Glossip: THE GLOSS and Goodbody Female Founders Event In Lignum, Co Galway

THE GLOSS and Goodbody head west for the first Female Founders event in Co Galway

The first Female Founders event hosted by THE GLOSS and investment firm Goodbody in the west of the country took place in Lignum, near Bullaun, Co Galway on September 25. As guests arrived on the rather wet autumnal evening, making their way along the winding path through the trees to the restaurant, they could glimpse the inviting glow of the Scandianavian-style dining room. In the delightfully cosy glass, wood and stone interior, lit by wood-burning stoves and decorated with Irish art, and following oysters and Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature from Tuffeau, Goodbody’s Michelle O’Keefe, and the team from Goodbody’s Galway office, along with colleagues from AIB Capital Markets, welcomed friends and clients from the region to a special dinner and discussion with some of the region’s most impressive business founders.

Just 40 minutes outside Galway City, Lignum is Ireland’s best-kept food secret. The owners, young Irish-Italian chef Danny Africano and his wife Molly, established the restaurant in 2019, restoring an old hay barn and extending the restaurant that was owned and run by his parents, who have since taken over the family’s hotel in Pompeii. Danny is Irish-Italian and the food at Lignum is a wonderful combination of the two cultures. For guests of THE GLOSS and Goodbody, Danny created a bespoke menu that included hand-dived scallops, west-Cork lobster, garden gazpacho and line-caught turbot with cime di rapa. The wines chosen for the pairings were made and produced by female winemakers. Food, wine, service and ambiance were exquisite, the perfect backdrop for the interesting discussions that took place in this very unique setting.

MC Ciara Doherty opened proceedings with an introduction to the wider financial ecosystem that women inhabit, acknowledging that all women have skin in the game when it comes to supporting female-founded businesses. Many of those present, leaders in business or business owners, she said, were well-acquainted with the challenges of funding and financing new ideas and bringing them to fruition. She reminded everyone that irrespective of your sector, role or circumstances, we can each potentially support a female-led business, either by being a customer of such a business or service, a mentor or adviser to that business or indeed, a potential investor in a female-led initiative.

Discussion turned to the specific challenges faced by women. Given the location of the event, at the heart of Galway’s burgeoning medtech sector, THE GLOSS and Goodbody were particularly honoured to host two female founders, Evelyn O’Toole of CLS (Complete Laboratory Solutions) and Dr Elizabeth McGloughlin of Tympany Medical, both with operations based in Galway, to share their stories of founding, developing and funding their businesses. They were joined by Niamh O’Neill, Senior Adviser, Goodbody, whose job it is to advise business owners.

Evelyn O’Toole, a scientist, described how at the age of 25, she established CLS, a company that has grown over 30 years to employ 250 people. Clifden born and bred, Evelyn had not set out to be an entrepreneur, she said, but back in the 1980s, “there weren’t any jobs, so it didn’t seem strange to spot an opportunity and go for it”. From the start, she was humble about her achievements. Even though she tasted success early on, she told her mother “just say I’m keeping the wolf from the door”, when anyone enquired how her business was doing. Now Chair of the West Regional Enterprise Plan, and a member of the Irish Medtech Association Board, she described how the medtech sector in the west has become renowned the world over.

Tympany Medical, founded by Dr Liz McGloughlin, has developed a gamechanging miniature endoscope to allow minimally invasive surgeries. Having first trained as a doctor, then having joined the acclaimed Bionnovate Ireland Programme at the University of Galway, a national fellowship programme designed to facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship, Liz explained how she then made the pivot to entrepreneurship: “On the Bioinnovate Programme, the aim is to recognise and address unmet clinical needs, collaborating with students from diverse backgrounds across clinical medicine, biomedical engineering, business development, industrial design and project management.” Tympany Medical has attracted investment from world-class medtech investors and is advancing the development of its platform endoscope camera technology, which is at the cutting edge of mechanics, optics, electronics and human-centred design.

Joining in the panel discussion, Goodbody Senior Adviser Niamh O’Neill gave an informative account of funding options, and highlighted that as women founders are often so focused on looking after the financing of their companies, their own financial needs for the future are not being looked after.

Dessert, a beautiful Cashel Blue mousse with Neapolitan coffee and white chocolate, whetted appetites for a delightful In Conversation with special guest, entrepreneur and co-founder of luxury fragrance brand Cloon Keen, Margaret Mangan.

Established in Margaret’s parents’ garage in 2002, Galway company Cloon Keen is one of Ireland’s finest success stories. Founders, Margaret (Maggie) Mangan and her husband Julian Checkley have taken uniquely Irish ideas and stories and, like alchemists, turned them into scents with an international appeal.

Cloon Keen is now a world-renowned fragrance atelier producing unique luxury perfumes, body care and home fragrances such as candles and room sprays, sold to customers all over the world. Cloon Keen has two shops, one on High Street in Galway and another in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre in Dublin 2, which opened in 2022, and a large factory in Galway, built with the help of Údarás na Gaeltachta.

Cloon Keen began with a handful of scented candles in tins, she recounted, with simple black and white branding (practically unchanged to this day). Driving all over the country, Maggie was eventually selling candles into 50 accounts, and it was time to consider a store of their own. Maggie and Julian chose the atmospheric vaulted space with arched door on Galway’s High Street. Designed like an alchemist’s lab, it was a design first for Galway, and for Ireland.

More formulations followed, each carefully concocted to embody a person, place or thing with a link to Ireland. The Spanish Arch candle takes its name from the 16th-century stone arch still visible beside the River Corrib in Galway, and evokes a Spanish idyll of warm air heavy with the scent of blossoms. The Aesthetic Lily candle harks back to Oscar Wilde and the Aesthetic movement which found expression in The Cult of Beauty through the worship of its emblems, among them the lily. The Antique Library candle is a favourite of Michelle Obama.

Eight fragrances include Róisín Dubh (little black rose) which takes its name from a subversive 16th-century Irish song, which has become an enduring emblem to Irish writers. It is a favourite with sophisticated fragrance-wearers, including THE Gloss Beauty Editor Sarah Halliwell.

Having built Cloon Keen on sustainable business practices, Maggie and Julian were committed to authenticity and to retaining that artisan quality and creative edge.

When asked, what does success look like or feel to her, she told the audience that her mum, a fierce champion of her daughter (at 94, and living with Maggie) had a saying, she said: Contentment in life is heaven on earth / Forget it not. “I try to live by that adage,” she said.

As proceedings drew to a close, THE GLOSS and Goodbody thanked Maggie, and panellists Evelyn O’Toole, Dr Liz McGloughlin and Niamh O’Neill. Guests lingered in the beautiful room, chatting and exchanging details.