Matthew Patrick Meets Women Founders & Investors in NI

• Matthew Patrick MP held a meeting with women founders and investors from AwakenAngels
• AwakenHub was founded in 2020 and is a community for women business founders in Ireland
• In 2023, AwakenHub founded AwakenAngels, which is the first women-led investment group in Ireland

Matthew Patrick, MP, Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office met with women founders and angel investors from AwakenAngels to discuss the current state of entrepreneurship by women within Northern Ireland and investment into those businesses.

AwakenHub, which was established in 2020, is the only all-island community for female entrepreneurs in Ireland. In 2023, AwakenAngels was launched as the first investment syndicate for female investors in Ireland.

The roundtable, held at the Ebrington Hotel, allowed the attendees to engage with female entrepreneurs and investors to discuss successful support programs for women-led enterprise, as well as obstacles that still exist, such as access to developing capital for early-stage companies, the capability of entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, and to whom women are represented within the investment community.

Denise McQuaid, Co-Founder and Director of Investor Relations of Awaken Angels, commented on the opportunities that female entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland are providing, as well as the growth of the Awaken Angels syndicate, which currently has 145 members, 90 percent female.

The group presented to the Minister several high-level policy priorities they would like to see improved by government action, such as access to capital by female entrepreneurs, education on angel investing for women to become informed investors, and to continue to support regional innovation and to increase the representation of women’s voices within the broader economy when developing economic policy.