Leighlinbridge entrepreneur wins businesswoman of year

SHANNON Kearney from Leighlinbridge has just scooped the title Emerging businesswoman of the year at this year’s Network Ireland Businesswoman of the Year Awards.

Shannon, along with her business partner Stacey Hawkes, founded SquareMap consultancy only last year, in August 2025.

The company positions itself as a one stop shop for business improvement and offers a number of services, from process optimisation to AI implementation, to sustainability.

Shannon and Stacey founded the business after only knowing one another for six months.

“It was such a risk,” Shannon said.

The pair met at work. “I knew straight away that she was either going to be my biggest ally or my biggest competition,” Shannon said.

In the end, Stacey did become Shannon’s biggest ally. The pair had spotted a gap in the market for consultants who specialised in small businesses, were skilled in a range of areas rather than having one specialism and would remain to help the businesses implement the transformations they suggested.

Since its founding last year, the company has gone from strength to strength.

“We turned a profit in our first week. The business is absolutely booming. Our slogan is ‘chaos to clarity but no jargon.’,” Shannon said.

Having been involved in Network Ireland’s Carlow branch, Shannon was encouraged by this year’s president Jane Byrne to enter the Emerging businesswoman of the year category only seven months after she started the business.

“We weren’t going to enter at all,” Shannon said. “The second to last day before the deadline I entered it thinking that it was a good exercise.” She described the process of entering herself as quite intimidating as it means having your business analysed by your peers. After being announced as the winner in her category in the Carlow branch, she was then invited to a final stage interview at AIB headquarters in Dublin.

“It went really well. I was four weeks postpartum and it was the first time that I left my baby at home with my husband,” she said.

Shannon is still in shock after being announced as the winner of her category at the awards ceremony in Galway.

“I didn’t see it coming. It was a big category with 17 finalists some of them were big businesses, so I was blown away by the win, to be honest.” Jane Byrne hopes that Shannon’s win will raise the profile of the Carlow branch of Network Ireland.

“It’s going to show ladies in particular that being part of a network is vital if you are a small business,” Jane said.

She also wished to congratulate Deirdre McCarthy, another member of the Carlow branch, for achieving a highly commended award in the Networker of the year category.