Sharon Cunningham Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur 2019

Congratulations to all the national winners of IBYE 2019 …link to official IBYE release

IBYE National Winners & Runners Up 2019

I was delighted to hear the results via Twitter on Sunday 15th September that

  • Sharon Cunningham of Shorla Pharma was selected as Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur having earlier scooped the National Winner in Best Start Up Business – TIPPERARY
  • Sean McGarry, ShowerGem was announed as National Winner of the Best Established Business – MAYO
  • Brendan Maloney of Skillko in Mayo was awarded the Runner Up prize in the Best Start Up Category – MAYO

because I had met all three earlier in the year. This was my first year being actively involved with IBYE – despite it being around since 2014 – as I had been asked by the brilliant Theresa Mulvihill of Smart Marketing to deliver workshops and mentoring in both Tipperary and Clare and then I was asked by LEO Mayo to meet with both Sean and Brendan before the West Regional finals. More pictures of the day can be found on Twitter from LEO Tipperary, LEO Mayo, IBYE and the video pitch by Sean McGarry is from the fantastic Breda Fox, CEO of Galway LEO.

Co founders of Shorla Pharma Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan accepting Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur 2019 Award
Co founders of Shorla Pharma Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan accepting Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2019 Award from Minister Humphreys

I met Sharon to review her business plan as part of IBYE. It is an amazing business. I had very little feedback to give as they had already raised a multi-million investment – the technology/IP, business model and team were all brilliant.

GALWAY - Elizabeth McGloughlin, Tympany Medical, Runner Up in Best Idea Category
GALWAY – Tympany Medical, Runner Up in Best Idea Category
MAYO - Brendan Maloney, Skillko - Runner Up in Best Business Startup
MAYO – Brendan Maloney, Skillko – Runner Up in Best Business Startup

I met Brendan to provide feedback on his business plan before the West Regional Final. I was totally impressed by the traction the business had garnered in a short time, the product seemed to be really brilliant and it really was resonating with customers. When I met him the second time a few weeks later, he was able to describe how securing each major customer was having a ripple effect with onboarding others in the value chain.

SEAN MCGARRY SHOWERGEM

I have known Sean for many years and am delighted to feature a testimonial from Sean on my homepage.

Sean McGarry IBYE ShowerGem National Winner Best Established Business
Sean McGarry IBYE ShowerGem National Winner Best Established Business 2019

The product ShowerGem is brilliant – see my review here.

Sean McGarry IBYE ShowerGem National Winner Award

Sean has a brilliant entrepreneurship story one – one of several New Frontiers alumni – with new chapters being added every day. This is a fantastic pitch –

https://twitter.com/BredaFox/status/1173234924356345856

IBYE – a great competition – as everyone not just the winners will testify. Well done to all the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) around the country.

Best regards

Donncha (@donnchadhh)

 

p.s Writing your Business Plan Online Training Programme by Donncha Hughes, Business Advisor

The Business Plan is a major component of IBYE. In January 2020, I published an online training programme to help startup promoters and owners of small business to write a business plan.

Writing your Business Plan Online Programme with Donncha Hughes Business Advisor

A 150 minute video based online training programme that shows you how to write your business plan. Includes a business plan template, sample business business plan, template for 2 page investor brief and videos which break down each section of the business plan. See full blogpost to watch the promo video and then check out the free preview.

 

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