Twenty-four businesses ranging from financial services and technology to agriculture and manufacturing are the finalists in this years Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) Programme .
They were chosen by a judging panel chaired by 2002 EOY winner and Aer Arran founder Pádraig Ó Céidigh. The members of the panel were Digicel owner Denis O'Brien, Ann Heraty of recruitment company CPL and Liam Casey of outsourcing manufacturer PCH.
The overall winner of the 2013 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award – and the three category winners – will be announced on October 24th. The overall winner will then go on to participate in the World Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Monte Carlo in June 2014.
All 24 finalists will be profiled in business section of The Irish Times in the coming weeks and will join a group of 100 entrepreneurs, all previous finalists and winners of the EOY programme, for a week-long CEO retreat taking place between Chicago, Notre Dame University and New York in June.
The theme of the retreat is “accelerating the growth, ambition and development of Ireland’s leading entrepreneurial talent and their businesses,” according to Frank O’Keeffe, partner in charge of the Entrepreneur of the Year Programme.
“The week will include world-class executive education sessions with globally renowned experts in growth and internationalisation, as well as master classes with CEOs of some of the world’s biggest multinationals,” he said.
The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Programme is supported by The Irish Times , Newstalk, RTÉ, Enterprise Ireland, Invest Northern Ireland and Intertrade Ireland.
The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 finalists:
Emerging
Automated Intelligence – Mark Godfrey & Simon Cole
Barracuda FX – Maurice Curran
Budget Energy – Eleanor McEvoy
Datahug – Connor Murphy
Merit Software – Kerril Burke & Paul Burke
Sixteen South – Colin Williams
Sugru – Jane ní Dhulchaointigh
Wisetek Solutions – Sean Sheehan
Industry
AMCS Group – Jimmy Martin & Austin Ryan
Creagh Concrete Products – Seamus McKeague
Freshgrass Group – Liam Woulfe
Jam Media – John Rice
Keelings – Caroline Keeling
Kylemore Services Group – Brian Hogan
Mash Direct – Martin Hamilton
Kellen Investments – Peter Dixon
International
ATA Group – Peter Cosgrove
Callan Bacon Company – John Walshe
Escher Group Holdings plc – Liam Church and Fionnuala Higgins
Lifes2Good – James Murphy
Samco Agricultural Manufacturing – Samuel Shine
Sofrimar – Lorcan Barden & Leslie Bates
Suretank Group – Patrick Joy
Voxpro – Dan Kiely and Linda Kiely
