43 Irish Best Young Entrepreneur county finalists were put through their paces at a business bootcamp in Rosscarbery last Friday and Saturday as part of the nationwide search to find Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE).
Mitchelstown’s Ann Marie Corbett, the fashion-lover and entrepreneur behind online virtual shopping site Ann Marie’s Dressing Room, was one of the hopefuls to take part.
Also taking part was Fermoy’s Adam Howard from Marian Square who has developed an app on electronic billboard advertising performane monitoring. Adam is presently seeking investment funding for his project.
A €150,000 investment fund for Co Cork sees LEO (Local Enterprise Office) Cork City, LEO South Cork and LEO Cork North and West looking for the best entrepreneurs with the potential to shine in the one of three categories: ‘Best Business Idea’, ‘Best Start-Up Business’ and ‘Best Established Business’.
The IBYE business boot camp was designed to help participants develop the skills required to take their entrepreneurial ideas and businesses to the next level with support from experts.
At a county final on December 14th, each LEO in Cork will award up to six investments to three category winners and three runners-up for their region. The local winners in the ‘Best Start-Up Business’ and ‘Best Established Business’ categories will receive investments of €15,000 each, with runners-up receiving €5,000. The ‘Best Business Idea’ winner will receive an investment of €7,000, and the runner-up €3,000.
The county winners will then go forward to represent their respective LEO in a regional final in January 2018, and if successful, will fly the flag at Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur’ before the end of the year.
