# Clare McGee

> Clare McGee is the Derry-based Irish co-founder and CEO of AwakenHub and AwakenAngels. Her career spans business consulting, innovation programmes, founder mentoring and investor education, with a focus on supporting women-led businesses across Ireland and connecting them with international networks. She also co-founded Innovate-NI and leads Tech Northern Ireland Advocates.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at AwakenHub and AwakenAngels
- **Organizations:** AwakenHub, AwakenAngels, Innovate-NI, Tech Northern Ireland Advocates, Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, Pennyburn Credit Union, Brook Hall Outreach CIC, North West Regional College
- **Nationality:** Irish
- **Education:** Ulster University
- **Known for:** Digital DNA Northern Ireland Business Personality of the Year, 2016., Business Leader of the Year (SME), The Irish News Workplace and Employment Awards, 2025., Designed and managed a Tech for Good pre-accelerator involving 35 third-sector organisations.

## Career timeline

- **2003–2016** — Operations Manager and Senior Business Consultant at Northern Ireland Business and Innovation Centre.
- **2009–2014** — Worked on iFactory, providing innovation and business support to SMEs.
- **2016** — Co-founded Innovate-NI with Dr Barney Toal; received Digital DNA’s Northern Ireland Business Personality of the Year award.
- **2020** — Co-founded AwakenHub, an all-island community for women founders.
- **2021** — AwakenClub launched; SheGenerate began supporting early-stage women founders.
- **2023** — Co-founded AwakenAngels, the women-led angel investment syndicate.
- **2024** — Helped relaunch Tech Northern Ireland Advocates with Mary McKenna; appointed a director of Derry Chamber in November.
- **2025** — Named Business Leader of the Year (SME) at The Irish News Workplace and Employment Awards.
- **2026** — Continued US diaspora connections, international trade-mission development and delivery of founder programmes.

## Achievements

- Digital DNA Northern Ireland Business Personality of the Year, 2016.
- Business Leader of the Year (SME), The Irish News Workplace and Employment Awards, 2025.
- Designed and managed a Tech for Good pre-accelerator involving 35 third-sector organisations.
- Co-founded AwakenHub and AwakenAngels to support women founders and broaden investor participation.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — On October 13, McGee helped launch WeScale 3.0 (21 founders) and SheGenerate 6.0 (25 founders) in Dublin, including value-proposition work and a scaling-cohort Q&A.
- **2026-07** — Announced expanded trade-mission plans including Cleveland, San Francisco and a February 2027 New York/Boston mission; SheGenerate had supported 167 founders.
- **2026-04** — AwakenHub facilitated an Ohio delegation visit to Derry following her March Philadelphia encounter.
- **2026-03** — Reported that 90% of AwakenAngels investors were women and over 115 new investors had completed the Investor Academy.

## Links

- Website: https://www.awakenhub.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claremcgee
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ClareMcGee80
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clare_mcgee1/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/clare-mcgee
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-24