RTÉ Television will bring you live coverage of the awards ceremony to announce the winner of the 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition.
It will be broadcast live from Dublin’s City West Hotel on Thursday, 29th September 2005 and will be presented by Shane Kenny.
This year’s shortlist of 24 finalists was decided after the panel of 12 judges reviewed entries from a range of businesses and individuals across the island of Ireland.
Nominees, from the pharmaceutical, hospitality, food & drink, manufacturing and agri-business industries, are divided into three categories, International, Industry and Emerging.
A winner will be announced in each of the three categories, but only one entrepreneur can win the coveted title of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Given the success previous winners such as Denis O’Brien, Padraig O’Ceidigh, Moya Doherty and John McColgan, have achieved, Ireland’s business community will be awaiting this year’s announcement with great anticipation.
In the run up to the award night, RTÉ One will screen three-prequel shows, which will profile the finalists in each of the three categories. (Sept 8th, 15th and 22nd)
The series will culminate with the live broadcast of the award ceremony from City West Hotel on Thursday 29th September 2005.
The following is a list of nominees who will be profiled in each of RTÉ’s programmes:
International Category (Sept 8th)
Gerard Brandon, Alltracel Pharmaceuticals Plc
Kevin Neville, Data Display Co. Ltd
Tony McEnroe, Farran Technology Ltd.
Hubert Watson, Fintec
John Concannon, JFC Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Gerard Keenan, Keenan System
Sarah Newman and Andrew Collins, Needahotel.com
Aidan Heavey, Tullow Oil Plc
Industry Category (Sept 15th)
Frankie Whelehan, Choice Hotels Ireland
Michael Carey, Jacob Fruitfield Food Group
Sean Coyle, Keystone Group
Paddy Callaghan, Nature’s Best Ltd.
William Doyle, Newbridge Silverware
Owen O’Callaghan, O’Callaghan Properties Ltd.
Oliver Hughes & Liam LaHart, The Porterhouse Brewing Company
William Wright, Wrightbus Ltd.
Emerging Category (Sept 22nd)
Gregory J. Turley, ETrawler (ArgusCarHire.com)
Andrew Walsh & Craig Benton, Celtic Composting Systems Ltd.
Donal Byrne, Corvil Networks
Brian Conlon, First Derivatives Plc
Brian Baird, Meridio
Ann-Marie Slavin, OPT2VOTE
Colm Lyon, Realex Payments
Jerry Kennelly, Stockbyte
The 12 members of the judging panel are:
Denis O’Brien, Digicel Group (Chair)
Brian Long, Atlantic Bridge Ventures
Pat Maher, Enterprise Ireland
Liam Nellis, InterTradeIreland
Liam Shanahan, Shanahan Engineering Ltd.
Gerard McCaughey, Century Homes
Terri Scott, Invest Northern Ireland
Pat McDonagh, Riverdeep
Padraigh O’Ceidigh, Aer Arann Express
Mary Martin, AGI Therapeutics Ltd.
Peter Fitzgerald, Randox Laboratories Ltd.
Kevin Thompstone, Shannon Development
The overall winner of the awards propgramme will go on to represent Ireland in Monte Carlo at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year ® in May 2006, where other winners from each of the 40 countries, across six continents, will compete for the worldwide title.
Now in its eighth year in Ireland, the Awards Programme aims to identify, salute and support the Irish business people whose vision, drive and dedication have singled Ireland out as having one of the highest levels of entrepreneurial activity in the world.
For Further information contact
Hilary Copeland at Ernst & Young
Tel: 01 221 2732 – hilary.copeland@ie.ey.com