Social Innovation Ireland Fund boosts its board
Social Innovation Fund Ireland has added to its board with appointments in Cork and Dublin.
The national support group for social innovations has raised €18m in less than four years, funding 115 projects. The fund created 61 jobs in the first half of 2019 and impacted the lives of 95,000 people, twice that of a year earlier.
Caroline O’Driscoll, tax partner with Deloitte and founder of I Wish, will chair the fund’s finance committee. I Wish hosts the largest Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics event for girls in Ireland; 17,000 girls have participated in I Wish since 2015. Ms O’Driscoll has over 20 years’ experience in providing tax advice to multinational companies.
Ailbhe Keane, founder and creative director of Izzy Wheels, has also joined the the fund board.
She was named on Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2018. Ms Keane launched Izzy Wheels in 2016, designing colourful wheels to ensure her sister’s wheelchair reflected her bright and bubbly personality.
Today Izzy Wheels sells to over 35 countries.
The fund has also recently recruited Mario Vottero as operations manager.
He has a wide range of experience including two years as a social entrepreneur in his native Spain; seven years as an evaluator of EU-funded international development programmes, and five years working in Asia for a hi-tech and a biotechnology company.