New Awards for Small Business at Ploughing Championships

A new award scheme to highlight the achievements of small businesses is being introduced by the Local Enterprise Offices at this year’s National Ploughing Championships. The first-ever ‘Local Enterprise Village Awards’ will be presented next week by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Ms. Mary Mitchell O’ Connor T.D., when she officially opens the Local Enterprise Village at the Ploughing Championships in Tullamore.

Organised by the Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities, the six prize categories are: ‘Visual Display’, ‘Consumer Product’, ‘Consumer Service’, ‘Food and Drink’ along with two ‘Vision’ Awards and judging will be carried out by Enterprise Ireland. A total of 84 small companies will be judged in this year’s competition, as they showcase their products and services inside the Local Enterprise Village at Europe’s largest outdoor event, which attracted 281,000 visitors last year.

Supported by Local Enterprise Office South Dublin, local companies that are showcasing their products and services at this year’s Local Enterprise Village include: The Little Pharma, and primaryschools.ie.

The Little Pharma are the producers of the freshest hydroponically grown barley & wheat grasses in their purpose built unit, right here in South Dublin. Darren Ducote and Amanda Swan are the entrepreneurs behind The Little Pharma range of products.

Primaryschools.ie provide Ireland’s first central online enrolment system for primary schools. Sadhbh Kurzawska identified a need to provide schools and parents with a central application system in Ireland. Currently she offers this service to primary schools, and intends to expand the service to include secondary schools in the near future.

Pictured from left to right: Julie Sinnamon of Enterprise Ireland, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Ms Mary Mitchell O' Connor T.D., Kieran Comerford, Chair of Network of Local Enterprise Offices and Tom Murphy of Wicklow County Council and the Local Authorities (www.localenterprise.ie). Photo credit: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland.