€150,000 investment fund allocated as Local Enterprise Offices announce Cork’s nine Best Young Entrepreneurs

Local Enterprise Offices announce Cork’s nine Best Young Entrepreneurs

IBYE County Final

Nine of Cork’s ‘Best Young Entrepreneurs’ were named at an awards ceremony hosted by Cork’s three Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) on Thursday, 8th October in The Atrium at City Hall, Cork. The winners were chosen from 45 young entrepreneurs, shortlisted from almost 150 applicants in the competition launched this summer by the LEOs in Cork, as part of a nationwide search to find ‘Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur’ (IBYE).

 

The campaign saw each of the three LEOs (Cork City, South Cork, Cork North and West) encourage young entrepreneurs from all over the city and county to enter and be in with a chance to win a share of the €150,000 investment fund available. This was the second year of the competition, open to individuals aged 18 to 30, which was judged in three distinct categories following the presentation of their business plan to judging panels in their specific region. The three categories were:

  • Best idea (not yet trading)
  • Best start-up (trading for 24 months or less)
  • Best established business (trading for more than 24 months)

 

To help prepare for this stage of the competition, the finalists participated in a three day, intensive business boot camp last month which was designed to help them develop the skills required to take their ideas and businesses to the next level - from the concept stage to reality, to building a viable business plan and commercialising their business.

The winning businesses were chosen according to criteria including business investment needs, business prospects and the young entrepreneur themselves.  The winner in each category receives significant investment in their business, with one overall winner in each of the regions receiving the accolade of ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’.

 

In the Cork North and West competition, the Best Start-Up category was won by Maeve O’ Keefe from Mallow, scooping €20,000 for her business Inspect 4, which has developed an animal handling crate to improve safety for the operator and the animal, and to reduce the physical work associated with hoof trimming. Inspect 4 caters for both farmers and professional hoof trimmers.

 

Stephen Murphy, also from Mallow, won the Best Idea category, winning €10,000 investment in his company, Ride-On from LEO Cork North and West. Stephen has developed a safe, simple, modular, single person system for backing and breaking young horses and ponies. With years of experience in the equine industry, Stephen is ideally placed to move from prototype-stage to a successful business, both in Ireland and internationally.

 

Winner of the Best Established category, winning €20,000 investment in her company was Aimie Musgrave from Carrigaline for Crunch. Crunch offers a healthy food delivery service supplying gyms, fitness centres, and offices with nutritious balanced meals and snacks. They design menus with their customers’ health and taste buds at the top of their priority list, using the freshest of vegetables, herbs and spices. Aimie was also named Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the LEO Cork North & West competition.

 

Winners in LEO Cork City competition:

  • Best Idea category - Breffney O’Dowling Keane, FruitCubed.
  • Best Start-up - Gail Condon, Writing for Tiny
  • Best Established category - Jack Crotty, The Rocket Man 
  • Young Entrepreneur of the Year – Gail Condon

 

Winners in LEO South Cork competition:

  • Best Idea category - Patrick Corrigan, Musica
  • Best Start-up -James Foody, Ayda - represented at the awards by Ian Kerins, Head of Operations, Ayda
  • Best Established category – Amie Musgrave, Crunch 
  • Young Entrepreneur of the Year – Amie Musgrave

 

The 2015 winners in each of the three categories will now go forward to represent their respective LEO in a regional final in November, and if successful there, will fly the Cork flag at the national final where ‘Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur’ will be crowned before the end of the year.

Speaking at the county final, Michael Hanley, Head of Enterprise, Local Enterprise Office Cork North & West said “Now in its second year, IBYE has once again unearthed a wealth of young entrepreneurs in Cork who we now need to nurture and support. The aim of this initiative is to encourage and support a culture of entrepreneurship among young people in region, to promote entrepreneurship as a career choice, and to encourage the establishment and development of new innovative businesses.”

Michael continued “We would like to commend all these brave young people having decided to take the next step in to making their business a success, and we wish them all the very best in their entrepreneurial journey ahead. At the LEOs in Cork, we are proud to be associated with an initiative that will really help launch them to the next level, and we wish the best of luck to the nine Cork winners who will fly the Cork flag in the regional final next month.”

 

Visit www.ibye.ie for more information on ‘Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur’. To follow the progress of Cork’s winners, check out @IBYECork on Twitter and IBYE Cork on Facebook.