20/10/2015 Fingal’s Best Young Entrepreneurs Win €50,000 Investment

Press Release                                                                             20th October 2015

Fingal’s Best Young Entrepreneurs Win €50,000 Investment

Three winning companies include Irish themed Jewellery design (best new idea); Software (best start-up); Specialist child product manufacturer (Best established business).

IBYE Fingal winners 2015

IBYE – Fingal winners 2015

Pictured receiving their IBYE 2015 trophies from Chief Executive Fingal County Council, Paul Reid and Mayor of Fingal Cllr. David O'Connor are Dean Peters of COMPARISON DOORS AND WINDOWS (software) - Best Start-Up Business category, Cara Sturgess of LOINNIR (jewellery design) - Best Business Idea Pre Trading catagory <24 mths and Gemma O’Brien of ADAM AND FRIENDS  - Best Established Business category >24mths (Specialist child product manufacturer)

Three of Fingal’s best young entrepreneurs have won a total investment of €50,000 through the Fingal Local Enterprise Office, as part of the €2 million Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition (#IBYE).

Aimed at young and aspiring entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 30, Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition is an integral part of the Action Plan for Jobs and is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through the network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices.

At a ceremony in County Hall, Swords, during Fingal Enterprise Week, the Mayor of Fingal, Cllr David O’Conner, together with Fingal Chief Executive Paul Reid, and Fingal Head of Enterprise, Oisin Geoghegan, presented awards for Fingal’s best start-up, best new idea, and best existing business.

The local winners and investments won were as follows:

Best New Idea (winning a €10,000 investment): Cara Sturgess, Loinnir Irish themed jewellery, Castleknock.                                                                                                                                      

Best Start-Up (winning a €20,000 investment): Dean Peters, Comparison Windows and Doors, Skerries.

Best Established Business (winning a €20,000 investment): Gemma O’Brien, Adam and Friends, Blanchardstown.

The Fingal winners will now represent the county at the regional finals in Dublin on the 4th November where three young entrepreneurs will be selected to represent the Dublin Region in the national finals. A total of 24 regional winners will compete at the Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur National Finals in December.

Marking the occasion, Paul Reid said,

“It is central to our plans for job creation and growth that we support more businesses to start-up. Two thirds of all new jobs are created by start-ups, so if we are to create the jobs we need we must support more entrepreneurs to start new businesses. Through the Fingal Local Enterprise Office, we are actively fostering a stronger culture of entrepreneurship and promoting start-up business as a career option for young people. That is what is behind this competition to find Fingal’s best young entrepreneur and ultimately Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur. We have excellent start-ups and entrepreneurs in Fingal – and we need more of them. It was great to see so many excellent young entrepreneurs and business-people getting involved in this competition, and I am delighted to congratulate our winners. I wish our three winners, ‘Team Fingal’ every success in the next stage of the competition”. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Oisin Geoghegan from the Fingal Local Enterprise Office, paid tribute to all the young entrepreneurs in the region, saying: “As the first stop shop for entrepreneurs and small businesses, it is heartening to see a growing and vibrant community of young entrepreneurs locally. Through Business Bootcamps, mentoring and general business advice, the Local Enterprise Office plays a vital role in supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs, on a year-round basis. We will also be working closely with this year’s IBYE winners, to help maximise the return on the €50,000 investment that they have been awarded.”

Details around Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition are available through www.ibye.ie and information on supports for all small businesses can be accessed through www.localenterprise.ie.

ENDS                                                                                                                 

Interview opportunities are available with 2015 #IBYE winners and finalists, along with representatives of the Fingal Local Enterprise Office. For all queries around Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur Competition in Fingal, please contact the Fingal Local Enterprise Office.

Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2015 (#IBYE)

Website: www.ibye.ie

Social Media: #IBYE

Now in its second year, Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur is a competition that is open to everyone with an innovative business idea

  • individuals
  • venture teams
  • partnerships
  • existing businesses with a new idea
  • people overseas (including Irish emigrants) who will headquarter in Ireland

The competition is broken down into three categories:

  • Best New Idea (pre-trading), with €10,000 investment prize fund available through every LEO
  • Best Start up Business (up to 24 months), with €20,000 investment prize fund available through every LEO
  • Best Established Business (over 24 months) with €20,000 investment prize fund available through every LEO

Each Local Enterprise Office (LEO) ran a competition from May to August 2015, aimed at finding winners in each of the three categories as well as an overall winner in each county. Each LEO will have a total fund of €50,000 to invest in the three winning businesses according to criteria including businesses’ investment needs.

The competition will then proceed to eight regional finals with winners identified in each category. In total, 24 finalists will be selected during the regional finals, during the judging stage. All 24 finalists will win a place at the IBYE national finals, to be held in December.