Celebrating Our Transformational Alumni: Shortlisted for the 2026 IMAGE PwC Businesswoman of the Year Awards

What began as a response to the pressures teenage girls face became a national movement. Founded by Tammy Darcy, The Shona Project creates safe, supportive spaces online, in schools and at events so girls can speak openly, build resilience and see themselves as leaders. Its school visits and SHINE Festival model the same principle—evidence-based content, relatable role models, and community at scale—with 40,000+ girls engaged through school workshops to date.

SEI Journey: The Impact Programme 2017/18, The Adapt Programme 2020, Transform Programme 2024/26

Founded by Helene Hugel, Helium Arts provides creative, hospital-based and community-led programmes that support children living with lifelong health conditions. By integrating creativity into the care journey, Helene helps children look beyond their diagnosis, fostering self-expression, building social connections, and improving mental health outcomes. From its early days as a small initiative, Helium Arts has scaled significantly, now reaching 5,500+ children annually with a dedicated team of staff and artists across the country.

SEI Journey: Level 1 2007, Level 2 2008, The Adapt Programme 2020, Changing Ireland Accelerator 2023/24

HUGS Community is a social enterprise providing psychological first aid training to first responders, their families and friends, to help them recognise stress and encourage early help-seeking. Our initial programme, HUGS@Home, was founded by Michelle O’Toole, who began her journey as a firefighter/ advanced paramedic and paramedic educator, and more importantly as a family member of firefighter/ paramedics. Following a three year evidence based implementation and evaluation of HUGS@Home, HUGS Community was born. Co-founded by Michelle, and Brian Doyle (also a former firefighter/paramedic), HUGS Community addresses the high levels of stress and trauma experienced by statutory and voluntary first responders, many of whom face cultural and systemic barriers to seeking mental health support. Over the past 12 months, they have worked with over 250 first responders, families and friends. By training first responders, families and friends in the core elements of ‘HUGS’- Hearing, Understanding, Guiding, and Supporting- they help reduce the impact of work-related stress and strengthen wellbeing across social support networks.

HUGS Community has recently been recognised as Best Newcomer in the Dublin City Social Enterprise Awards 2025 and as a finalist in the inaugural National Social Enterprise Awards 2025.

SEI Journey: The Impact Programme 2024/25

When her daughter April was born with Down syndrome, Therese Coveney set out to change a stark reality: the vast majority of adults with Down syndrome in Ireland are unemployed. She founded the Together Academy to provide accredited, employment-focused training for young adults, pairing classroom learning with real work experience in a training café so skills translate directly to paid roles and independent lives. Since launch, the Academy has opened social-enterprise cafés, placed graduates in paid employment, and, in 2025, expanded with a new vocational training college through a major industry partnership—building a clear pathway from education to meaningful work.

SEI Journey: The Ideas Academy 2019, The Action Lab 2020, The Impact Programme 2023

What began as an innovative response to the need for inclusive physical activity for children has grown into a social enterprise promoting health and equality from the ground up. Founded by Sinead Ryan, Little Fitness provides specialised fitness and social inclusion programmes designed specifically for children, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds or living in emergency accommodation. By combining physical movement with play-based learning, Sinéad creates safe spaces where children can develop fundamental motor skills, boost their self-esteem, and improve their physical wellbeing. Her work directly addresses complex social challenges by ensuring that every child, regardless of their circumstances, has the opportunity to lead a healthy and active life.

SEI Journey: The Ideas Academy 2022, The Action Lab 2023, The Impact Programme 2023

Ciara Mangan is the Founder and Managing Director of Beyond Surviving, Ireland’s first survivor-led charity dedicated to connecting victim-survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence, and supporting their healing, wellbeing, and personal growth journeys.

Ciara founded Beyond Surviving in 2023 following the sentencing of her attacker. As she began rebuilding her life after a seven-year fight for justice, she identified a significant gap in Ireland’s post-crisis DSGBV (domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence) recovery infrastructure, specifically, the lack of ongoing, community-based support and a continuum of care for survivors beyond frontline-crisis services such as Rape Crisis Centres.

Beyond Surviving was established to bridge that gap in services. The organisation provides safe spaces where survivors can connect, heal in solidarity, and engage in their own self-advocacy. Since its founding, Beyond Surviving has made notable strides: its advocates presented at the United Nations in June 2025, the organisation earned a place on the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Impact Programme, and it was recently nominated for the National Social Enterprise Awards 2025 under the category of ‘Start-Up Social Enterprise’.

SEI Journey: The Impact Programme 2025/26

Engineer, performer and space communicator, Niamh Shaw created Town Scientist to break down barriers to science for families who feel shut out of it. After years translating space and STEM on stage, in classrooms and on TV/radio, she set out a community model: meet people where they live, co-design learning with local partners, and make complex issues—AI, climate, health tech—practical and relevant to daily life.

Town Scientist has piloted with parents and marginalised groups in Dundalk (with Louth ABC) and in Birr, using workshops, experiments at home, and citizen-science projects to build confidence and agency around evidence. The work has been supported by Research Ireland and profiled nationally, with an expanded Dundalk programme announced for 2025.

SEI Journey: The Ideas Academy 2024, The Action Lab 2024