Meath home to many great entrepreneurs

“DID you know that Meath is home to an amazing number of young entrepreneurs?” Lorna Cooney of Local Enterprise Office Meath explains “we were astounded by the number of entries in Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2016. Businesses of all kinds, of all sizes, at all stages all run by entrepreneurs aged under 35.”

She continues “Two local entrepreneurs made it to the National Finals, beating off competition from over 1,800 other businesses. We were thrilled when Alvan Hunt (pictured) of Hexafly in Kilsyre scooped one of the top prizes at the National Finals in Google back in March.”

Now the Local Enterprise Office are inviting young people across Meath to apply for Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2018.

“There’s a €50,000 prize fund for the county winners in Meath. But more than that, there’s the opportunity to be part of brilliant business bootcamps in October, to meet other young entrepreneurs and to gain valuable publicity for your business. If you win one of the county prizes, you’ll advance to the regional finals in December and perhaps to the National Finals in March” Lorna continues.

The competition has 3 categories. Best Business Idea is open to anyone who has an idea for a business but has not yet started trading. Best Start-Up is for new businesses, trading less than 18 months and Best Established Business is for companies trading over 18 months.

Lorna concluded “If you are a young entrepreneur now is the time to enter IBYE. Or if you know a young entrepreneur, encourage them to enter before the 29th September closing date. The application process is very simple and takes 10-15 minutes. Just visit www.IBYE.ie and fill in the form. It takes about 15 minutes to complete … and that’s it.”