My Career: ‘I love what I do... working with start-ups is different every day’

Name: Fionnuala Wall

Age: 55

Lives: Crookstown, Co. Cork, with my family, dog and cat!

Job title: Head of Marketing & EU Projects at AxisBIC

Salary bracket: Not enough!

Education background: Honours Degree in European Studies, French and Spanish from UCC; Diploma in Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Institute.

Hobbies: Walking, swimming in the sea, and gardening.

Describe your job in five words: Co-ordinating projects, communication, supporting start-ups.

Describe yourself in five words: Organised, adaptable, strategic, communicative, resilient.

Personality needed for this kind of work? You need to be highly organised and able to manage multiple moving parts at once, especially when running events. Strong communication skills are essential, as you’re constantly engaging with entrepreneurs, investors, partners, and public bodies. You also need confidence and persistence to build relationships and secure participation from high-level stakeholders.

Creativity helps with marketing and PR, while resilience is key when working under pressure and tight deadlines.

How long are you doing this job?

I have been working as a Marketing Manager with AxisBIC (formerly CorkBIC) since 2010, so over 15 years in this role, alongside earlier senior marketing roles dating back to 2000.

How did you get this job? I began with a degree in European Studies (including Spanish and French) from University College Cork, which gave me a strong international foundation. As part of my studies, I spent an Erasmus year in Seville, which sparked a lasting love of travel and experiencing different cultures.

After graduating from UCC, I moved to France, where I worked as a personal assistant to a business couple. Based in Paris, I had the opportunity to travel extensively with them, including spending time in the United States and the South of France. This was an incredibly valuable experience that helped me develop strong organisational and planning skills, while also building my confidence. It was a fantastic introduction to the working world and laid a solid foundation for my future career.

I then moved into marketing, gaining early experience at Oracle. I initially joined as a PA to the Marketing Director, but quickly progressed to become an integral part of the marketing team. After a year and a half travelling across Australia and Asia, I returned to Dublin, where I worked in a number of marketing roles including, Senior Marketing Executive at Macalla Software and Marketing Manager at COLT Telecom Ireland, where I managed campaigns, lead generation, PR, and product launches at a national level while working with a wider European team.

In 2010, I joined CorkBIC (now AxisBIC) as Marketing Manager. Over time, I developed and expanded the role significantly - building the organisation’s marketing presence, growing social media from zero to thousands of followers, and developing major initiatives and events. I’ve worked closely with key stakeholders such as Enterprise Ireland, local authorities, European partners, and business leaders.

A major highlight was organising the European Business Angel Congress in Cork in 2022, bringing together hundreds of international delegates and high-level speakers. Alongside this, I’ve helped grow The Entrepreneur Experience into one of Ireland’s leading entrepreneurial events, which has been running for 15 years. More recently, I have managed AxisBIC’s involvement in EU Projects, in particular a €20million EU Project helping Ukrainian start-ups to integrate into the EU, receive grants, and grow their businesses.

Do you need particular qualifications or experience?

Yes — a mix of education and practical experience is important:

A degree is very important in any discipline

Marketing qualifications

Strong experience in marketing, PR, and event management

Experience working with stakeholders and partners

Digital marketing and communications skills

Describe a day at work:

Every day is different! And every event is different as we work with a huge variety of start-ups and entrepreneurs from all sectors.

Imagine you are responsible for making sure a large number of people - from start-ups to investors, to corporate partners - come together successfully.

My day might start by checking emails and messages from partners and stakeholders. Then I could be planning an event - organising venues, speakers, travel, and promotion.

I’ll spend time creating and reviewing marketing content, such as social media posts, newsletters, or brochures. I might meet our partners like Enterprise Ireland, local councils or EU partners to move projects forward.

Some of my day involves problem-solving; fixing last-minute issues, managing deadlines, or co-ordinating with my team and external agencies.

Overall, my job is to make sure projects and events run smoothly, marketing reaches the right audience, and AxisBIC continues to attract and support entrepreneurs.

How many hours do you work a week?

Typically around 37–40, though large events or major campaigns can require additional time.

Is your industry male or female-dominated?

Marketing tends to have strong female representation, while the start-up and investment ecosystem (especially angel investors and entrepreneurs) can be more male-dominated. Interestingly, EU Project coordinators tend to be more female-dominated.

Does this affect you in any particular way?

Working across both areas means I interact with a diverse range of people. My role requires confidence and strong networking skills to engage equally across all groups, particularly in investor-led environments.

Is your job stressful? How? Rate it on a scale of 1-10:

Some days can be quite stressful, depending on the projects and activities involved, but the role is also extremely rewarding. In particular, seeing early-stage start-ups progress, grow, and connect with partners and investors through our events makes the hard work worthwhile.

Stress can go from 1 to 10 very easily, but I’m usually fairly calm and can handle most situations.

Stress comes from managing large-scale events and ensuring everything runs perfectly, tight deadlines and logistics, and co-ordinating multiple stakeholders in different countries.

Do you work with others or on your own?

Both. I work both independently and as part of our small team on planning and execution, but a large part of my role involves collaboration with partners, stakeholders, sponsors, and teams.

When do you plan to retire or give up working?

No idea – I really love what I do and working with start-ups is different every day!

Best bits:

Working with entrepreneurs and business leaders, organising high-impact events, seeing start-ups and entrepreneurs grow and succeed, building strong networks nationally and internationally, variety in my day-to-day work, and working with multiple EU Partners towards the same goal of helping start-ups.

Worst bits:

High-pressure deadlines, complex logistics for large events, administrative and reporting workload, managing unexpected issues during events.

Advice to those who want your job?

Get broad experience in marketing early on - especially in events, PR, and digital.

Build strong communication and organisational skills, and don’t underestimate the importance of networking. Experience working with different stakeholders and sectors is hugely valuable.

Finally, be open and adaptable — career progression comes from taking opportunities, building skills over time, and being open to new challenges.

Any other comments?

AxisBIC is a great place to work. We are a small team who identify innovative entrepreneurs and provide support and essential business expertise within our region of Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick, empowering high growth entrepreneurs to drive positive impact.