North End Business Owner Named a Finalist for Female Entrepreneur

The Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE), a nationally-renowned nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women in business, announced that North End business woman Kathleen Doyle, the owner of FireFlower Alternative Energy, was named one of the top five finalists of its Women-Owned Business Challenge, a competition  to promote female entrepreneurship and the advancement of early-stage and growing women-owned businesses in New England.

FireFlower Alternative Energy, found by Doyle in 2008, creates turnkey renewable energy projects for mid-size companies, organizations and municipalities in the northeastern United States, with a special focus on solar PV installations in the 100kW to 2MW range.

Doyle was chosen from 88 Challenge entrants from across New England, with each application being judged on viability, competitiveness, scalability, realism, management experience and professionalism. Final presentations took place at the CWE Women Business Leaders Conference this fall and were judged by a panel of five New England Business leaders.

“CWE organized the 2015 Women-Owned Business Challenge to champion the advancement of growing women-owned businesses across the region and promote a fantastic group of female entrepreneurs,” said Susan Rittscher, president and CEO of the Center for Women & Enterprise. “We applaud all of our applicants and congratulate our talented group of finalists.”

The Center for Women and Enterprise (CWE), a nonprofit organization founded in 1995, provides opportunities for women entrepreneurs and women in business to increase professional success, personal growth, and financial independence.  With offices in Boston and Worcester, MA, Providence, RI, and Nashua, NH, CWE supports women’s businesses throughout New England through education, consulting, strong corporate-community relationships, and WBENC certification.  Since its founding twenty years ago, CWE has trained more than 33,500 women (and men), helped entrepreneurs create and/or nurture more than 36,800 jobs, and helped entrepreneurs generate over $1 billion in wages.  CWE is also the New England Regional Partner Organization for the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). www.cweonline.org