The Finalists for this year’s National Enterprise Awards were announced today in Dublin. The 31 companies from across the country will compete for the top prize at the awards on the 1st June.
This is the 23rd year of the Local Enterprise Office initiative, which was won last year by Aqualicence, supported by Local Enterprise Office Wicklow. Headed up by former Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) Finalist Kate Dempsey, Aqualicence have positioned themselves at the forefront of planning and project delivery in the offshore renewable energy sector.
This year the finalists cover a range of sectors and industries from augmented reality tours and sensory friendly clothes designers to energy saving software platforms and agtech solutions farmers. The finalists also include a range of consumer products from chocolate and whiskey to artisan bakery products and a zero-waste food company.
John Magee, Chair of the Network of Local Enterprise Offices, said; “The National Enterprise Awards serve to highlight the very best businesses that the Local Enterprise Offices are working with across the country. The diversity of sectors and innovation shown again this year is outstanding and the winners will no doubt produce businesses destined for international success. These Finalists have shown outstanding resilience to get to where they are today and we are looking forward to celebrating with them at the Awards”.
The Finalists compete for a prize fund of €50,000 and along with an overall National Enterprise of the Year winner there are categories for Best Start-Up, Best Export Business, an Innovation Award, a One-to-Watch Award, and a Sustainability Award. There is also an Outstanding Achievement award for a business that started with their Local Enterprise Office and has gone on to achieve international growth with the assistance of Enterprise Ireland.
Previous winners of the National Enterprise Awards include the likes of Irish Yoghurts (1998), Obelisk (2000), Simtech Aviation (2008), Digiweb (2004) and Design Pro (2013), Terra NutriTech (2018), Pestle & Mortar (2019) and Bevcraft in 2021.
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 Local Enterprise Showcase. 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 eight years ago, the Local Enterprise Offices have helped create over 25,000 jobs across the country. The LEOs work with thousands of 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
NATIONAL ENTERPRISE AWARDS – FINALISTS 2023
LEO Dublin City – Lovin' from the Oven
With a love for the craft of baking, Lovin' from the Oven Ltd is an award-winning artisan bakery that supplies cakes and bakery products including vegan and gluten free, to wholesale, corporate clients and events. The business is expanding with the recent launch of a new range of frozen goods.
LEO Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown - Imvizar
Imvizar is leading the way in immersive, walkable storytelling experiences. Using augmented reality technology, they create experiences for tourist attractions, universities and entertainers in US, Ireland, UK, Portugal and Australia. They have created a platform which hosts experiences across the world with the vision to become the ‘Netflix for AR’
LEO Fingal – Cream of the Crop
Cream of the crop is a Fingal-based zero-waste pioneer business focused on turning ‘wonky” surplus produce into delicious treats so you can fight food waste with every bite. They persistently work on developing unique and exciting flavours, from sweet bananas to crunchy peanuts to delight your taste buds.
LEO South Dublin - High Resolution Lighting
High Res are a highly experienced full service Creative Production company, specialising in Virtual Production for the tv & film industry. The broad industry definition of ‘Virtual Production’ is a collaborative and interactive digital filmmaking process that facilitates the creation of virtual environments, and enables them to be physically shot ‘in camera’, rather than added in in post-production
LEO Clare - Wild Irish Seaweeds
Wild Irish Seaweeds manufacture and export products for the health food industry using raw materials sourced from the Atlantic Ocean. They are a global leader in the supply and manufacture of seaweed products for retail, food ingredient and nutraceutical industries in over 60 countries globally. They take pride in their roots in the heart of West Clare.
LEO Kerry - Lorge Chocolatier
Lorge Chocolatier supply a wide range of chocolates and confectionery to gourmet shops, e.g. handmade truffles, bars, nougat, marshmallows and hot chocolate powder. They have two retail stores, one of which incorporates their factory where the chocolates are made. They supply chocolates worldwide through their website.
