LOCAL businesses were on show recently as they played a part in a ’48 Hour Business Trail’ as part of the ‘French Connection’ visit that was held at the weekend.

The trail, organises by the Kerry Businesswomen’s Network (KBN), was centered around creating links and enhancing the communication networks between local businesswomen here and those based in Beauvais, France.

The group of French businesswomen were treated to a bird’s eye view of the county as they were whisked away on a helicopter tour to see just what Kerry had to offer. They also attended business meetings, a business tour to Dingle and even integrated some Irish music, racing, pub visits and Irish cuisine into their trip.

KBN held the first event of the trip at the Meadowlands Hotel in Tralee where a number of talks and themes were selected for the evening, ranging from hospitality, HR, education, accountancy and legal services.

The evening was mixed with intense meetings around collaborative opportunities, networking, food, Irish dancing and traditional music from local bands.

The night was deemed a great success with a number of connections being made such as when a young Tralee based college student, currently studying French and Corporate Law in Galway, took the initiative to use the evening to source work experience in France.

He is currently in dialogue with Aurelie Gautier who operates a large family accountancy and legal practice in Northern France.

Over the weekend, the group visited Tralee Greyhound Track and later headed for the Tralee pubs and enjoyed a mix of both traditional and popular music. On Saturday morning the group headed back to France where four of the group have already made arrangements to return this summer with their families.

“We will continue to organise Business trails into Kerry in the future, as a way of promoting all business sectors throughout the Kerry region,” said  Liz Maher, Chairperson of Kerry Businesswomen’s Network (KBN).

“KBN are currently planning to reciprocate the visit and a number of KBN members have signed up to visit Beauvais France in early October 2015. It is expected that the French trip will include a trip to Le Manoir Chateaux, a culinary institute run by one of the French group Marie Hélène Desfosse, a wine tasting and culinary evening and some visits to other various French businesses. The trip was a wonerful success and we hope to build on this and encourage networks in other counties to participate in our ‘Kerry Business Trails’,” she said.