The search is on for Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneurs with Roscommon Local Enterprise Office confirming €50,000 will be available from a county investment fund.
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise and Innovation, Frances Fitzgerald T.D. and Minister of State for Business, Pat Breen T.D., have launched the National search to find Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneurs of 2018 (IBYE) through the Local Enterprise Offices.
IBYE is a programme run by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), including LEO Roscommon with the support of the Department of Enterprise & Innovation and Enterprise Ireland. The competition is open to people between the ages of 18 and 35 with an innovative business idea, new start-up or established business. Now in its 4th year, IBYE has an investment fund of up to €2 million. 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 Co Roscommon.
Louise Ward, Head of Roscommon LEO, 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 benefitted 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.”
IBYE is run locally by Local Enterprise Office Roscommon across three categories: Best Business Idea, Best Start-Up Business and Best Established Business.
With an IBYE investment fund of €50,000, LEO Roscommon 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.
Previous county winners and runners-up of IBYE from North Roscommon have included Boyle’s own Kyle McLoughlin, Ballyfarnon’s Kyle Flynn, Knockvicar’s Oz Ibrahmi and Desmond Dolan from Cortober.
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.
