County Galway’s Chanelle Group, recently named Ireland’s Exporter of the Year 2016 , is putting the small county town in Galway on the map, according to its founder and managing director Michael Burke.
"It is a tribute to the combined efforts of our people that Chanelle is being recognised in Ireland and worldwide for its manufacturing excellence, its innovation and its exporting success," he said at the awards presentation by the Irish Exporters Association.
Burke said he was delighted to accept the awards on behalf of the Chanelle Group team, which was Ireland’s largest indigenous pharmaceutical manufacturer
"Together we are putting Loughrea on the global stage as a centre of pharmaceutical excellence.
“More than 60 per cent of our business is now in exports, up 127 per cent over the last five years. In the past 12 months we launched nine products in human and veterinary sectors in the last year, including Rheumocam® Granules which was awarded Export Innovation of the Year. "
In addition to wining the overall award, Chanelle also won the Life Sciences Exporter of the Year and Export Innovation of the Year award categories.
“2016 has been a year to remember for Chanelle Group," Michael Burke said. "We started the year with the announcement by Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD of our company expansion; we successfully launched our new super generic drug Rheumocam; and we’re finishing the year on a high as Irish Exporter of the Year.
"Our journey is only beginning and we’re looking forward to continued growth in 2017”.
Paschal McCarthy, president of the Irish Exporters Association, said this year had been the most competitive, but the judges were "struck by The Chanelle Group’s pioneering approach to product innovation, in particular, the development of super generics, a key factor in the company’s substantial growth in recent years".
