David Carey , Innovante Foods Ltd named as Kildare’s best young entrepreneur and wins
investment of €20,000
David Carey of Innovante Foods Ltd, Celbridge has been named as KIldare’s best young
entrepreneur, and has won an investment of €20,000], as part of the €2million Ireland’s Best Young
Entrepreneur competition.
Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur is an integral part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 and is
supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through the Local Enterprise
Offices.
At a function at Kildare County Council on Thursday 9th October awards were made for Kildare’s best
start-up, the best new idea, and the best add-on to an existing business, as well as an overall award
for the best young entrepreneur in the county, and the winners and investments won were as
follows:
Best New Idea : Seanan O’Riordan from Ballymore Eustace who hopes to manufacture a higher
performance suspension spring for the Mountain bike market. Seanan won an award of up to
€10,000 .
Best new business : David Carey , Innovante Foods Ltd who produce Irelands newest vitamin drink
, V24. David has been awarded an investment of up to €20,000 in addition to being names
Kildare’s best Young Entrepreneur .
Runner –up in the existing business category was Ferghal O’Reilly of Shalford Interiors who
designs & manufactures high quality , bespoke kitchens and furniture and received an award of
€5,000.
Best Existing Business : William Ganly , C&G Engineering Ltd , Clane who have secured an award of
up to €20,000 towards the development of a new specialist product for the mining industry
]
The three category winners will now go through to regional finals in Mullingar where they will
compete for the right to go through to the national finals and ultimately compete for the award of
being named Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur at a ceremony on 6th December
Marking the occasion, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD said:
“Central to our plans for jobs and growth is supporting more businesses to start-up. Two thirds of all
new jobs are created by start-ups, so if we are to create the jobs we need we must support more
entrepreneurs to start new businesses. That is why we put in place the entrepreneurship forum
chaired by Sean O’Sullivan and that is why we established the Local Enterprise Offices to provide
more and better Government supports to businesses in one easily-accessible place at local level.
“Part of this plan is also fostering a stronger culture of entrepreneurship and promoting start-up
business as a career option for young people. That is what is behind this new competition to find the
best young entrepreneur in County Kildare, also ultimately Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur. We
have excellent start-ups and entrepreneurs in Ireland – we just don’t have enough of them. It is
great to see so many excellent entrepreneurs and business-people in Kildare getting involved in this
competition, and I am delighted to congratulate the winners .I wish all three businesses every
success in the later stages of the competition – and wish all participants every success as they grow
their businesses and contribute to the job-creation we need”.
Speaking at the awards, Head of Enterprise at Kildare County Council, Mary Fitzpatrick, said ’I am
delighted a t the quality and calibre of all our participants . We in the Local Enterprise Office will
continue to support every one of the businesses in whatever way we can and we wish them every
success in the future’
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur is run by the new Local Enterprise Offices, and the winners at
county level will be eligible for an investment in their business of up to €20,000, while the winners at
national level can receive an additional investment of up to €50,000. Investments in winning
businesses will be determined according to business prospects and investment needs.
Mentoring, marketing and other supports will also be available to participating businesses at various
stages of the competition.
The competition is open to individuals aged 30 and under and will be judged under three distinct
categories:
 best new idea
 best start-up business
 best established business with new add-on
The first stage is a county-based competition (run by the 31 LEOs) leading to the naming of the Best
Young Entrepreneur in each county. This stage will include boot camps and mentoring programmes.
This will be followed by regional finals and ultimately national finals with one business-person being
crowned Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur before the end of the year.
Contact : Mary Fitzpatrick, Head of Enterprise 045 980747/ 087 2310093