Irish SMEs tweet-up on the Reek

Businesses take to the Reek in June for charitable causes


SMALL and medium business owners, sole traders, businesspeople and the general public are invited to climb the Reek as part of the second Irish SME community ‘highest Tweet-Up’, taking place this June 16.  The charity climb will be raising funds for Mayo Roscommon Hospice. However individuals and collectives are also welcome to fundraise for their own preferred charities.
The ‘Tweet-Up’ climb is the second of its kind in the country, and came about as a result of a Twitter-based SME support group.  The group, which has accumulated almost two thousand followers around the country, was started by three small business owners based in the West.  During the course of a twitter conversation in June of last year, Kehlan Kirwan [Focus SME magazine], Debi Harper [Tús Nua Designs] and Olwen Dawe [Irish Business Intelligence] created the ‘hashtag’ #SMEcommunity as a means for small business owners to share information, ask questions and provide support to one another.  Within a few hours of creating the hashtag, it was trending on the social networking site.
Thanks to the online networking community, individual groups began to meet up around the country – at local ‘Tweet-Ups’ or gatherings.  The informal events have helped facilitate support, advice and business generation amongst the small business community. 
2012 has seen the ‘Tweet-Ups’ reaching new heights, with the Donegal SME Community orchestrating the first ‘Tweet-Up’ climb of Mount Errigal in February, where around one hundred climbers raised funds for Breast Cancer Ireland and the local ‘Little Angels’ school for children with learning disabilities.  The first all-Ireland SME Community Tweet-Up also took place earlier this year in January, in Birr, County Offaly.
Almost exactly a year to the day the SME Community group was founded on Twitter, the Croagh Patrick SME Tweet-Up will happen, and organisers Westport based Olwen Dawe [Irish Business Intelligence] and Jenny Brennan [Virtual Office Worx] are hopeful of a good turnout.  Speaking about the event earlier this week, Olwen commented: “The Tweet-Ups have been very successful, the first All-Ireland Tweet-Up took place in January, however our colleagues in Donegal really raised the bar by climbing Mount Errigal. Helping them to promote it, I ended up idly suggesting a Croagh Patrick climb – and I’ve been held to it. It’s a great way to celebrate the success of the SME community online – plus we’re raising much-needed funds for very deserving charities”.

For more info on the Croagh Patrick Tweet-Up, visit : http://croaghptweetup.eventbrite.ie, find the event on Facebook or Twitter, or call organisers Olwen Dawe 087 7997772 or Jenny Brennan 087 7979511.