What it is?
Ambition is an exciting new accelerator programme of the Local Enterprise Office Donegal, which focuses on female entrepreneurs and promotes the skills and resilience needed to develop globally scalable ventures, attract investment and create jobs.
The Local Enterprise Office will support founders to bring ideas from concept to pitch. Up to twelve business ideas will be selected to receive mentoring and support through a series of workshops between September 2025 and December 2025. Applications are open until midnight, Monday June 30th 2025.
At the end of the programme:
- All finalists will receive detailed feedback on their business ideas and pitches from the Local Enterprise Office and the showcase Judging Panel.
- The Spirit of Ambition Award will be presented to the idea and promoter with the best overall potential.
Who is eligible?
The Ambition programme is open to:
- Any Female Founder or Co-Founder.
- Residents of County Donegal and Donegal Diaspora within Ireland or worldwide.
- With a concept for a new product or service across any sector with a particular focus on technology and digital solutions.
- Global scalability potential.
- A team.
- Commitment to grow a business from Donegal no matter where in the world you live at the moment.
General Guidelines
- Application close at midnight, Monday June 30th 2025.
- If applicants are part of a team, teams may only select up to three participants to complete the workshops.
- Open to residents of Donegal or anyone part of the Donegal Diaspora within Ireland or worldwide.
Selection
We are looking for innovative new business ideas amongst Donegal's' female entrepreneurs. Convince us that your business idea is the next big thing, and you will receive support to develop your business idea from concept to pitch.
Up to twelve businesses will be selected to participate in twelve workshops. These will be chosen based on criteria including: the scale of ambition, the size of the problem to be solved, early market understanding, a clear competitive advantage, feasible business model and strength and diversity of the team.
Teams must be available to participate on all programme days as outlined. At the end of the programme showcase, a Judging Panel comprising leading entrepreneurs, executives and investors, will evaluate progress.
Timeline
Ambition Schedule
· Workshop 01: Orientation, Tuesday, 02 September 2025 (in person)
· Workshop 02: Problem Framing, Tuesday, 09 September 2025 (online)
· Workshop 03: Problem Framing Applied, Tuesday, 16 September 2025 (online)
· Workshop 04: Customer Discovery, Tuesday, 23 September 2025 (online)
· Workshop 05: Customer Discovery Applied, Tuesday, 30 September 2025 (online)
Break Week for Customer Discovery Activities
· Workshop 06: Value Proposition, Tuesday, 14 October 2025 (online)
· Workshop 07: Value Proposition Applied, Tuesday, 21 October 2025 (online)
· Workshop 08: Market Sizing, Tuesday, 28 October 2025 (online)
· Workshop 09: Market Sizing Applied, Tuesday, 04 November 2025 (online)
· Workshop 10: Presentation Skills, Tuesday, 11 November 2025 (online)
Break Week for Presentation Preparation
· Workshop 11: Next Steps, Tuesday, 25 November 2025 (online)
· Workshop 12: Practice Pitch, Tuesday, 02 December 2025 (online)
· Programme Showcase, Tuesday, 09 December 2025 (in-person)
Teams must be available to participate in all sessions on the dates outlined above.
The final shortlist selection of up to 12 ideas will be announced in July 2025.