The team at WhiteLight Consulting are proud to Project Manage Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur on behalf of the Dept. of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Local Enterprise Office Network and Enterprise Ireland. And today’s the day we’ve all been waiting for … the National Finals at Google’s Dublin HQ.

The competition features three categories:

• Best Business Idea
• Best Start-Up Business
• Best Established Business

Over 1500 young entrepreneurs applied in every county around the country. Young entrepreneurs took part in Enterprise Days, Business Bootcamps, intensive mentoring and business planning hosted by their Local Enterprise Offices. Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur seeks to identify young entrepreneurs in every single area of Ireland. By connecting with them at an early stage of their development, the Local Enterprise Offices can provide them with high-quality training, mentoring and, in certain cases, investment. The aim is to help accelerate their growth and development thereby generating new jobs right across the country and/or exports.

Entrants competed in County Finals back in November and December before proceeding to Regional finals in January. The competition was fierce and the 24 who made it to today’s final really are the cream of the crop.  You can see the list of finalists here and learn more about their businesses by visiting the IBYE YouTube channel.

Con, Karen and all the WhiteLight Consulting team wishing the 24 amazing finalists the very best of luck today as they compete for glory. Ireland’s future is in great hands!