Wicklow’s Ross Lawless to compete for Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur National title
Competing for Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur in the upcoming national final for the Best Start-up award will be Ross Lawless from Arklow. Ross co-founded CALT (Computer Aided Life Technology) Dynamics to create technologies that have a positive global impact. They develop and design decentralising technologies like, 3D printers, vertical farming systems, and communication technologies.
The Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, and Wicklow Region’s “Best Young Entrepreneurs” were announced at an awards ceremony hosted by Carlow’s Local Enterprise Office on the 19th of June at the Stephouse Hotel, Borris. The winners were chosen from 12 finalists, shortlisted from almost 157 applicants in the competition which was launched earlier this year by the LEO’s as part of a nationwide search to find “Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE).
Now in its fifth year, IBYE is a nationwide campaign to celebrate Ireland’s young entrepreneurs and is open to individuals aged 18 to 35 who have an innovative business idea, new start-up or established business.
24 contenders (three from each region nationally - one in each category) will be selected to compete for the national title of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur on Sunday 15th of September 2019. A further €100,000 investment fund will be available to invest in the winners of the three categories at the national final - one of which will also be named as “Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur”.
Eight regional finals are taking place across the country over the next few weeks in the search for Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2019. Previous LEO Wicklow national finalists include Kate Dempsey of Irish Mussel Seed Company, Maurice Sheehy of Fleet, Cathal O’Sullivan of Game X, Shane Bonner of Newmarket Kitchen, James Keogh of Rathwood, Michael Noble of Noble Education, Shane Byrne and Philip Kirwan of Showoff.
Wicklow’s competitor in the ‘Best Business Idea’ category was Billy O’Neill from Aeroforms and the competitor in the ‘Best Established Business’ category was David Benko from Acoustic Materials.
Going forward to compete for the national title in the ‘Best Business Idea’ category is John Duggan of LoanIt from Kilkenny, in the ‘Best Start-up’ category is Ross Lawless of CALT Dynamics from Wicklow and in the ‘Best Established Business’ category is David Bambrick of Equireel from Carlow. The national final of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur takes place on Sunday 15th of September 2019, where a further €100,000 investment fund will be available to invest in the winners of the three categories at the national final - one of which will also be named as “Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur”.
Vibeke Delahunt, Head of Enterprise, Local Enterprise Office Wicklow said “We are delighted to have had such a positive response from so many strong candidates from Wicklow this year. The skills and knowledge gained by all involved in the competition we hope will stay with each participant and help grow their businesses even further. We are excited to see what will be in-store for our regional winners and we wish them every success in the upcoming national finals! IBYE is a remarkable platform that we hope will encourage and grow further young entrepreneurship and job creation in the region.”
Further details on the competition and supports available to young entrepreneurs are available through www.localenterprise.ie and www.ibye.ie .
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