The Limerick winners of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) were announced at an awards ceremony in the Castletroy Park Hotel.
The Best Business Idea, not yet trading was won by Kelly O’Brien, CDK Tech, runner up was Mark O’Brien, O’Brien Creations. The Best Start up Business trading less than 36 months was won by Paddy Finn, Electricity Exchange, runner up Philip Mackessy, Mackessy Technology Ltd.
In the third category, Best Established Business Trading over 36 months the winner was Adrian Fleming, Accuvio Sustainability Software, runner up was Paul Austin, Get West Events and Adventures Ltd. The three local category winners now proceed to a regional competition, with the winners from each region progressing to the National stage of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition which features an Investment Fund of €100,000 to be shared among the winners at a ceremony in Google Headquarters Dublin in January 2017.
The Local Enterprise Office, Limerick will invest €50,000 in the 6 winners through Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) Competition 2016/17. The competition attracted over 60 applications from young people, aged between 18 and 35 from across the city and county. After a full review of applications, fifteen finalists were shortlisted and took part in an intensive 2 day Business Boot Camp.
Eamon Ryan, Head of Enterprise for Limerick, commented: “This initiative is designed to foster a culture of entrepreneurship and to encourage the establishment of new innovative businesses by Ireland’s best young entrepreneurs. This year I am pleased with an increase of 58% in the number of applicants and I am delighted with the quality of applications submitted.”
“The IBYE competition is an integral part of the Action Plan for Jobs and the competition is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices.”
Attending the Awards ceremony and presenting the awards Minister for Tourism and Sport Patrick O’Donovan said “Central to the government’s plans for jobs and growth is supporting more businesses to start-up. Two thirds of all new jobs are created by start-ups, so if we are to create the jobs we need we must support more entrepreneurs to start new businesses and that is why we established the Local Enterprise Offices to provide more and better Government supports to businesses in one easily-accessible place at local level. We have excellent start-ups and entrepreneurs in Ireland – we just don’t have enough of them.”
“It is great to see so many excellent entrepreneurs and business-people in Limerick getting involved in this competition, and I am delighted to congratulate CDK Tech, Electricity Exchange and Adrian Fleming on their success. I wish all three winners every success in the later stages of the competition, and wish all participants every success as they grow their businesses and contribute to the job-creation we need in Limerick.”
Profile of Winners
Kelly O'Brien | CDK Tech
CDK Tech offers our customers complete peace-of-mind. Airports, Oil & Gas, or companies with remote assets will benefit from our invisible detection system ‘AIBIDS’, which detects intruders by their footstep vibrations. It can distinguish between real threats and environmental factors, reducing false alarms and notifying clients instantly of the location of the breach so that the intruder may be apprehended.
Dr. Paddy Finn | Electricity Exchange
Electricity Exchange is a Virtual Power Station operating in Ireland’s Electricity Market. Since September 2014, the Limerick company has grown to a multi-million-euro annual turn-over and can now power over 50,000 homes while supporting renewable generation. A recent investment by Bord na Móna was widely publicised in the national press.
Adrian Fleming | Accuvio Sustainability Software
Adrian founded Accuvio in 2009 at age 25 after Dell reduced its IT operations in Limerick. Accuvio provide large multi-nationals in 44 countries with a software platform to report their global energy and sustainability performance for regulatory and voluntary purposes. As Sage is to Financial Reporting, Accuvio is to Sustainability Reporting.