LEO Limerick – Cotter Agritech
Cotter Agritech is a start-up founded by brothers Jack and Nick Cotter. Based in Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick, who develop novel hardware solutions to address difficulty of manually handling animals and software to address the issue of controlling parasites in livestock, which is one of the biggest challenges facing the agricultural industry.
LEO Tipperary – Truepos
Premier Utilities Limited t/a Truepos is an international payment services company in the Fintech sector providing EPOS and Card Payment Solutions to the SME Sector. Supported by Its 10 employees in Clonmel, it has developed and marketed a range of financial payment platforms for export to the UK and Europe.
LEO Kildare – Kildare Brewing Company / ProKulture Organic Kombucha
ProKulture Organic Kombucha is brewed in their own purpose designed brewing facility in Kildare. ProKulture is an award winning non-alcoholic restorative drink, packed full of antioxidants. Suppling major retailers across Ireland, the experienced team behind the ProKulture brand have bold export ambitions for 2023 and beyond.
LEO Laois – Ballykilcavan Brewing Company
Ballykilcavan Brewery is based on a 13th generation family farm near Stradbally, and all their beers are made with water and barley from the farm. The brewery employs four people and is a leader in sustainable brewing. Ballykilcavan beers are sold locally and in France, Italy and the Czech Republic.
LEO Offaly - Glass Innovations
Glass Innovations is an engineering company that specializes in printing and painting on glassware for clients in the drinks, beauty, and retail industries. Their unique approach transforms standard glassware into a distinctive product that enhances our clients' brand image and maximizes their shelf presence,
LEO Westmeath - Watt Footprint
Watt Footprint is an innovative tech-enabled energy management service company delivering significant energy savings for businesses. Watt Footprint offers an end-to-end fully managed solutions package to cut energy costs and usage for businesses. The business is underpinned by Watt Footprints suite of proprietary software and technology providing a turnkey cost-cutting service for clients.
LEO Cork City – Stolen Stitches
Stolen Stitches is the one-stop-shop for adventurous knitters. People can join their vibrant global knitting community, choose from immersive clubs and knit-alongs, explore luxury yarns, patterns, and video workshops, all with full support through their dedicated online educational hub and community forum. Based in Cork City with staff located across Ireland.
LEO Cork North & West – BaseWorx Technologies
BaseWorx is a flex space management software that provides solutions for flexible and hybrid workspaces. Their tools allow businesses and coworking spaces the ability to streamline scheduling, reservations, and billing processes for shared workspaces, meeting rooms, and event spaces.
LEO South Cork - HYDE Irish Whiskey
HYDE Irish Whiskey is a premium range of multi award winning Irish whiskey matured and ‘finished’ to perfection in the idyllic landscape and temperate climate of County Cork, Ireland. Currently exporting to over 65 markets worldwide. It also supplies all major multiples, airports, ferries, and off licences across Ireland.
LEO Waterford - Hopfully Brewing
Hopfully Brewing Ltd was established with the sole aim of producing and selling high-quality craft beer to its esteemed customers throughout Ireland and around the world. Hopfully beer is unique, showcasing creative flair and personality, expressed to the consumer through its vibrant natural flavours and unique packaging concepts.
LEO Carlow - Forest Rock Technologies
Forest Rock provides software and hardware solutions for multiple clients in energy usage, sustainable buildings, and access controls. Forest Rock exports its own software to the U.K., Europe and Australia, with plans to expand into North American markets. Forest Rock are the sole distributor of Tridium and SkySpark products in Ireland.
LEO Kilkenny – CHI Environmental
CHI Environmental is the only EPA licenced site that collects and recycles a range of construction and demolition waste materials in the South East. By pioneering a circular-economy business model and recycling waste materials into usable products, private, commercial and Local Authority customers can divert waste from landfill and help achieve environmental targets.
LEO Wexford – Sully & Juno
Sully & Juno is Ireland’s only sensory friendly design house. Established in 2021, the company creates clothing designed to be inclusive and conscious of the sensory needs of the wearer.
