Kelsey Ramsden, entrepreneur. Photo via kelseyramsden.com
Canadian entrepreneur Kelsey Ramsden will speak about her experience serving and growing businesses at DCU Ryan Academy tomorrow, Tuesday.
Ramsden reckons she got her first lesson in entrepreneurship when she was just six years old.
“I drew a picture and it had two suns drawn on it,” she recalls.
“My teacher told me it was wrong, and that I would have to redraw it, but I didn’t think she was right.”
Today, Ramsden describes herself as a ‘serial entrepreneur and entrepreneur’s guide’. She has founded several enterprises, she has been voted Canada’s No 1 female entrepreneur (named in Profit Magazine in 2012 and 2013), she has been selected for the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women Programme and she is a mentor at the Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship.
So how does she relate the ‘two-suns’ incident to her rise as an entrepreneur?
“My understanding of how I could do things without other people’s permission started then, and that is oftentimes what entrepreneurship is about,” she says.
“When you release yourself from that permission-asking mentality, you avail of a new level of opportunity for yourself, and that is when I started to figure it out.”
Heading places
Tomorrow, Tuesday 25 November, Ramsden will be speaking about her experience “serving and growing businesses” and aspects such as truth, trust, authenticity and heading.
Heading?
“As opposed to goals, ‘heading’ is something bigger and more important and I don’t think goals are required,” she explains.
“I think goals oftentimes hold us back from much better and more fruitful paths of entrepreneurship.”
As Ramsden gives her talk, she will be asking attendees to articulate their own perspectives on postcards and, if they want to take part in her upcoming ‘Courage challenge’ she will offer an assessment on their reflections.
Inspiring entrepreneurs
Ann Horan, chief executive of DCU Ryan Academy, is looking forward to Ramsden speaking with entrepreneurs at the Citywest Business Campus in Dublin.
“Kelsey is Canada’s No 1 female entrepreneur and she is hugely successful, and yet when you meet her she comes across very much as the girl next door,” she says.
“She reminds me of many of the female entrepreneurs that we work with at the Ryan Academy and I look forward to her meeting them. I know she will inspire them and help demonstrate how they too can fulfil their ambitions to become the best at what they do.”
Kelsey Ramsden’s talk will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, 25 November 2014, at POD 1, DCU Ryan Academy, 3013 Lake Drive, Citywest, Dublin. Registration is from 10am, the event runs until noon and it includes a networking reception. Tickets are €20 and can be booked here.
Women Invent Tomorrow is Silicon Republic’s campaign to champion the role of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. It has been running since March 2013, and is kindly supported by Accenture Ireland, Intel, the Irish Research Council, ESB, Twitter, CoderDojo and Science Foundation Ireland.
