NIALL Harty of Harty Nutrition Ltd. won the Best Start Up Business category at the Midwest Finals of the Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition on Tuesday with his Origin Clean Protein Bars business.

The business which operates out of Firies was the only Kerry winner at the awards which took place in Ballygarry House Hotel last night.

Two other Kerry hopefuls were also shortlisted for awards — Rob Durran, who is Co-founder of the company Xi (Research and Development) Ltd. trading as Xintec based in Tralee and Caroline Birch of Wild Adventure Way (WAW) based in Castlegregory — but unfortunately came away empty-handed.

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In November, Adare native Niall won the Best Start Up Business category with his Origin Clean Protein Bars business in the Kerry final.

His company produces a range of protein bars and the company has seen substantial growth over the past year with sales through the multiples such as Supervalu.

He now goes forward to the national final in March with 23 other Category Winners. The 24 Finalists will compete for the three National Category Awards for Best Business Idea, Best Start Up Business and Best Established Business. In addition Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur for 2018 will be announced.