The Galway native who has played such a key role in establishing her family business as one of Ireland’s most trusted suppliers of animal tags was among the innovators and entrepreneurs honoured at Network Ireland’s annual Businesswoman of the Year Awards for 2024.

Ursula Kelly of Cormac Tagging in Tuam was named the Established Businesswoman of the Year – one of eight awards announced at a ceremony, which took place at Lyrath Estate, Co. Kilkenny on Friday night.

The national business networking group received an unprecedented 460 applications for this year’s awards from their members in local branches across 17 counties.

And Ursula, who will next year celebrate a decade at the family business, was among the eight recipients.

Cormac Tagging is a 100% Irish owned family business, that has its roots embedded in the Gormley family which has been involved in agribusiness since 1985 and in farming in the west of Ireland for generations.

TJ and Kitty Gormley worked with sheep on the family farm for many years, but after having five daughters they realised that sheep farming may not be enough to put them all through college.

In 1985, TJ began manufacturing equipment to help reduce the workload for Irish sheep farmers including handling, feeding, and lambing equipment.

The Gormley family opened a retail store for the sheep farming equipment and many other agricultural products in 1993.

Tuam Farm Supplies quickly became a cornerstone in the Galway farming community, supplying local farmers with everything from feed to fertiliser, and veterinary medicines to general agricultural hardware.

Today, the store remains a strong going concern, although under different ownership.

When sheep tagging was introduced in 2001, the retail store began supplying sheep tags – and in 2006, Cormac Tagging was born as a standalone tag provider for sheep, pigs, and goats.

In the years that followed, Cormac Tagging became a leading Irish supplier of sheep, pig and goat tags thanks to its product quality and trusted, personalised customer service. The cattle tag market remained in the sights of Cormac Tagging during these years.

By 2015, the cattle tag market was still dominated by a single Department of Agriculture-approved supplier in Ireland despite several attempts over 14 years by Cormac Tagging to enter the beef and dairy tag market.

That’s when TJ’s daughter Ursula re-entered the fray to take over at the helm of the family business as Director of Operations, following a career in accountancy.

Together Ursula and TJ successfully applied to become a department-approved cattle tag supplier, finally realising their vision to offer farmers in Ireland product choice in the market.

With entry into the cattle tag market in December 2016, the business expanded dramatically, growing by 1200% by 2022. With 99.2% customer retention success during this period, Cormac Tagging continued to cement its position as Irish farmers’ trusted animal tag supplier.

The company’s expansion into the cattle tagging market was recognised by AIB as a benefit for both Ireland’s national dairy and beef herds, with Ursula being named as a finalist in the Irish Strategic Growth Award in a female-led enterprise category at the National Women in Enterprise Awards in 2018.

Pictured: Established Businesswoman winner Ursula Kelly of Cormac Tagging, with Assumpta Gallagher President Network Ireland Galway Branch and National President of Network Ireland Linda Codoul. Photograph: Nichola Browne