‘I want to help women own their numbers’: Cork woman recognised at Female Founder awards 

In her first year as a female founder, mum-of-two Amelia McNamara admits she over-invested in her accountancy business.

Amelia is the founder of Graceful Accounting, a financial and business strategy practice that supports service-based business owners to gain clarity and confidence with their money.

But despite her training and accountancy background she admits she wasn’t ‘great at managing money’ herself.

“My personal life suffered when I was setting up my business, I was building up credit card debt and I wasn’t paying myself properly,” said Amelia, who lives in Ballincollig with her family.

However, she turned her own business around – and is now helping countless others – after becoming Ireland’s only certified Profit First Professional, after bringing the globally respected cash management system here.

Now, motivated to help more people, especially females, to ‘get their heads out of the sand’ when it comes to their money, she’s set to extend the service beyond businesses, to help with personal finances in the new year.

It’s not surprising that her ‘give back’ attitude earned her an award at The Club Women’s Network third annual Female Founder Awards, which took place last Friday night.

The Female Founder Awards champion women from across Ireland who are building purpose-led businesses.

This year, 24 women were nominated across five categories for the awards: Newcomer of the Year, Solopreneur of the Year, Business of the Year, Positive Impact Award, and Contribution to The Club, which was presented to Amelia.

Amelia’s citation at the ceremony described her as ‘invaluable… sharing her expertise through workshops, providing incredible resources and always supporting others with a generous and relatable approach. Even while running her own business and raising small children, she consistently finds time to give back, always acting with transparency, compliance and a genuine care for others. She’s a true team player, conscious of the grassroots and someone we can always count on.’

“The Female Founder Awards are more than a ceremony - they are a celebration of Irish female entrepreneurship, community, and collaboration. We’re so proud to host it for the third time and celebrate these women and the businesses they’ve built.

“We received a record number of entries this year, and every finalist has a story of resilience, creativity, and contribution,” said Sian Horn, founder of The Club Women’s Network and host of The BeBelle Podcast.

“The female founder space in Ireland is really special, and these awards recognise the passion, innovation, and determination behind the businesses these women have created,” she added.

Before setting up her own business, Amelia worked in finance roles at Apple and Gilead Sciences. Her career was thriving, but everything changed in 2022 with the birth of her first daughter, Grace.

“There was no option to return to my corporate job part-time, and we had no childcare or family nearby who could help. I felt like I had to choose between progressing in my career or being there for my baby.”

In July, 2023, she made the decision to step away from corporate life and start her own business. Just a few weeks later, she discovered she was pregnant with her second daughter, Lilly.

“I found it a big change to step back from a big corporate role to running my own business, usually with my baby under my arm,” she said.

That was what motivated her to join The Club.

“I love everything about it – it’s all collaboration and no competition.”

And through The Club, she said she can impact more females, and she says that from working with women, she sees money management to be one of the major struggles they face.

“I want to help women to ‘own their numbers,’ and to release the fear around it,” she said. “My big goal is to make all that as easy as possible, to help female founders paddle their own canoes.”

The Profit First system is based on the traditional ‘envelope system’ where money would be squirrelled away in various envelopes for various purposes.

“Essentially, every cent you get is given a job and a place. It makes everything really simple and you never have to worry about paying yourself,” said Amelia who works with a range of clients – those on the first day of their new business, to those with large monthly turnovers.

“The big thing with women is that it’s in our nature to look after others before we look after ourselves. 

"We can also be shy when it comes to talking about our ambitions, and money,” she said.

Because of this Amelia also offers a separate, female-only course called “Power of Money System’ which works around changing the mindset.

“It’s a framework exclusively for women to set up and manage finances better. Establishing clarity around numbers is life changing, a real game changer, and it’s that clarity gives you confidence to make and manage money.”

Winning the award last Friday night was a ‘lovely surprise,’ she said.

“It was very special – and Grace who the business is named after is old enough to understand and was just as excited!”

Approaching Christmas, a financially intensive period, what’s her advice to women?

“For this year, I would say that it’s never too late to start, and the advice would be to plan carefully to avoid getting into debt.

“For next year, for Christmas or anything else, start saving 1% of your earnings into a different bank account, nothing too extravagant.

“It’s the perfect place to start. It will build and grow gradually. It’s all about baby steps and just taking that first step.”