National search for Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneurs of 2018 gets underway
DATE: 24/07/2017
Kerry County Council Local Enterprise Office confirms €50,000 county investment fund available
IBYE is a programme run by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), including LEO Kerry with the support of the Department of Enterprise and 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 €2million. 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 County Kerry.
IBYE offers a very significant stepping stone into the world of running your own business for young people aged 18 to 35. It's not just the scale of the investment fund on offer that makes IBYE so important, IBYE entrants can go on to receive intensive enterprise boot camp training from LEO Kerry under the programme, to help them establish and develop their entrepreneurship careers.
Chief Executive of Kerry County Council Moira Murrell stated “Now more than ever before, Local Authorities are connecting with young and aspiring entrepreneurs, through our Local Enterprise Office. We are very keen to ensure that anyone with a good idea for a business is given the necessary encouragement and support every step of the way”.
Tomás Hayes, Head of Local Enterprise Office 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 benefited 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 Kerry across three categories: Best Business Idea, Best Start-Up Business and Best Established Business. Up to 450 young entrepreneurs will be invited by the LEOs to attend free regional ‘Entrepreneur Bootcamps’ later in the year to help them develop their business and new venture ideas.
With an IBYE investment fund of €50,000, LEO Kerry 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.
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.
Further information and details are also available from the 31 Local Enterprise Offices nationwide through www.localenterprise.ie
Website: www.ibye.ie (closing date to enter: Friday, September 29th 2017)
IBYE: Facts & Figures
– A €2 million investment fund with targeted business development supports.
– 3 categories: Best Business Idea, Best Business Start-Up and Best Established Business.
– Co-ordinated by all 31 Local Enterprise Offices across the entire Local Authority Network. Supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Enterprise Ireland.
– A record number of entries last year with 1,842 competitors, coming from every county in Ireland.
– 450+ places at Entrepreneur Bootcamps.
– Up to 186 local winners and runners-up, sharing investments of between €3,000 and €15,000 each.
– 8 Regional Finals.
– Investment fund of €100,000 for national winners and runners-up.
Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur is a programme that is open to people between the ages of 18 (at date of application) and 35 (at 31st December 2017) with an innovative business idea, including:
• individuals
• venture teams
• partnerships
• existing businesses with a new idea
• people overseas (including Irish emigrants) who will headquarter in Ireland
Each Local Enterprise Office (LEO) is running a competition in each county (September 29th closing date) aimed at finding winners in each of the three categories as well as an overall county winner.
Each LEO will have a total fund of up to €50,000 to invest in six businesses (three category winners and three runners-up) according to criteria including businesses’ investment needs. The three categories are as follows:
• Best Business Idea (pre-trading) – up to €10,000 investment fund through every LEO (€7,000 for category winner and €3,000 for runner-up, through every LEO)
• Best Start-Up Business (up to 18 months), with up to €20,000 investment fund through every LEO (€15,000 for category winner and €5,000 for runner-up, through every LEO)
• Best Established Business (over 18 months) with up to €20,000 investment fund through every LEO (€15,000 for category winner and €5,000 for runner-up, through every LEO)
The county winners will then proceed to eight regional finals from which 24 contenders (three from each region – one in each category) will be selected to compete for the national title of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur.
A further €100,000 investment fund will be available to invest in the winners of the three categories at the national final, one of which will also be named as Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur for 2018.
