Topawardsfor twoWicklow entrepreneurs
FOR the second year running, Wicklow entrepreneurs claimed two out of the top three categories in the southeast regional final of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition.
The regional final was hosted by Local Enterprise Office Wicklow last week in Tinakilly Country House hotel.
Kate Dempsey, age 33 of Irish Mussel Seed Company, Arklow, won the Best Business Idea and Maurice Sheehy, age 27 of Fleet, in Wicklow town was awarded the title of Best Start Up Business.
Both Businesses fended off significant competition from County finalists from neighbouring counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny to claim the Regional titles.
Kate’s business, which is still in the pre-trading phase, was established to develop a dependable, quality supply of sustainably sourced Irish mussel seed.
The company is developing a system to harvest mussel seed off the coast of Wicklow on suspend- ed structures in the offshore conditions of Irish waters while Maurice Sheehy, uses technology to ‘drive’ his business Fleet, which is an innovative peer to peer car rental platform that links both consumers and business to vehicles on demand.
The company not only offers individual owners the chance to earn additional revenue from their personal cars but also provides the opportunity for businesses such as garages and motor groups to add ancillary revenue to their business.
Challenging for Wicklow in the Best Established Category was Michael Noble from Noble Solutions, an education consultancy specialising in the development of transnational education partnerships on behalf of Irish and British Universities in South East Asia, however he was pipped to the post by Eoin Tracey of Kilkenny based company Glanway, a processing and production facility of waste derived alternative fuels who brought back a regional title for the Noresiders.
Wicklow County final winners and runners up