2 Female Entrepreneurs Getting the Party Started
Ramon Ray spent a few minutes talking to Clare Harris and Kate Hyde during the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network in Singapore. Clare and Kate are female business owners who have complementary businesses that don’t compete with each other but instead enforce a nice referral system. Businesses supporting other businesses in a symbiotic relationship is always helpful for female entrepreneurs.
About Talking Tables, Clare Harris
Clare Harris founded talkingtables.com in 1999, right in time for the turn of the century celebrations. Her idea for this venture came from a love of hosting informal, fun gatherings at home. Now, after seeing steady growth, Talking Tables employs 50+ people and sells many varied, colorful and stylish party products, all of which are great at getting the ‘table talking’.
Clare knows that many people take pleasure in creating a nice environment for hosting family and friends, and her company is filling the need of where consumers can find the products they need and that showcase their personality.
About Glencove Group, Kate Hyde
Back in 2008, Kate Hyde realized that no one in Ireland was claiming the market of the thousands of women who were going on hen parties (i.e. bachelorette parties) every year. So, Kate decided to build Irelands’ first hen party website.
The business gained traction and started to go from a pipe dream to generating revenue through smart advertising. Following a media appearance in 2009, Kate had her national launch and further spread the hen party word and began to reframe the hen party industry — from an undesirable concept in the public eye to a mainstream and viable revenue stream.
Now, glencovegroup.com has multiple offices and over 40,000 people attending their events — each year!
A Little Motivation
When asked about inspiration and what words of advice they have, Clare was quick to say that you need to believe in your market and believe that there are other people, like you, with similar interests. Those are the people who will be excited to see your business come to market. She also said it’s important to be resilient and determined. Simple words with a strong punch.
Kate had similar thoughts, commenting that you need to have belief in what you are doing and yourself and that you should find other people who have similar drive and motivation. In her case, she is motivated by other women in business.
You can learn more about their businesses by checking out talkingtables.com and glencovegroup.com