A LIMERICK entrepreneur is in line for a €10,000 cash injection and a place at the Learning and Innovation Centre (LINC) thanks to an app he created to help football enthusiasts organises games from their mobile phones.
One of five finalists in this year’s Jumpstart competition, Gary O’Toole, a former Ireland youth international who once had trials with Arsenal, founded the Kickabout app in 2015. Kickabout allows football players to create and organise a game of football easily and quickly via a smartphone.
The app, which works in a similar manner to the Hailo taxi app, allows pitch owners to manage their bookings and advertise directly to users.
Gary will discover his fate at the Jumpstart final on December 6 when the shortlisted entrants will get the opportunity to present their ideas to some of Ireland’s best known and entrepreneurs, Bobby Kerr among them.
If he wins, the Limerick innovator will, along with his prize-winning cheque, get access to LINC’s mentoring supports, be invited to attend various industry specific seminars and given permission to utilise the array of facilities located within the institute.
Assumpta Harvey, Manager of the LINC Centre at the Institute of Technology in Blanchardstown said of the finalists, “These five shortlisted emerging businesses will provide for a very exciting final on December 6. It’s Interesting to see how many of the finalists have come through Enterprise Ireland’s New Frontiers Programme which really has become the hotbed for so much emerging entrepreneurial talent in Ireland.”
