Celbridge man scoops award at Regional IBYE Final at weekend
Photos by Thomas Sutherland
Young Entrepreneurs from across the region, gathered in the Osprey Hotel with Local Enterprise Office Kildare on Friday 26 January, to compete for one of the country’s most coveted titles – Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur.
Each young entrepreneur has been supported by their local enterprise office in Kildare, Laois, Offaly and Westmeath. The Regional Finalists have diverse businesses ranging from a brewery; a distillery; a multi-award winning beauty salon; a plastic recycling plant and more.
In building a business each entrepreneur has worked diligently to identify and capitalise on what sets them apart from others - their competitive advantage. Specifically, competitive advantage is a set of attributes that add value and allow you to outperform your competition. It’s no wonder why competition and entrepreneurship go hand-and-hand. Competition and Entrepreneurship were the order of the day.
The search has been underway to find Ireland’s best young entrepreneurs of 2018! The first stage was a county-based competition which led to the naming of the Best Young Entrepreneur in each county. This stage also included bootcamps and mentoring programmes designed by each Local Enterprise Office. Next, 8 regional finals have now taken place, where 93 County Finalists completed for a place at the National Final in May in Google.
The regional winners, announced by Head of Enterprise, Jacqui McNabb and Mayor Martin Miley were:
Best New Idea: Matthew McCann, Access Earth, Kildare
Best Start-Up Business: Ciaran Gorman, Bevcraft, Westmeath
Best Established Business: Eoin Bara, Arderin Distillery, Offaly
Celbridge’s Matthew McCann has Cerebral Palsy and using a rollator to get around he has personal experience as to what it means for a restaurant or hotel to be accessible to anyone with a mobility impairment. Access Earth allows users with a disability to find and book a hotel or restaurant without worrying about accessibility.
Matthew has been invited to present at the United Nations ZeroProject Conference on Accessibility in February as one of the top 5 Innovative Practices chosen from over 300 entries.
“Our search to find and support Ireland’s best young entrepreneurs, which started last September, has turned up some incredible business talent. Our local entrepreneurs are the business leaders of the future and the entrants in the competition have all shown innovation and drive. After a very successful bootcamp, County Final and now Regional Final, the Region will be proudly represented by Matthew McCann in the ultimate stage of the competition – the IBYE National Final in March.”