Sylvia Gavigan

Dr Sylvia Gavigan has over 20 years of experience in the educational sector and is a leader in entrepreneurship education and gender programmes. She is a lecturer and senior researcher at Technological University Dublin, Ireland. Sylvia obtained her PhD from Technological University Dublin and has a MSc from University College Dublin, Michael Smurfit Business School in Ireland. Her PhD investigated the contribution of entrepreneurship education to the emancipation amongst female entrepreneurs in Uganda. She has been in a leadership position as Honorary Consul of Uganda to Ireland, working with governments, international and local agencies, and has been involved in supporting projects between Africa and Ireland. She has been a management consultant with wide experience, working with EU investors who expanded their businesses to the Eastern Africa region. Sylvia continues to work in the area of entrepreneurship, trade, and investment in particular women entrepreneurs in Ireland and Eastern Africa.

 

She is committed to Entrepreneurship education and mentoring for women in Ireland and Africa: She has supported many start-up entrepreneurs in Ireland. With passion and a high standard of entrepreneurship experience, she has tailored an entrepreneurship programme to meet specific business requirements for start-ups in particular for women and youth entrepreneurs in Eastern Africa.She is an educator and started a secondary school and an entrepreneurship centre for training skills (in particular for women) in Uganda. She runs a summer enterprise programme for youth in Africa (SEI Africa). Sylvia was appointed to the Irish National Task Team on Rural Africa (NTTRA) in 2019 to date and subsequently, there was an establishment of the Ireland Africa Rural Development Committee (IARDC).

 

Sylvia’s academic interests are in the areas of entrepreneurship education, gender, leadership, female entrepreneurs and rural development, and emancipation for women.