UNDER THE RADAR/Tara Wilson-Black, Select Digital Print Group:WHEN TARA Wilson- Black decided to set up a new website to support Irish businesswomen, she knew exactly what she wanted it to provide – all the knowledge and advice she had been lacking when she took the plunge herself six years before.
“I’d been there when I set up my own print business in 2003,” she recalls. “I knew all the pitfalls I’d encountered along the way – and I also knew that a good many of them could have been dealt with far more easily with a little bit of worthwhile guidance.”
As it happens, Wilson-Black (34) overcame those obstacles single-handedly, built Select Digital Print from a one-person band into a company employing five people, and was named South Dublin Female Entrepreneur of the Year along the way.
Even so, before she set up Irishwomeninbusiness.ie earlier this year, she did her own straw poll to ensure that the top priorities for today’s young businesswomen remained essentially the same in a far more daunting economic environment.
“I got together in a room with 20 other women, all of whom run their own businesses, and we made a list of the challenges facing us. It was fascinating how much we had in common and how much we could learn when we pooled all our information.”
The top three items on that communal wish-list could hardly have been more practical: they wanted a resource offering detailed information on issues such as finance, tax and pensions; advice on the most cost-effective ways of marketing and advertising, and an insight into how they could network with other businesswomen.
“A lot of women who run their own businesses feel very isolated in terms of meeting their peers,” Wilson-Black believes. “I suppose I’m a good example. I run my company from nine to five, five days a week, as well as looking after my 13-year-old son. I go from work to school to drama classes, and the first time I have to sit down and think about the bigger business picture is nine o’clock at night or maybe at the weekend.
“By contrast, men are far better at networking, in my opinion. They have a much more structured and effective way of going about it; golf is the perfect example.”
Wilson-Black set up Irishwomeninbusiness.ie with the aim of tackling those three key requirements. Her first breakthrough came when Bank of Ireland agreed to provide a whole range of financial information that can now be accessed through the website. It has also been sponsoring a series of breakfast briefings with talks by business leaders.
The website itself essentially functions as a low-cost marketing tool for the women and their companies.
“When you join you get a directory listing; there’s an online forum where members can discuss whatever business issues are occupying them; there’s a news section where members can post anything that’s new in relation to their businesses, and we also profile a new member and her business on the site every two days.
“There’s a monthly networking meeting, which is already extremely popular because of the contacts that can be made, but it’s more than simply a get-together. The next one, for instance, is a seminar on social media in business, so the aim is to share our skills and resources as well.”
The website has an annual charge of €50, which covers the cost of hosting, maintenance and updating – but that’s the only charge to members. Everything else is free.
“Those of us involved in running Irishwomeninbusiness.ie don’t do it to make money; we make money by running our own businesses,” says Wilson-Black.
“We do it to help women in business support one another more effectively. I suppose you could look at it as a form of mutual mentoring; we want to help one other to succeed in difficult circumstances.”
ON THE RECORD
Name: Tara Wilson-Black.
Company: Select Digital Print Group.
www.selectdigital.ie and www.irishwomeninbusiness.ie
Job: Managing director.
Age: 34.
Background: Completed a four-year print apprenticeship as an originator at DIT in 2000, and the following year joined EuroGraphics at the Lime Street print works in Dublin.
When she lost her job as a result of a fire at the plant. she set up Select Digital Print in 2003. Won Irish print awards in 2004 and 2006. Won Print Manager of the Year in 2005 and the same year was named South Dublin Female Entrepreneur of the Year.
Secured sponsorship from Bank of Ireland and OwnerManager magazine to set up Irishwomeninbusiness.ie, which went live in January 2009.
Challenges: "Rolling out Irishwomeninbusiness.ie nationally on virtually a zero budget and convincing business women to get on board."
Inspired by: Adi Roche of Chernobyl Children's Project. "I know it's a strange thing for an entrepreneur to say, but I adore people who are driven by something other than money."
Most Important Thing Learned So Far: "I'll quote an old Chinese proverb: 'Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still'. That's the philosophy I've applied to my business, even at the height of the Celtic Tiger, and it's the philosophy I'll apply to Irishwomeninbusiness.ie as well."
