One of Limerick’s best small businesses, ABS Engineering, Newcastle West will represent Local Enterprise Office Limerick at the National Enterprise Awards on the 29th May at the Mansion House in Dublin.
Run by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in the local authorities nationwide, the National Enterprise Awards are now in their 21st year and offer an investment prize fund of €40,000. The Awards take place on the 29th May in the Mansion House in Dublin and feature businesses from a variety of sectors. The Local Enterprise Office Limerick’s representative, ABS Engineering was founded by Colm Cussen in February 2017 having identified a gap in the market for a comprehensive Building Management System service to provide both building facilities management and production machines services to industry. Colm began his career as a tool maker and graduated from Limerick Institute of Technology in 2003 as an electrician. He developed his career as an electrical automation engineer and fine-tuned his skills in electrical controls, machine operations, staff management and client relationship management before setting up ABS in 2017.
Previous Limerick winners at the National Enterprise Awards include Design Pro, Rathkeale in 2013 and Bespoke Sauce Company Ltd, Raheen in 2017. Last year’s overall winners, Terra NutriTech, an AgTech company, backed by Local Enterprise Office Kildare was established by brothers Padraig and Tom Hennessy. Their company specialises in precision liquid supplementation for livestock. Since winning in 2018, Terra NutriTech have become a client company of Enterprise Ireland, adding a further seven staff and hope to double their workforce by 2021 following a recent €2million investment. Eamon Ryan, Head of Enterprise at Local Enterprise Office, Limerick said; “The National Enterprise Awards are very much a benchmark for excellence for small businesses across the country. It is much more than just awards. The businesses involved avail of mentoring and guidance as the process develops and generate connections and leads from other businesses along the way. They also receive signposting for their business helping them to move their company forward, irrespective of whether they win an award or not”
The National Enterprise Awards are one of a number of initiatives that the Local Enterprise Offices run, to foster entrepreneurship across the country. Others include Local Enterprise Week, the Student Enterprise Programme, National Women’s Enterprise Day and Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE). The Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities are funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland. Established in 2014, the Local Enterprise Offices are the essential resource for any entrepreneur looking to start a business or any small business that is looking for support or advice to help them grow. Since their inception five years ago, the Local Enterprise Offices have helped create over 18,000 jobs across the country. The LEOs work with over 7,000 client companies across Ireland in a diverse range of sectors offering mentoring, training, expert advice and financial supports to small businesses. For more information see www.LocalEnterprise.ie
