The new CEO of Laois Chamber of Commerce is Caroline Hofmann from Roscrea, a former special ministerial adviser at the Department of Finance.
At 27, Ms Hofman will be the youngest CEO of a Chamber in the country, and begins her role this week.
A graduate of Government and Public Policy from UCC, she also holds a Graduate Certificate in European Law and Policy from DCU.
She served as a special adviser at the Department of Finance, working alongside Minister of State Michael D’Arcy in the last government. Incidentally that ministerial position has since been filled by Laois TD Sean Fleming.
With Minister D’Arcy losing his seat at the 2020 General Election, though remaining as a minister for a number of months until a new government was formed, world Ms Hofman was duly out of a job.
For the past year she has worked in an administrative role in Portlaoise Hospital during the Coronavirus pandemic.
She has lived outside Mountmellick for the past number of years and is aware of the key benefits that Laois as a county can offer in the business space, having been a commuter to Dublin herself in her previous role.
She says she’s really looking forward to the challenge of the new role.
“I’m delighted to be appointed and I’m really looking forward to getting started,” she said.
“There’s a really good board there and a diverse range of businesses represented.
“The first thing I want to do is meet as many members as possible in whatever way possible – be that doing a walkabout the various towns, picking up the phone or remotely.”
She also says she plans to link in with her predecessor Bernie Everard, who served in the role since Laois Chamber was re-formed in 2019 until she stepped away earlier this year.
Despite the pandemic coming just as the Chamber was finding its feet and had organised a number of high-profile events, it grew its membership over the past year.
She says her relatively young age won’t be a factor, and says that she is well used to being in that position having been one of the youngest ministerial special advisers ever appointed at only 25.
“There have been many times I’ve been the youngest person at a meeting and there have been many times I’ve been the only woman.
“I’m well used to standing my ground. It doesn’t faze me. I have a wealth of experience, I’m very diligent and very results-driven.
“This position suits me very well. The Chamber is here to help businesses and I’m very familiar with how lobbying works and I’ve experience dealing with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland.
“This is a very crucial time for businesses. A lot of businesses have had huge challenges over the past year and a half and have been very resilient. Hopefully we are over the worst of it but there are still considerable challenges.”
Pointing to the county’s success in attracting business like Greenfield Global and Glanbia in Portlaoise as well as the recent announcement of 25 new jobs in Mountrath with Canadian tech company N’Ware, she says that Laois has so much going for it.
“We are so close to Dublin, we are on a brilliant motorway network, there are three train stations in the county and we have easy access to most of the third-level colleges.
“We also have a selection of high quality remote working hubs and housing prices are more affordable than in the big cities.
“We want to encourage more business to consider locating here.”
Alongside that, the Chamber will continue with its monthly networking meetings, which they hope can resume in person sooner rather than later. There are also holding their second annual Golf Classic in September as well as tentative plans for their first annual business awards.
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