Winning Westmeath woman part of panel for International Women’s Day

Photo - Caroline Geoghegan from Collinstown of CG Business Consulting.

Westmeath business woman Caroline Geoghegan joined a panel of successful women in the construction industry to speak at a conference today, Friday, to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Caroline, who was the first female ISO consultant, entrepreneur and managing director in Ireland, spoke at the event in Dunboyne Castle.

Caroline founded CG Business Consulting in 2009 after spotting a gap in the market. At the time, it was the only female run and managed ISO consulting firm in Ireland, and one of the few in the EU.

After 11 years in business, the company has grown to a team of 10 ISO consultants plus administrative, associate and other staff, making Caroline the ideal guest speaker for International Women’s Day, discussing her journey in business and as a woman in construction.

It was by accident rather than design that Caroline, who is from Colinstown, and whose parents still live there, stumbled on the original idea of establishing an ISO focused company.

A query from her father, Matty Conaty, led her down a different career path and since then CG Business Consulting has carved a niche for itself in the market as a company that can be trusted to deliver on its promises.

“I set up the company right in the middle of the recession,” Caroline said. “I got involved in ISO through my father’s business, Matty Conaty Electrical Ltd. He is an electrical contractor in Westmeath and he needed to have ISO certification for tenders he was submitting at that time.

“Dad asked if I knew anything about ISO certification and in 2008 I got his business certified. Then Hegarty Demolition got in contact with me to help them through the process and the business just grew from there,” she said.

A founding member of CQI Ireland, she established leading Irish ISO consultancy CG Business Consulting, and more recently delivered Ireland’s first ISO 45001 Health and Safety training programme.

Now she is looking at improving the industry from the ground up, with work ongoing on several projects as she aims to transform her business into Ireland’s first centre of excellence for ISO.

“It never occurred to me that I was a young female in a male world. I was just a focused, driven entrepreneur who wanted to create a leading ISO brand, to build a strong Irish company that could make its mark, and help SMEs to secure their place in what is a tough and competitive industry.

“I’ve never let being a woman getting in the way of making tough business decisions or of forging robust business alliances within the construction industry and I would encourage other women to do the same,” said Caroline.

Caroline has always been careful to nurture an open and gender-equal workplace. Of the 10 ISO consultants on her team, five are female. There are no male/female assignments in CGBC; each role and task is assigned on a best person for the job basis.

The CIF International Women’s Day Breakfast Seminar was today Friday March 6 at Dunboyne Castle Hotel, Co. The speakers also included Gillian Murtagh of Shay Murtagh Precast.