Irish SMEs to TweetUp on the Reek

Take to the Reek in June for charity in the second Irish SME Community Tweetup

SME-owners, sole traders, businesspeople and the general public are invited to climb the Reek on June 16 as part of the second national SME community “highest Tweetup” event. The charity climb will be raising funds for Mayo Roscommon Hospice.

The Croagh Patrick TweetUp is the second of its kind in the country, and came about as a result of a Twitter-based Irish SME support group. The group, which has almost 2,000 followers, was started by three small business owners based in the West. During the course of a Twitter conversation last June, Kehlan Kirwan from Focus SME magazine, Debi Harper from Tús Nua Designs and Olwen Dawe from Irish Business Intelligence created the hashtag #SMEcommunity for small business owners to share information, ask questions and provide mutual support.

Thanks to the online networking community, groups began to meet up around the country at local Tweetups – meet-ups organised on Twitter. The informal events have helped facilitate support, advice and business generation.

2012 has seen the Tweetups reaching new heights, with Donegal SMEs organising the first Tweetup climb of Mount Errigal in February, when 100 climbers raised funds for Breast Cancer Ireland and the local Little Angels school for children with learning disabilities.

The Croagh Patrick Tweetup will happen almost a year to the day the SME Community group was founded on Twitter, and organisers Olwen Dawe and Jenny Brennan from Virtual Office Worx hope for a great turnout. Speaking about the event, Olwen commented:

“Tweetups have been very successful – the first all-Ireland Tweetup took place in January. 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”.

The climb is not exclusively for business people either.

“We’re delighted to be joined by anyone wishing to raise money for either our nominated charity or their own preferred charity. We’re also actively seeking volunteers to help in coordinating and helping with the event – don’t be shy! We’ve had great interest so far” added Jenny.

For more info on the Croagh Patrick Tweet-Up, visit croaghptweetup.eventbrite.ie, find the event on Facebook or Twitter or get in touch with Olwen Dawe or Jenny Brennan