How a cross-border programme is fast-tracking women-led businesses to next level growth

Tuesday 19 August 2025

As featured in the Belfast Telegraph | 19th August 2025.

Grow It: All-Island is a pilot programme led by Women in Business in partnership with Network Ireland.

Funded through the Shared Island Enterprise Scheme, itself led by InterTradeIreland, participants of Grow It: All Island access bespoke benefits such as business growth opportunities across the island and beyond, along with personal development and in-person masterclasses.

Thirty participants joined and completed this year’s programme - 15 business owners from Northern Ireland and 15 based in Ireland - with independent evaluation finding that 100% rated the pilot as either very good or excellent.

Other pertinent outputs of this evaluation point to the island-wide business growth and job creation that Grow It is helping to accelerate. The average forecast in turnover from 2024 to 2025, for example, was an increase of 61%, with an anticipated 27% increase in both European and international sales. This year’s Grow It: All Island cohort also expected to increase their staff count in the next 12 months by as much as 20%.

Programme managers Roisin McDermott (Women in Business) and Emma Early Murphy (Network Ireland) believe collaboration and connection is central to Grow It: All Island’s continued success in fostering entrepreneurship across a wide range of sectors.

As Head of Entrepreneurship at Women in Business, Roisin has been at the coal face for more than 20 years supporting every facet of female enterprise. Reflecting on this year’s Grow It: All Island pilot programme, she said: “The appetite for female entrepreneurship is apparent across Ireland. Not only does Northern Ireland outperform other regions of the UK in producing high-growth, female-led enterprises, but latest data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found Ireland currently has the third-highest rate for early-stage female entrepreneurs in all of Europe.

“The talent is undoubtedly out there. Where women entrepreneurs begin to encounter barriers comes down to the funding gap, persistent that it is. In 2024, all-female founded businesses in Northern Ireland received just 2% of the UK’s total equity funding, a figure that’s fallen year-on-year. Which is why tailored programmes like Grow It: All Island are so crucial to unlocking an exciting growth engine that can help bolster economies north and south.”

Emma Early Murphy, Business Consultant & Collaborations Lead at Network Ireland, echoes this, adding: “Network Ireland and Women in Business have a combined 65 years’ experience in providing targeted support to women business owners. Grow It: All Island is the culmination of our collaborative push to drive forward women’s entrepreneur development and generally celebrating the success and innovation of female-led business across the island.

“In Ireland, women-led businesses contribute over €4.5 billion in enterprise value. More telling is that nearly half of this figure comes from companies established in the last decade, which speaks to the emergence of high-growth, female-led enterprises that our Grow It: All Island programme aims to fast-track through one-to-one consultancy and network support.”

The independent evaluation carried out on Grow It: All Island also sought feedback from this year’s participants, with one commenting on the networking element and its positive impact: “If I could rate this a 6, I would! The best thing to come out of the programme for me was the camaraderie, support and encouragement of the group.”

Another participant remarked about the cross-border opportunities that Grow It: All Island helped to unlock: “As an ROI business, my network in NI has increased dramatically and has given me a lot more confidence and connections in this market.”

A third commented on the professional skills training days and how they brought focus for women entrepreneurs keen to level up their business: “The training days were invaluable, they included so much content and were very relevant to the progression of my business. Each area covered was extremely relevant and covered in detail, giving me great insight into growing our business. It was also very important that the training days were in person as we networked with so many like-minded women. We really learned a lot from each other and bonded in a way which I didn't think would be possible.”

While the current round of applications for Grow It: All Island is now closed, Women in Business and Network Ireland hosts a broad range of female-focused initiatives all year round.

Keep an eye on the Women in Business and Network Ireland entrepreneur support pages for future programmes and initiatives.

For cross-border support, visit InterTradeIreland.

Photo credit: Jill O’Meara Photography.

Tuesday 19 August 2025