Female entrepreneurs encouraged to apply for upcoming THRIVE4women Programme
- Award winning programme hosted by Drogheda Digital Hub designed to empower women to explore and test their digital business ideas starts February 2026
- Applications for the free hybrid programme are being accepted for the next intake
Applications are open for the THRIVE4women Programme, which supports female entrepreneurs who are bringing new tech products and services to market to launch their business. The programme is delivered online and in-person by experienced professionals and industry experts with 1:1 mentoring support follow up.
The 7-week part-time programme, which commences on February 3rd is designed delivered and supported through DkIT’s Regional Development Centre (RDC) in partnership with Drogheda Digital Hub and funded by Enterprise Ireland, and offers entrepreneurial and personal development support for women developing a tech business.
“THRIVE4Women helps women start businesses by building skills across three pillars – Capability, Connections and Confidence to help women to step up to entrepreneurial opportunities. We chose these three pillars, because we recognise that they are essential skills in order to support these women, according to Programme Manager Lavina McGahon.
“Despite coming from a broad range of backgrounds, we have past participants who are successfully running their own businesses today. We often see women entrepreneurs who have a technical business idea, but do not believe they have the background to move it forward. They are motivated by their business solution but may not have the technical ability to deliver their product or service. We can help these women.”
This programme is FREE and applications are being accepted for the next intake for February 2026. It is hybrid model of delivery 1-2 evenings a week with in-person sessions taking place in the Drogheda Digital Hub.
Pauline Clarke from Kookee, a company that creates a delicious range of cookie mixes to bake at home, was part of the 2023 THRIVE4women cohort. Pauline was on the cusp of moving from her small home-based food business in to running a factory and a manufacturing business when she joined the programme. “Thrive gave me the tools to kickstart the journey of growth in my business,” according to Pauline, who is now President of Network Louth, has successfully built her food manufacturing site for Kookee and launched another range called Loaded in 2025 for the food services sector.
Joan McCann, Founder of The Code Lab was also a past participant in the programme. Her business provides coding courses, workshops & camps for Kids Age 7 to 13 Years, teaching kids about Coding & Computer Science in a fun and innovative way. What started as a hobby for Joan soon became a passion and she got involved in delivering coding workshops online. Joan emphasises the value of having a support network of people that are in the same position as you.
“THRIVE looks at your business from a slightly different perspective, so that really suited me. It looks at your product and your market,” according to Joan.
Having the support and expertise from the programme encouraged her to extend her lessons in to schools, adapting her teaching style to go from at home learning to teaching a full class of children.
Programme places are limited Apply here.
About THRIVE
The THRIVE Programme from the RDC at DkIT is delivered in partnership with Drogheda Digital Hub and Enterprise Ireland. The Initiative has been introduced to support women to launch their Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) businesses in recognising that STEM is currently one of the fastest growing sectors in Ireland and Europe. The THRIVE4women programme represented Ireland as the National Winner for Promoting Entrepreneurial Spirit at the European Enterprise Promotion Awards in Bilboa, Spain in November 2023.
For further queries contact: Lavina McGahon, Programme Manager [email protected]
