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Who will follow Derek Counihan of Harpoon in winning the Kerry Best Young Entrepreneur award for 2017? Photo by Domnick Walsh
CALLING all young entrepreneurs in Kerry!
Kerry County Council Local Enterprise Office has a €50,000 county investment fund available for winners and runners-up in the Kerry finals of the Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition (IBYE).
Last year a Tralee man, Derek Counihan of Harpoon, won the top prize in Kerry and went on to win the Best Start-Up Award at the Mid West Finals in January.
The competition is open to people between the ages of 18 and 35 with an innovative business idea, new start-up or established business.
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Now in its 4th year, IBYE has an investment fund of up to €2million. The closing date to enter this year’s competition is Friday, 29th September, 2017 and there is a €50,000 county investment fund on offer to local winners and runners-up in County Kerry.
IBYE is run locally by Local Enterprise Office Kerry across three categories: Best Business Idea, Best Start-Up Business and Best Established Business. Up to 450 young entrepreneurs will be invited by the LEOs to attend free regional ‘Entrepreneur Bootcamps’ later in the year to help them develop their business and new venture ideas.
With an IBYE investment fund of €50,000, LEO Kerry will award up to six investments to three category winners and three runners-up at county level.
The local winners in the Best Start-Up and Best Established Business categories at county level will receive investments of up to €15,000 each and the two runners-up will each receive up to €5,000.
The Best Business Idea winner at county level will receive an investment of up to €7,000 and the runner-up will receive up to €3,000 of investment. These winners at county level will progress to Regional Finals early next year and the national IBYE finals will be held in March 2018.
IBYE offers a very significant stepping stone into the world of running your own business for young people aged 18 to 35. It’s not just the scale of the investment fund on offer that makes IBYE so important, IBYE entrants can go on to receive intensive enterprise boot camp training from LEO Kerry under the programme, to help them establish and develop their entrepreneurship careers.
Chief Executive of Kerry County Council Moira Murrell stated; “Now more than ever before, Local Authorities are connecting with young and aspiring entrepreneurs, through our Local Enterprise Office. We are very keen to ensure that anyone with a good idea for a business is given the necessary encouragement and support every step of the way”.
Tomás Hayes, Head of Local Enterprise Office said: “The substantial investments available under IBYE are a very important part of the programme and will help more young entrepreneurs here locally to grow their businesses and create more jobs. Other business supports, such as management training, networking and one-to-one mentoring are also at the heart of IBYE. Last year, 450 young entrepreneurs all over the country benefited from these business supports and 180 of them won investment funding to help start and grow their own businesses, so the rewards are there for participants, as well as for the winners. Taking part in IBYE will help Ireland’s young entrepreneurs move their businesses to the next level with the support of their Local Enterprise Office, whatever stage their business is at.”
To enter, local entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 should visit the IBYE website at www.ibye.ie, to submit their applications online. The closing date for entries is Friday, 29th September, 2017 and there are no entry fees.
Further information and details are also available from the 31 Local Enterprise Offices nationwide through www.localenterprise.ie
