Edward McCloskey, the founder of Louth-based WaterWipes has been named best entrepreneur at the annual EY Entrepreneur of the Year (EoY) awards on Thursday evening in the Powerscourt Hotel in Enniskerry.
The WaterWipes founder also received the international entrepreneur award on the night.
Mr McCloskey founded cotton wool, soaps and skincare producer Irish Breeze in 1993, before going on to launch WaterWipes sixteen years later. The company was born out of a desire to create a gentler, chemicals-free alternative to conventional baby wipes.
Three million packs of WaterWipes are manufactured each week in two cleanroom production sites in Drogheda, with the company now employing nearly 400 people across Europe, the US and Australia. Its products are now on sale in 50 countries.
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Headquartered in Drogheda, it is the number three brand in North America, the number two on Amazon globally and the brand leader in the UK.
“We are on track for WaterWipes to become a billion-dollar brand at retail sales over the next five years,” Mr McCloskey said.
He said there are “lots of other applications for our WaterWipes technology beyond our current core market of babies and newborns.”
At the end of 2024, the company received a large €145 million investment from UK-listed 3i Group Plc with its founder retaining a “significant minority position”, the company said at the time. 3i Group said it invested with a view to driving growth in the company and to support expansions in Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Harry Hughes, who won the overall award at the EoY Awards in 2017 and chairs the judging panel said selecting a winner was “no easy task”.
“Huge congratulations to Edward for his vision and determination, but every winner tonight has demonstrated exceptional leadership and creativity,” he said, mounting praise on all of the finalists for the award.
In addition to the awards taken home by Mr McCloskey, Áine Kennedy, the founder of The Smooth Company, was named best emerging entrepreneur, and Derek Foley Butler, the chief executive of Grid Finance was named best established entrepreneur.
David Corcoran, the chief executive of waste management business, Soltec Ireland Ltd was “thrilled” to be given the sustainability award, and separate Special Recognition Award was also awarded to businessman Denis O’Brien.
The finalists in the international category of this year’s awards were; Donnchadh Campbell of Europlan; Conor Buckley of Granite Digital; Seamus Fahey of ICS Medical Devices; Brendan Noud and Desmond Anderson of LearnUpon; Brian McGrath of MSL Engineering Limited; Martin Tierney of Seating Matters; and David Corcoran of Soltec Ireland Ltd.
