Brendan Toner of Audit International was announced ‘Donegal’s Best Young Entrepreneur’ at the county final of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition.
The Letterkenny man is one of three IBYE county winners who will now go on to represent Donegal at the regional finals on 26th January 2017.
Brendan Toner
The county finalist winners and runners up, all aged between 18 – 35, will share a €50,000 investment fund and will be hoping to reach the national final to share an additional €100,000 investment fund.
The Donegal final took place in the Silver Tassie Hotel, Letterkenny and was hosted by Local Enterprise Office Donegal, Donegal County Council.
Rebecca Fleury of Smart Steps (Convoy) was awarded ‘Best Business Start-Up’ and will receive a €15,000 investment fund. Joanne Buck of
Fraizens (Buncrana) was announced as runner up in this category and will receive a €5,000 investment fund.
Gillian Doyle of Cerebreon Technologies (Portnoo) was awarded ‘Best New Idea’ and will receive a €7,000 investment fund and Orla McLaughlin of Health by Orla (Redcastle) was announced as ‘Best New Idea’ runner up and will also be awarded with a €3,000 investment fund.
‘Best Established Business’ was awarded to Brendan Toner of Audit International, (Letterkenny) who will receive a €15,000 investment
fund and Aidan Robb of Cargo Defenders, (Carrigans) was announced as runner up and will receive a €5,000 investment fund.
Each of the fourteen finalists from across Donegal participated in a rigorous judging process which included a weekend business bootcamp of training and mentoring in Gartan Outdoor Education and Training Centre. There was a record number of entries for this year’s event.
Congratulating the county winners and finalists, Michael Tunney, Head of Enterprise and Economic Development, Local Enterprise Office
Donegal, said: “Congratulations to each of the winners and finalists in this year’s IBYE competition. The exceptionally high standard of entries has made the process challenging, but it’s great to see such a wide and diverse range of enterprises in the county.”
“IBYE is an enterprise initiative run by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices around the country and is funded by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Enterprise Ireland. The investment fund available through IBYE supports young entrepreneurs through training, mentoring and direct financial investments and we’re looking forward to seeing what our young entrepreneurs do in the future.”
“We’d like to wish each of the winners the best of luck in the next stage of the competition and take this opportunity to invite young people living in Donegal who have a business idea to come into the Local Enterprise Office Donegal and learn about the supports available to them.”
The county winners will now proceed to eight regional finals in January and February 2017 from which 24 contenders, three from each
region – one in each category – will be selected to compete for the national title of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur.
Other county finalists in ‘Best New Idea’ included Gary Logue of Stock-Doc (Killygordon), Laura Mulkeen of Cearta Gavida (Gortahork)
and Phillip Harper of OneTwentyfour (Letterkenny). The finalists for ‘Best Start-Up’ were Bronagh Holmes of Bronagh Holmes Luxury
(Moville), Claire Duffy of The Legumerie (Newtowncunningham), Ruth Keogh of Tiers of Joy (Letterkenny), Shane Doherty of Fire Grates
Donegal (Clonmany) and Stephen McCrossan of Discover Juice (Letterkenny).
For more information on IBYE or to find out how your Local Enterprise Office can help you visit www.localenterprise.ie/donegal or call
(+353) 74 91 9160735.
