Three young Mayo entrepreneurs are flying the flag for the county at the regional finals of the inaugural Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition, which is offering an investment prize-fund of €2 million.
All under the age of 30, the local business owners and new start-ups are going head-to-head with other winners from Galway and Roscommon on Wednesday, October 29 for a chance to win a place at the national final in Dublin this December, in a competition co-ordinated by the Local Enterprise Office Mayo.
Launched by the Government earlier this year, Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition is an integral part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 and is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through the 31 Local Enterprise Offices around the country.
The Mayo winners, who have been selected to represent the county at the regional finals are: Daniel Loftus from Newport; was the Mayo Best Idea category winner. Niamh Ryan from Ballina; was the Best Established Business (with new add-on ) category winner for Mayo; and Donal Byrne from Aghamore, winner of the Best Start-Up in Mayo and winner of the overall title of Mayo’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2014.
The Head of Enterprise with the Local Enterprise Office Mayo, Joanne Grehan, said: “Our winners are proudly ‘flying the flag’ for the county, competing against other young entrepreneurs in the region for a place at the prestigious national final. But the benefits of entering the competition don’t end there. Throughout Ireland, over 400 finalists have already benefited from intensive business bootcamps and mentoring programmes at local level, so the impact of the IBYE programme will be seen for many years to come.”
The regional final tomorrow will take place in Tuam and special guest speaker is john Concannon of JFC Manufacturing.
