is Going for Growth it would be to surround yourself with the right people, work hard and never give up. Best of luck to all and I look forward to watching your achievements.