The Smooth Company founder Áine wins Future Leader Award

LUCAN entrepreneur Áine Kennedy won the Future Leader award at The Irish Times Business Awards – the latest accolade that the business woman has secured recently.

The founder of haircare venture The Smooth Company, Áine was named winner of the Emerging category at the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards in November.

Áine launched her business in 2022 from her attic to revolutionise haircare with innovative products designed to simplify routines and deliver salon-quality results at home.

Today, her brand has customers in 70 countries. Her entrepreneurial journey reflects creativity and resilience, and her brand continues to grow rapidly.

Meanwhile, buildings material giant CRH took home the Company of the Year award at the eighth annual Irish Times Business Awards in the Mansion House this week.

CRH, whose corporate headquarters ar Stonemasson’s House in Rathfarnham, recently made the cut for the prestigious S&P 500, the world’s most widely followed stock index.

Ms Kennedy was one of four people shortlisted for the Future Leader award, alongside Coleraine-based knitwear designer Hope Macaulay, Niamh Donnelly of Akara Robotics, and Shane Curran, the founder of payments group Evervault.

The awards are run in association with Bank of Ireland and the winners were chosen by a panel of judges, chaired by Microsoft executive Anne Sheehan.