From its humble beginnings in the bedroom of an ambitious Cork woman, COMMUNiCATE has built up a solid reputation as one of the most effective and successful business management and communications consultancies in Munster.

Established in 2004, COMMUNiCATE is based at the crossroads of Munster in Mallow and supports clients in all areas of public relations, event management, communications, management consultancy, marketing & management mentoring and business training.

The company was established by current Managing Director Laura Curtin who was eager to follow in the entrepreneurial footsteps of her grandfather, father and sister before her .

Having undertaken a Degree in Marketing and IT at the University of Limerick and worked for almost 15 years in marketing and management roles at home and abroad, Laura had always planned to eventually set up her own company at some stage in her life. The opportunity to make this dream a reality came far sooner than Laura had expected though and after being offered redundancy at Campbell Services in Limerick four years ago, the Cork woman decided it was time to came home and make her ideas happen.

"I had been working as marketing manager with Campbell Services, for over two years, when the redundancies were offered. The marketing function was well established and I was looking for a new challenge. I wanted to be based back in Cork and felt the redundancy offer was a good opportunity to set up my own business. At the time I realised that there was a huge amount of SMEs who didn't have the funding for full-time marketing staff and I believed my knowledge and expertise could be applied to other businesses," she explained.

Making her dream a reality, Laura moved back to Cork and with just a PC and a small desk in her bedroom, COMMUNiCATE was born.

In the early days Laura focused her work on a small number of companies who had approached her for advice on PR, marketing strategies and business development. With each successful venture, Laura found that she was gaining more and more clients and before long had began to secure a steady number of contracts.

Just 18 months into the job, Laura gained an invaluable contract which helped her define where the company was going in the future and how COMMUNiCATE could set itself apart from competitors. Having secured the tender for a Rural Domestic Violence conference in West Cork, Laura worked tirelessly on this project over a period of six months so she could ensure the conference was expedited in the most organised yet sensitive way. The feedback from the event was very positive, with many commenting on how the company's personal and hands-on approach had ensured that the conference was a success and COMMUNiCATE's media contacts ensured this controversial topic received national exposure. Laura took all this feedback on board and on realising that her ethos of providing a personal approach had made this event a success, she ensured that she delivered this same ethos to every single one of her clients whether they be major multinationals or indigenous companies.

Following on from the success of this event Laura began to receive more and more interest from companies in Cork and further afield and over the next two years the company continued to blossom. Today COMMUNiCATE employs four full-time staff members and six part-time staff and has a wide client portfolio with clients from across the country, in the UK and the US.