A scientist from Connemara who set up her own company after a laboratory she worked in burned down has been named Irish Businesswoman of the Year.
Evelyn O’Toole, a native of Cushatrough, outside Clifden, is the founder and CEO of Complete Lab Solutions (CLS), which employs 120 staff and has an annual turnover of €7.2m.
In their two laboratories – one in Rosmuc, the other on the Tuam Road in the city – the company provides sampling and analysis to the food, environmental, pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
CLS has a fleet of 12 vans collecting samples daily, under controlled conditions. They also supply fully trained analysts on contract to clients.
This week she was declared winner of the overall WMB [Women Mean Business] Businesswoman Award 2016, which was established ten years ago to recognise outstanding achievements of Ireland’s businesswomen.
After studying biology at Athlone Institute of Technology, Evelyn landed a job in the Research & Development department of an industrial paints firm in the UK.
She returned to Ireland and studied for a Diploma in Pollution Assessment and Control from the Sligo Institute of Technology in order to learn more about the water and wastewater sectors.
She then took up a position running the laboratory of an aquaculture company in Connemara for over two years when the plant was destroyed by fire and she suddenly found herself out of job.
A fortnight later, the then 25-year-old decided to set up her own company, which has grown from one employee in 1994 to 120 today.
CLS tests a variety of food products for clients such as Supermacs and Topaz and carries out water, wastewater and seawater sampling and testing throughout Ireland, working with organisations such as Shell and the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency].
CLS delivered the surface waters framework directive in Ireland on behalf of the EPA, the largest water testing project in the history of the State that provided the company with a blue print of where Ireland’s water quality was.
The company tests water and soil samples for contamination from substances such as oil, petrol and diesel.
The company recently doubled the size of the city laboratory, CLS MedPharma, which specialises in working with medical device firms such as Medtronic & Cook as well as pharmaceutical giants such as Allergan and Astellas, carrying out analytical and microbiological testing.
Her team of scientists are two thirds female.
She told the organisers that her role models are her late mother and former Irish president Mary Robinson.