According to a survey from the Local Enterprise Offices, released this week, previous winners of the National Enterprise Awards now employ 832 people and generate over €131 million in turnover, €58 million of which is generated from exports to 52 countries. Since winning, 11 of the companies have scaled-up their businesses to become Enterprise Ireland clients.

Previous national winners, such as Kilkenny based entrepreneur Linda Nolan, MyBio Ltd (2015), Irish Yogurts (1998), Obelisk (2000), Digiweb (2004), and Design Pro (2013), will all be recognised at this year’s ceremony in the Mansion House on Thursday, May 24th. The Minister for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen T.D., will be presenting the awards on the night and he said: “It is important to celebrate the wonderful success stories within Ireland’s small businesses and micro-enterprise sector.  The annual National Enterprise Awards reflect the Government’s support for, and commitment to, all areas of innovation and enterprise development within the Local Enterprise Office network.  As we celebrate 20 years of winners in 2018, we hope that the achievements of previous winners will serve to inspire and encourage today’s start-ups to follow in their footsteps and to look internationally for growth opportunities.”

Fiona Deegan, Head of Enterprise with Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny said: “The National Enterprise Awards are our chance to celebrate finalists’ economic impact on their local communities, the jobs they have created, and the overall growth of their businesses. Combined, the previous winners now employ 832 people all over the country, have a turnover of over €131 million per annum and have €58 million in exports to 52 countries. These achievements deserve to be celebrated on a national scale and we know they will inspire other local companies here in County Kilkenny too.”

County Kilkenny is being represented at the 2018 National Enterprise Awards by Eoin Treacy from Glanway Ltd based in Belview Port. The company, which was set-up in 2014 employs 5 fulltime and 2 part-time people. Glanway Ltd has built an innovative waste processing line which removes recyclables and organics from waste transforming the remainder into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) which it exports to Waste to Energy facilites in Europe. In all, 31 finalists, one from every local authority area, will be competing for a share of the €40,000 prize fund on May 24^th.

Funding for the Local Enterprise Offices is provided by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland, and further details about the supports on offer to small businesses are available through www.localenterprise.ie.