Louth young entrepreneurs comp
THE competition to find Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur steps up a gear this week as the Louth county finals take place on December 14th.
The County Final will take place on Thursday 14th December in Bellingham Castle.
Awards will be presented by Louth County Council Chairman Cllr Colm Markey. The awards are the creation of ceramist Sarah McKenna of Bridge Street Studios in Dundalk. Guest speaker on the night will be Margaret Robb of Sweet Little Babies, who is a past IBYE winner in Louth.
Louth’s Head of Enterprise Thomas McEvoy explained: ‘We had a huge response to the competition this year. We’ve attracted entrepreneurs aged 18-35 from right across the county with a superb array of start-up and established businesses. We’ve also been really impressed by some very interesting concepts in the New Idea category. Judging by the calibre of entries this year, the future of enterprise in Louth is looking bright.’
IBYE co-ordinator in Louth Sarah Mallon added: ‘IBYE is a springboard for young entrepreneurs here locally, connecting them to their Local Enterprise Office. We can help them to start or expand their business. Everyone who entered the competition this year was invited to ‘Enterprise Day’ where they met with mentors, learned about the supports available to them and received valuable business advice. From there, shortlisted companies took part in an intensive Business Bootcamp before submitting their updated business plans for the county final.’
County finalists this year are from an eclectic mix of industries with companies in everything from Food, Tourism, Education, Lighting and Health as well as the IT and social media. With such diversity and talent, it’s clear the judges have a challenging task ahead of them.
For the finals, the shortlisted candidates will meet the panel of judges, present their business, conduct an interview and answer questions.
The judges will then have the task of choosing a winner and runner up in each of the three categories.
Winners in Louth will share in an investment fund of €50,000 which will help them to grow their business and build on current success. Category winners will go forward to represent Louth in the regional finals in January.
Now in its fourth year, Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur is run by the Local Enterprise Offices, in partnership with the Local Authorities, across the country and is supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation. The National Final will take place on Sunday 4th March at Google HQ.