EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2024 finalists revealed
- More than 200 nominations received – the highest ever in programme’s history
- 24 finalists collectively generating revenues of more than €700M and employing over 4,000 people
The finalists of the 2024 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland programme have been revealed today. The 24 shortlisted entrepreneurs span a range of sectors including consumer, health tech, pharmaceutical, energy and engineering. Collectively this group of world class business leaders are already generating annual revenues of more than €700M and employ over 4,000 people.
Pictured at EPIC The Irish Immigration Museum for the announcement of the 2024 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalists: Conor Hanley, CEO of FIRE1, Eimear McCrann, Director, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year and Roger Wallace, Partner Lead, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year. Photograph: Naoise Culhane
The finalists who hail from across the island of Ireland will compete across three categories – Emerging, Established and International – with a special Sustainability Award presented to the finalist who is making the biggest contribution towards environmental sustainability through their business. One overall winner will be selected as The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2024 at a gala awards ceremony which will take place in November.
Roger Wallace, Partner Lead for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ programme, said: “Each year we enter in to the nomination process hopeful and excited about the incredible people and businesses we are about to meet, and this year we were honoured to receive the most nominations ever in the history of the programme. Our finalists hail from a diverse mix of backgrounds and are at the helm of some of the most inspiring and innovative businesses in their industries. They are all true trailblazers – leaders with the courage and capacity to plot and follow their own path, pushing conventional boundaries and limits.
“Each of the finalists is exploring new markets and technologies to solve challenges and find solutions that are revolutionising their own industries and creating opportunities for their local communities, the island of Ireland and beyond. I am delighted to formally welcome this year’s 24 finalists into the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year community and I look forward to working with them closely over the coming months.”
The 2024 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ finalists are:
| Emerging | Established | International | |||
| Kasper Weber Anderson and Liam McMahon of Beyond Creative Limited | Duncan O’Toole of Captured Carbon | Rosaleen Hyde and Maxine Hyde of Ballymaloe Foods | |||
| Seamus Tighe of Ecoplex Energy Solutions | Hugh Cormican of Cirdan Imaging Ltd | David Maguire of BNRG Renewables | |||
| Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan of Shorla Oncology | Padraic O’Kane of Corporate.ie | Kenneth Fox of Channel Mechanics | |||
| Adrian Gilbane and Will Kennedy of Sons | Connor McCandless of Energystore Ltd | Conor Hanley of FIRE1 | |||
| Jack Kirwan of Sprout & Co | Sean Moran of Home Project Centre Limited | Gilbert Yates of Healthcare Ireland | |||
| Ciaran Burke and Andrea Reynolds of Swoop | Ruth Mackey, David Mackey and John Mackey of Mbryonics Limited | Brendan Mee of MTM Engineering | |||
| Denise Phillips of Voduz | Clare Hughes of Telenostic | Ivor Queally of QK Group South Africa | |||
| Damian Young of ZEUS Mobility | Dr Barry Flannery of Xerotech | Jonathan Larbey and Mark Gilmartin of T-Pro |
This year’s finalists have been shortlisted out of more than 200 nominations by an independent judging panel of previous winners, chaired by Harry Hughes, CEO of Portwest and Chairperson of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Judging™ Panel who commented: “The high quality of all of the nominations received for the programme this year really emphasised that entrepreneurship is very much alive and kicking across the island of Ireland. Choosing just 24 finalists was extremely tough but I would like to congratulate this year’s finalists and extend a very warm welcome into the EOY community. A hugely valuable experience now awaits each of them and I wish them all every success as they join the programme and become part of this unique group of passionate, courageous individuals driving Irish entrepreneurship.”
Since its inception, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland community has grown to a tight-knit network of more than 600 alumni who harness each other’s wealth of experience, with three quarters (75%) conducting business with one another. Together, the EOY alumni community generates revenues of €23bn, and employs more than 250,000 people across the island of Ireland.
The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland programme is supported by Premium Corporate Sponsor Julius Baer International, and Government sponsors, Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland.
For further information, please visit www.eoy.ie
WHAT FINALISTS CAN EXPECT
This year’s 24 finalists will engage in a strategic growth programme over a 10-month period which includes a week-long CEO Retreat in Cape Town, South Africa. As part of this retreat, the finalists will join a group of more than 100 previous finalists and winners of the programme where they will meet a range of world-class entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and academics.
The finalists will also be welcomed into a community of more than 600 peers in the Irish EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ community. To date, three quarters (75%) of the alumni of the programme have conducted business with one another. Together, the EOY alumni community generates revenues of €23bn, and employs more than 250,000 across the island of Ireland.
The programme will include executive education sessions; networking fora; extensive media profiling; the annual Gala Awards. An award is presented for each category, and an overall winner will be announced at the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Awards in November. The overall winner will represent Ireland at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Awards in June 2024.
AWARD CATEGORIES
Emerging: Nominees in the Emerging category run businesses that have been trading for a minimum of two years. They are ambitious entrepreneurs who have started a business which is growing quickly. They are high potential, dynamic, resourceful and ‘ones-to-watch’ for the future.
Established: Established, longstanding businesses with a pedigree of growth and innovation, contributing significantly as employers on the Island of Ireland. Including some of our greatest family businesses, our Established finalists are market leaders in their sectors and have made a significant contribution to the economy over a considerable period of time.
International: The International category consists of entrepreneurs who are global players. Their companies operate in multiple markets across the globe and can be headquartered here in Ireland or overseas.
The Sustainability Award: Recognising the critical importance of innovation leadership in meeting our collective sustainability challenges, this award is presented to the finalist who is making the biggest contribution towards environmental sustainability through their business. They are striving to protect our future by providing solutions and taking transformative business actions to address some of the world’s most pressing environmental issues and concerns.
ABOUT EY ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR™
The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ programme is a global recognition programme run in 145 cities in more than 60 countries. Currently in its 27th year in Ireland, the programme works to recognise, promote, and build a supportive community around Ireland’s high-growth entrepreneurs and is considered one of the strongest programmes globally.
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