This was a bumper week for recognising Irish entrepreneurs, both established businesses and student entrepreneurs. The overall title for National Enterprise Awards went to Linda Nolan of MyBio in Kilkenny, while the top awards of College Entrepreneur of the Year was awarded to Rob Laffan for his project Tippy Talk.
Read on for more on this year's winners....
Kilkenny company takes home overall title at National Enterprise Awards
MyBio in Kilkenny, founded by Linda Nolan in 2009 to supply research products to companies in the Life Sciences industry, was crowned Overall Winner of this year's Annual National Enterprise Awards last night. Linda Nolan was one of two female entrepreneurs taking home top prizes, with Anne Behan, founder of the Áine Knitwear in Clare winning the design award, marking Irish Design 2015 (ID2015).
It was a good year for Ireland’s construction and property sectors, with Vision Built in Galway winning the export award (light steel gauge manufacturing), the Property Button in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown clinching the start-up category (utility transfer management) and Gannon Eco in Westmeath taking the innovation prize (reprocessing waste into raw materials).
Finalists were whittled down from 31 nominees, representing each of the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) across every county in Ireland, to eight finalists. Prizes include a cash prize of €5,000 for the Overall Winner, €1,000 for the four Category Winners in addition to specially-commissioned trophies.
All five winners were among the 24,000 small businesses supported by the network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices last year. The National Enterprise Awards were set-up to celebrate the achievements of Ireland’s micro-enterprise sector and previous winners have included Irish Yogurts from West Cork, Hot Irishman Irish Coffee (Walsh Whiskey Distillery) from Carlow and DesignPro from Limerick.
€35,000 in cash prizes and €30,000 in consultancy fees for Student Entrepreneur Awards winners
Yesterday Rob Laffan, a student from Limerick Institute of Technology, beat off stiff competition from over 500 third level students from colleges across Ireland to be named College Entrepreneur of the Year 2015.
Rob won the award for his project Tippy Talk, a bespoke, robust touch-screen communication system that has been designed by the father of a non-verbal child with autism. TippyTalk allows the child to communicate her desires, feelings and needs to her parents through the transfer of pictures to text messages. TippyTalk can also be adapted to cover other areas of non-verbal disabilities.
The Student Entrepreneur Awards are part of a major drive aimed at encouraging students to start their own business as a career option. The substantial prize fund includes €35,000 in cash prizes and €30,000 in consultancy fees which are available for winners to help them make a serious start at turning their idea into a commercial reality. In addition to winning the top prize, the winning team will also receive mentoring from Enterprise Ireland/Invest Northern Ireland to develop the commercial viability of their overall concept.
This year celebrates the 34th year of these prestigious awards which are co-sponsored by Invest Northern Ireland, Cruickshank Intellectual Property Attorneys, Intel and Grant Thornton and are open to all third level colleges across the island of Ireland.
Check out the full list of awards and winners.
For more information
Further information around the supports available to small businesses is available through www.localenterprise.ie.