Grainne takes the myths out of maths

By Kieran O’Mahony

BANDON-based businesswoman Grainne Bagnall was one of 44 female entrepreneurs who recently completed the Acorns pilot programme. 

Funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the programme is designed for rural-based early stage female entrepreneurs.

The Meath native runs ‘Sense About Maths’ from the Business Centre in Bandon and is keen to make the subject fun in everyday life for primary school students.

‘This was a six-month programme where we met once a month and it was very informative as we learned about things like leadership skills and how to develop business plans,’ Grainne told The Southern Star.

The former corporate headhunter with Morgan McKinley moved to West Cork three years ago to set up her business.

‘What I found in my previous career was that there is a huge shortage of STEM (Science Technology Engineering Maths) graduates in the county, and that girls weren’t necessarily taking up courses in this sector.

 ‘I realised that I wanted to take the myths out of maths and show that it doesn’t matter what career you choose, maths will always come into play,’ Grainne told  The Southern Star.

The key with ‘Sense About Maths’ is to get primary school students in 5th and 6th class curious about maths and so far Grainne has been inundated with schools that want to bring in her innovative maths programmme.

‘What we do is invite local companies to join us in visiting schools and getting them to help the children think outside the box when it comes to maths and numbers. I do think that companies have a social responsibility to build the pipeline for future employees and it’s vital that we catch the children early, so we are always looking for more companies to come on board and we train them and give them resource packs and help with their onsite visits.’

See www.senseaboutmaths.com for more information or contact Grainne Bagnall on 086-4147979.