Three young Meath business men in entrepreneur final

Three young entrepreneurs from Meath are going head-to-head with entrepreneurs from Cavan, Louth and Monaghan, at the Regional Final of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition, on Tuesday next, 24th January in Clonabreany House in Kells.
Local Enterprise Office Meath will be represented at this year’s Regional Final by Alvan Hunt (26) of Hexafly in Kells (Best Business Idea Category); Jamie Queeney (30) of miDEsc in Enfield (Best Start-Up Business Category); and Barry Goulding (33) of BSG Design in Trim (Best Established Business Category).

On Tuesday, three finalists will be selected by the judging panel to compete at the IBYE National Final in March, one from each competition category.

So far, 180 talented entrepreneurs across every county in Ireland, aged between 18 and 35, have been awarded a total of €1.5 million in investment funding through the Local Enterprise Offices, after winning or becoming runners-up in IBYE County Finals.
This initiative for young entrepreneurs is run by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) nationwide, and supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Enterprise Ireland. The investment awards will be used by the young entrepreneurs to help fund business start-ups, create new jobs locally or to help develop new products for international markets.
As part of the supports on offer through the competition, more than 400 young entrepreneurs around the country benefited from boot-camp training sessions in which they were put through their paces in every aspect of how to start and develop a business.
The competition attracted a record number of entries, with 1,842 applying in total and 232 applying from the region. Joe English with Local Enterprise Office Meath, wished local category winners the best of luck at the Regional Final, saying: “We see the IBYE initiative as an important springboard for our young entrepreneurs who want to start or expand a business. The 180 entrepreneurs across every county in Ireland who share €1.5 million in investment funding, which include our County Winners and Runners-up, can now make their business ideas and expansion plans a reality in 2017. It’s also about nurturing entrepreneurs through bootcamps, training, networking and mentoring, with job creation benefits throughout the region.”
In Kells on January 24th, the young entrepreneurs are hoping to follow in the footsteps of the three 2015 National Finalists from the region: Andrew Nadin of Dooskey Irish Whiskey in Louth in the Best Business Idea category, Mark Reilly of Aphix Software in Louth in the Best Start-Up Business category, and Alicia Treanor of Nutri-Snax Ltd in Cavan in the Best Established Business Category.
More details about the competition and the supports available to young entrepreneurs are available through www.localenterprise.ie and from the IBYE website at www.ibye.ie.