Mayo natives Harry Hughes (Portwest ) and Niall McGarry (Maximum Media/JOE Media ) have been shortlisted for 2017 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year programme. The shortlist of 24 finalists in the 2017 EY Entrepreneur Of The YearTM (EOY ) programme was revealed this week, representing entrepreneurial businesses across the island of Ireland in a range of sectors including technology, healthcare, FMCG, and retail.
The nominated finalists, who have been selected in the three categories of Emerging, Industry and International following a rigorous and independent judging process, have a combined workforce of over 5,000 people and turnover of more than €475 million. Two of the shortlisted entrepreneurs are from Mayo – Harry Hughes (Portwest ) and Niall McGarry (Maximum Media/JOE Media ).
This year the programme celebrates its 20th year in Ireland, having established itself as best in class globally, and created a 471-strong network of entrepreneurs who remain connected to the programme and continue to do business together. The theme of this year’s programme is “Leading through Change” – in recognition of the significant change within the business community over the past two decades, and the pace at which it continues to evolve to this day.
Finalists in this year’s EOY 10-month development programme will benefit from mentoring initiatives, executive education, and an international CEO retreat to San Francisco later this month, which will represent the largest unofficial trade mission specifically focused on fostering entrepreneurship. As finalists in the programme, the entrepreneurs will join over 70 members of the EOY community for a week long CEO retreat to San Francisco in May. The retreat will include masterclasses with decision makers at the helm of San Francisco’s most successful start-ups and globally renowned brands as well as leading academics from Stanford University.
