Laois Ice Lady on fire!

WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

WMB held its 10th Annual Women Mean Business Conference & Awards in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel, St. Stephen’s Green. The event recognises the achievements of Ireland’s businesswomen and entrepreneurs.

Six awards were presented with Evelyn O’Toole, Founder and CEO, Complete Laboratory Solutions (CLS),t aking the overall WMB Businesswoman Award 2016.

Polar Ice Ltd’s MD Alison Ritchie received the WMB Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Iseult Ward and Aoibheann O’Brien, Co-founders of FoodCloud, received the Newstalk WMB Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award and Professor Susan McKenna-Lawlor, Founder and MD, Space Technology Ireland Ltd was named FEXCO WMB Woman in Technology Award recipient.Ann O’Dea, CEO and Co-founder Silicon Republic, received the Boots WMB Empowering Women Award 2016; and Elaine Cohalan and Jenny Synnott, Co-founders of The Dublin Cookie Company, received the Sodexo WMB Female Newcomer Award for 2016.

Alison Ritchie is the Managing Director of Polar Ice Ltd., Ireland’s leading manufacturer of dry ice products since 1996. A serial entrepreneur, Alison established her second business Polar IceTech in 2005, growing the business to become the market leader in Cryogenic Cleaning, and successfully selling the business earlier this year.

The day-long event included an impressive line up of business people who spoke on the theme – A Decade of Progress – and included:Keynote Speaker: Dee Forbes, Director-General, RTÉ; Gelong Thubten, Buddhist Monk and Mindfulness Specialist; and Susan Vinnicombe, CBE, Cranfield School of Management.The day also included a panel discussion on the theme with Marissa Carter, Founder and MD, Cocoa Brown; Martha Ryan, Head of HR, Boots Ireland; Rosemary Delaney, Founder and MD, WMB; and Caroline O’Driscoll, Partner, KPMG and Co-founder of I WISH, taking to the stage.