Young entrepreneurs win €50,000 investment
By Maurice Garvey
YOUNG entrepreneurs benefitted with a €50,000 investment from Local Enterprise Office South Dublin.
Six young entrepreneurs – aged between 18 and 35 – were announced as South Dublin’s best young entrepreneurs at the county final of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition.
IBYE, which has a €2 million investment fund, is run by all 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) nationwide and supported by the Department of Jobs and Enterprise Ireland.
The overall Best Young Entrepreneur for the county is Aonghus Shortt (30) from Food Marble in Glendown Drive, Templeogue.
Shortt also won the category for Best Start-Up Business and an investment fund worth €15,000 from LEO South Dublin.
Other main category winners were Darragh Mason of Dublin Mountain Design, from Boden Park, in the Best New Idea category, and Kyle McLoughlin of Irish Garage Equipment, based in Rathcoole, in the Best Established Business category.
Top prize in the Best New Idea category was €7,000, with a top prize of €15,000 for the Best Established Business category.
All three category winners will represent the county at one of eight IBYE Regional Finals, taking place during January and February 2017.
Meanwhile, category runners-up also shared an investment of €13,000 between their three businesses.
They were Gary O’Toole (27) of Kickabout based in the Synergy Centre, IT Tallaght, in the Best New Idea category, Sarah Kiely (29), of Sadie’s Kitchen in Walkinstown in the Best Start-Up category, and Keith Downey, (31), of Platinum Group based in Clondalkin, in the Best Established Business category.
Colm Ward, Head of LEO South Dublin, said: “We started the search to find Ireland’s best young entrepreneur in August and the competition received a record-breaking number of entries – 1,800 young entrepreneurs applying nationally.
“After a very successful IBYE bootcamp and county final, the future is bright for both youth entrepreneurship and job creation in the region.”
This year’s judges included Eamon Keane of Xpreso Software Ltd, Niamh Sherwin Barry of the Irish Fairy Door Company, along with Colm Ward and Des English of the LEO Office, while the MC for the event was Cllr Charlie O’Connor.
