Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2014  

 Dublin City Finals - Winners Announced

Pictured: Ciara Clancy, Beats Medical, LEO Dublin City 2014 Overall Winner

The winners of the Dublin City Finals of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2014 were announced on Tuesday, 7^th October, 2014 in the Mansion House, Dublin. These awards, supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and run by the network of Local Enterprise Offices (LEO’s) are an integral part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014.

153 applications were received, which was shortlisted down to 15, who pitched before a judging panel in three main categories. 

The winner of the Best New Idea category was Lucas Decker of Coindrum http://dublincity.ie/lukas-decker . The winner of the Best Start Up category was Ciara Clancy of Beats Medical http://dublincity.ie/ciara-clancy and Jamie White of Youth Nation http://dublincity.ie/jamie-white won the Best Established Investment category.  The overall winner for the Dublin City Best Young Entrepreneur 2014 was Ciara Clancy of Beats Medical.

Each Dublin City winner will now progress to the Regional finals in which they will compete to go through to National finals. Ultimately, they will compete to be named Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur, at the National ceremony in December 2014.

Dublin’s Lord Mayor Christy Burke said, “Dublin City Council is proud to be associated with such a prestigious award. Experience shows that entrepreneurs have been the catalyst for enabling the creation of sustainable jobs and companies. These Awards are our way of showcasing the creativity in our economy in difficult times, while acknowledging the effort and commitment shown by the youth of Dublin”.

Marking the occasion, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD said:

“Central to our plans for jobs and growth is supporting more businesses to start-up. Two thirds of all new jobs are created by start-ups, so if we are to create the jobs we need we must support more entrepreneurs to start new businesses. That is why we put in place the entrepreneurship forum chaired by Sean O’Sullivan and that is why we established the Local Enterprise Offices to provide more and better Government supports to businesses in one easily-accessible place at local level.”

“Part of this plan is also fostering a stronger culture of entrepreneurship and promoting start-up business as a career option for young people. That is what is behind this new competition to find the best young entrepreneur and ultimately Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur. We have excellent start-ups and entrepreneurs in Ireland – we just don’t have enough of them. It is great to see so many excellent entrepreneurs and business-people getting involved in this competition, and I am delighted to congratulate the winners. I wish all three winners every success in the later stages of the competition – and wish all participants every success as they grow their businesses and contribute to the job-creation we need”.

Greg Swift, Head of Local Enterprise said, “Dublin City is absolutely delighted with the substantial response and the quality of applications for the IBYE awards. With 153 submissions for the awards made to Dublin City area alone, it is a clear indication of just how vibrant young entrepreneurship is in the City. This is especially encouraging that so many young people are considering starting a business as an alternative career”.

Background to Awards:

Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (www.ibye.ie) is run by the network of new Local Enterprise Offices across the country.  Local Enterprise Offices are the First Stop Shop for anyone seeking information and support on starting or growing a business in Ireland.  The winners at County/City level will be eligible for an investment in their business of up to €50,000 with an overall national winners fund of €100,000.Investments in winning businesses will be determined according to business prospects and investment needs.

Mentoring, marketing and other supports will also be available to participating businesses at various stages of the competition.

The competition is open to individuals aged 30 and under and will be judged under three distinct categories:

• best new idea
• best start-up business
• best established business with new add-on

The first stage is a County/City-based competition (run by the 31 LEOs) leading to the naming of the Best Young Entrepreneur in each County/City. This stage includes boot camps and mentoring programmes. This will be followed by Regional finals and ultimately National finals with one business-person being crowned Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur before the end of 2014.