Noreen Hughes of Rainbow International honoured at Causeway’s Irish-Scottish Virtual Business Awards

Glasgow businesswoman, Noreen Hughes, Managing Director of Rainbow International in Glasgow East has been awarded Inspirational Business Leader of the Year at a Causeway: Ireland Scotland Business Exchange Virtual Awards Ceremony held on 1 October 2020.

Causeway: Ireland Scotland Business Exchange is a not-for-profit membership organisation that connects professionals from both sides of the Irish Sea and aims to facilitate business growth and collaboration through networking and events, as well as provide a valuable space for professionals to connect, communicate and collaborate.

Since the Causeway network launched four years ago, the annual Causeway Awards have grown to become a high-profile, prestigious celebration of the thriving professional relationships and connections between Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland and present a unique opportunity to showcase professional success stories, from across Ireland and Scotland.

Sponsored by Enterprise Ireland and Moneycorp, this year, due to Covid-19, the Causeway Awards took place virtually and were attended online by over 60 business leaders from across Ireland and Scotland, with guest speeches from the Consul General of Ireland in Scotland, Jane McCulloch and Deputy Head Scottish Government Office Ireland, Sandy McPhee.

The Causeway Inspirational Leader of the Year is aimed each year at an inspirational business leader that excelled in business in the last year within the Causeway regions of Scotland, Ireland or Northern Ireland.

During lockdown, in Noreen Hughes’s role as Managing Director of Rainbow International Glasgow East, a Disaster Recovery and Restoration business, she and her team donated PPE to local hospitals, and started Covid cleans, including taking on the hugely difficult job of decontaminating businesses, funeral parlours and even private homes that had suffered a Covid-19 death.

The award was presented by Causeway Chair David Greenlees, who on presenting the Awards said:

“I’m delighted to present this award to Noreen Hughes, not only because of her business commitment and success, but also for her exceptional team leadership during the Covid-19 crisis, and for her other endeavours to further Irish culture in Scotland.

“Noreen has led her franchise Rainbow Glasgow East to become one of the most experienced and successful in the Rainbow Network and has won many national and local business awards. The additional challenging work Noreen and her team have undertaken this year in response to the Covid-19 crisis has been truly remarkable and very worthy of commendation.

“Not only has Noreen demonstrated great leadership in running a successful business, her passion for the Gaelic Games has led to an active involvement in the GAA Scotland, where she sits on the County Board. Her commitment to Irish culture is such that she also somehow finds the time to be Secretary of the thriving St Patrick’s Comhaltas Ceilteórí Eireann (CCE) branch in Coatbridge, as well as Treasurer on the CCE Scottish Regional Committee.

“On behalf of Causeway, we are extremely proud to have Noreen part of our network and delighted to honour her with this very deserving Award.”

On receiving the Award, Noreen said:

“I am very surprised and delighted to receive this award amongst such a wonderful panel of nominees. It has been a very tough year for everyone with Covid-19 still very much around and part of our everyday lives.

“If I take one thing that this virus has reinforced to me, it is that we must be there for each other and stick together to get through it, whether in business or in the wider community.  Thanks to everyone involved with Causeway in all their efforts to do this.”

To watch the presentation of the Award to Noreen, watch here.

To find out more about the Causeway Virtual Awards visit https://causewayexchange.net/virtual-awards

To find out more, visit causewayexchange.net or follow on Twitter @causewayxchange

For further information contact Events and Membership Engagement Manager Aoife O’Sullivan on aoife.osullivan@causewayexchange.net or at 078 7055 6486.