Two Irish food businesses are among the 24 finalists for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year (EOY) 2024, announced today.
Rosaleen Hyde and Maxine Hyde of Ballymaloe Foods are finalists in the International category, and Jack Kirwan of Sprout & Co. is a finalist in the Emerging category.
EY received over 200 nominations for the honour – the highest ever in the programme’s history.
Finalists from Ireland span all three categories: Emerging, Established and International.
The overall winner will be revealed at the EY EOY 2024 gala award ceremony, which will take place in November.
There will also be a special Sustainability Award presented to the finalist who is making the biggest contribution toward environmental sustainability.
‘True Trailblazers’
Roger Wallace, partner lead for the EY EOY programme said, “Our finalists hail from a diverse mix of backgrounds and are at the help 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.”
Harry Hughes, the chief executive of Portwest and chairperson of the EY EOY judging panel, added, “The high quality of all 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.”
Finalists
The 24 nominees across multiple sectors are collectively generating annual revenues of more than €700 million and employ over 4,000 people.
The finalists are:
Emerging
Kasper Weber Anderson and Liam McMahon of Beyond Creative Limited
Seamus Tighe of Ecoplex Energy Solutions
Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan of Shorla Oncology
Adrian Gilbane and Will Kennedy of Sons
Jack Kirwan of Sprout & Co.
Ciaran Burke and Andrea Reynolds of Swoop
Denise Phillips of Voduz
Damian Young of ZEUS Mobility
Established
Duncan O’Toole of Captured Carbon
Hugh Cormican of Cirdan Imaging Ltd
Padraic O’Kane of Corporate.ie
Connor McCandless of Energystore Ltd
Sean Moran of Home Project Centre Limited
Ruth Mackey, David Mackey and John Mackey of Mbryonics Limited
Clare Hughes of CF Pharma group (including Telenostic Ltd)
Dr Barry Flannery of Xerotech
International
Rosaleen Hyde and Maxine Hyde of Ballymaloe Foods
David Maguire of BNRG Renewables
Kenneth Fox of Channel Mechanics
Conor Hanley of FIRE1
Gilbert Yates of Healthcare Ireland
Brendan Mee of MTM Engineering
Ivor Queally of QK Group South Africa
Jonathan Larbey and Mark Gilmartin of T-Pro
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