LEO Wicklow - The Wicklow Hops Company (WHC Lab)
WHC Lab is a biotechnology business, focused on yeast fermentation. The team are experts in the brewing and distilling industry, using next-generation methods to grow yeast and bacteria, with an R&D lab that is home to industry-leading equipment.
LEO Donegal - Silver Strand Rope Works
Based in Moville in County Donegal, Silver Strand Rope Works Ltd is an established cord, rope, string and strapping manufacturing business offering a wide range of products to local and international markets. These are used in various industrial applications across agriculture, construction, fishing & marine, hardware, oil & gas, packaging, mining and renewables.
LEO Leitrim - CampusConnect
Working with leading universities in the UK and Ireland, CampusConnect is a white labelled community app and platform for universities that delivers significantly higher rates of student enrolment and retention by connecting incoming applicants with a community of best match peers for support, guidance, and friendship.
LEO Longford – Midland Language Centre
Midland Language Centre Ltd (MLC) offers English language programmes for European teenagers to stay with host families in Ireland and attend secondary school or summer camps. This family business, while based in Longford, operates nationally. Clients are a growing number of European based agents, who promote MLCs' programmes to overseas students.
LEO Sligo – PRONAV Clinical
PRONAV Clinical provides customised supply chain services for Early Phase Clinical Trials being conducted in Europe and across the globe. Their primary clients are Pharmaceutical and Biotech innovators who are moving from laboratory based pre-clinical development of new drugs to testing in Human Clinical Trials. The company has the appropriate facilities, personnel, and regulatory authorisations in place to provide: EU Site of Importation, Packaging, Labelling, Storage, Batch Certification, and Distribution services for Investigational Medicinal Products (IMP's) on behalf of Clinical Trial Sponsors.
LEO Cavan - Nualach Automation
Nualach Automation works with companies on the development and design of bespoke automation equipment. They are now working with leading medical, life-science, food and beverage and automotive companies. They offer a support service on existing and new automation systems. They assist companies to achieve their automation targets.
LEO Louth – SeaPark Consultancy
SeaPark Consultancy Ltd. is a leading independent business intelligence consulting company based in Dundalk Co. Louth. We provide BI services, solutions and tools across two dedicated divisions - SAP Business Intelligence and Cloud Dev Ops (AWS & Microsoft Azure). They work closely with the large technology vendors and their partner community and clients.
LEO Meath - The Studio Coffee Roasters
The Studio Coffee Roasters supplies speciality grade coffee, capsules and cold brew coffee concentrate under the STUDIO COFFEE roasters brand. The coffee is hand roasted in small batches in County Meath for online, retail and wholesale customers nationwide. Currently supplying several major retail multiples in Ireland, the company has also begun exporting to the UK.
LEO Monaghan - Moffett Parking Solutions
Moffett Parking Solutions Ltd is a Monaghan based company designing and manufacturing a range of innovative solutions to help increase storage capacity and simplify parking access for vehicles. Their products include turntables, car stackers, loft and basement access lifts and multi-level storage.
LEO Galway – GH Agri
GH AGRI manufactures and retails safe, effective natural veterinary and nutritional products for farms in Ireland and the global market. These products have no meat or milk withdrawal times, reducing waste and saving customers money. They have been reducing the need for antibiotics on farms since 1989.
LEO Mayo – Advanced Cosmetics
Advanced Cosmetic Manufacturing Ltd born in 2018, incubated and meticulously planned during Covid times was eventually launched in 2022. This innovative tech driven company manufactures bespoke cosmetic products for the leading skincare, tanning, body care and fragrance products.
LEO Roscommon – Lark Bridal
Lark Bridal Ltd. distribute a portfolio of luxury fashion and bridal brands, exporting to 32 countries and working with 1,000 retailers across the EMENA territory. The company has evolved into the largest independent distributor of the leading bridal and bridesmaids brands respectively globally, Maggie Sottero Designs and The Dessy Group.