Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin to host Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur National Final at Google on December 7th
Search for Ireland’s ‘Best Young Entrepreneur’ reaches grand finale on Sunday, December 7th at Awards Ceremony in Google Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, Lecturer and Broadcaster, has been unveiled as the host of ‘Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur’ first ever National Final on Sunday, December 7th.
Aoibhinn has been named as the host of this year’s inaugural ceremony at Google, which is coming at the end of an eight month search to find Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur for 2014.
After a series of 31 local finals and eight regional finals, the 24 finalists, all aged between 18 and 30, are now preparing to deliver their live pitches to the judging panel on Sunday. Minister Richard Bruton T.D. will be naming Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) on stage, presenting €100,000 in investment funds to the three winners on the day.
The youth entrepreneurship competition was launched earlier this year and is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and run through the Local Enterprise Offices.
Host Aoibhinn Ni Shúilleabháin is impressed by the calibre of the IBYE finalists, saying: "These aren't just the entrepreneurs of the future; many of this year's finalists are already running successful companies and employing big teams. Hopefully, initiatives such as the IBYE competition will help to encourage even more young people to set up a business in the years to come."
Looking ahead to Sunday’s ceremony, Ní Shúilleabháin added: "Although they're all under 30, this year's finalists have already become great role models for entrepreneurship, helping to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs."
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s final, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton T.D. said: “Anyone who takes even a passing glance at the 24 young entrepreneurs featured in the national final can only be inspired by their energy, commitment – and above all, their outstanding businesses. These are young people who, instead of looking to find a job, and instead decided to create a job – and in many cases, to create many moree jobs over the coming years.
“All of us owe a huge debt of gratitude to our entrepreneurs, whose start-up businesses create two thirds of all new jobs across Ireland. We in Government are determined to support and celebrate our amazing young entrepreneurs, and I am delighted that someone as high-profile as Aoibhinn is helping us to do that at the National Final in Google next Sunday”.
This year’s judging panel includes two entrepreneurs: Brian Crowley of the TTM Group and Sarah Doyle of Kinesense. They’ll be sitting on the panel alongside Colin Goulding of Google, Mary Fitzpatrick of the Local Enterprise Offices and Tom Hayes of Enterprise Ireland.
Updates and results are available through www.ibye.ie and by searching #ibye on social media and YouTube.
Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin photo: credit Barry McCall
