Sisters doing it for themselves

Two sisters who set up a business during Covid are set to address a Cavan event on International Women’s Day

Sustainability was to the forefront of the minds of Bláithín and Maeve McCormack as they set up their business, The EcoShack, in the midst of the pandemic’s uncertainty.

“We’ve been invited to talk about the fact that we’re sisters and started the business during Covid and how it came from being nothing to something so fast,” says Bláithín with pride.

The pair had been waiting for a similar shop to open in the county for years. Eventually, when none appeared, and Bláithín was laid off during Covid, they decided to do it themselves.

“I was a receptionist/secretary in Dublin and I lost my job because of Covid. I had to move back here to save money and, because I had so much time on my hands, we had planned to do this as a dream, but never actually did it.

“We had a Google Doc that now and again we would throw a little idea in, we’d throw an idea in from Pinterest in or whatever.”

They began their journey with a horsebox, which was not as successful as they had hoped, as Covid stopped all fairs and events. This was when the sisters decided a more permanent address was needed.

“My sister said - you’ve got the time now, why don’t we just see if we could get a premises. The next day I had this place booked to view so within two days we had a shop.”

Opening the store proved to be a harder task than they were expecting, soon realising the lack of resources available to women, especially during the pandemic.

“The only grant was for the website but I had already set all of that up myself so that wasn’t really any good to us; so, surprisingly, a lack of help apart from wonderful groups,” she laments.

However, Bláithín credits the Local Enterprise Office (LEO), which offeredsupport, as did Cavan business women generally.

“It was nice meeting all the women in this local community that are just so wonderful and so supportive. Women are always just really supportive.”

Since opening, the shop has proved to be quite popular. The sisters have also been able to document just how much their shop has impacted the environment based on how much of their produce was sold.

“We can see how many drums we have recycled. Our drums get refilled so people bring in their bottles, they refill them and then when they’re empty they go back to the supplier and get refilled, so there’s no waste in that process at all.

“Since we opened, we’ve been going through about three drums a month, at least, which is 20 litres per drum. That would be your laundry detergent and washing up liquid, which are the most popular.

“Our most popular things would be rice, porridge, pasta and then shampoo bars are becoming very popular, coffee cups. Basically all the simple swaps. Basically people just bring in their jars, we write the weight on it, they shop, we weigh it again, and then we deduct the difference. So you could even come in with a bit of liquid in the bottom and we’ll know how much is in it so you won’t be charged for that.”

Bláithín says that one of their aims is to show people how easy it is to swap their current shopping habits for a zero waste alternative. They also want to reassure everyone that this eco-friendly alternative can cost the same, if not less than shopping in bigger retail stores.

“We want to keep the prices down because we want it to be affordable for people in Cavan. A lot of people are really happy with the prices and a lot of people tell us to put the prices up on certain things up but we figure we should keep the prices low where we can to compensate for the stuff that is more expensive.

“Basmati rice has tripled if not more in price in the last couple of months because of the war and because of Brexit and all of that. We’re, on purpose, keeping that down but the other rices are brought to meet it in the middle to compensate so there’s that kind of compromise balance there where we are trying to keep it affordable even though there’s massive issues along the chain.”

Occasionally, customers even question how reasonable the prices in the Eco Shack are, and encourage the girls to increase them to make more money.

“I’ve been given out to about the price of our salt,” laughs Bláithín.

The EcoShack also hold a range of courses, showcasing various eco-friendly activities. Their most recent class was based on creating your own cleaning supplies using powder and vinegar, which was a huge success.

Upcoming classes in the EcoShack include the art of Macrame and how to make Kombucha. To book your place visit www.ecoshack.ie

International Women's Day

Bláithín and Maeve are among the speakers at a Local Enterprise Office (LEO) Cavan event today to mark International Women’s Day.

The booked-out event is for female entrepreneurs and it will be hosted in the Farnham Estate, featuring an impressive line-up of speakers. They include: Heather Humphreys TD, Minister for Social Protection and Rural & Community Development who will launch the evening and address the attendees via video link; journalist and human rights activist, Razan Ibraheem, who is originally from Syria.

Business women, Bláithín and Maeve McCormack, of The EcoShack on Main Street Cavan, will talk about sustainability and competitiveness, which is the theme for Local Enterprise Week 2023.

Tara Humphreys, business advisor, LEO Cavan, will outline the supports available from LEO Cavan and Margaret McKeon-Boyle, Extensive PR, will act as Master of Ceremonies for the evening.

The keynote speaker is Razan Ibraheem who was Born in Latakia near the Turkish border. She was teaching in Syria when she applied for an Irish student visa in 2011 and obtained a Masters in English, Irish and American literature from the University of Limerick.

She is now a senior analyst at media firm Kinzen. Razan has reported and verified thousands of videos from across the world and is a regular contributor to various newspaper articles and current event programmes on Irish radio and TV.

Her verification work has been included in reports across many prominent media organisations and news websites.

Razan provided additional research for the New York Times visual investigation that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2020. Awarded the International Woman of the Year by Irish Tatler in 2016, Razan is passionate about empowering people from different backgrounds to challenge the norms and lead bright futures. She will share her story with the audience from being brought up in Syria to her journey to Ireland to study to now working and living in Ireland.

Local Enterprise Week is organised every year by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices across the country. This year it takes place from Monday, March 6 to Friday, March 10, and LEO Cavan are hosting a number of free events throughout the week including this event for female entrepreneurs.

“We are delighted to have such distinguished speakers to inspire and empower those attending the event,” said Tara Humphreys.

A full list of events can be found online at www.localenterprise.ie/Cavan