THE search is on for Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneurs (IBYE) with applications sought from Limerick business people.
The 2018 edition of the competition, now in its fourth year, was launched recently by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise and Innovation, Frances Fitzgerald TD and Minister of State for Business, Pat Breen TD.
IBYE has an investment fund of up to €2million and the closing date to enter this year’s competition is Friday, September, 29.
Run by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) with the support of the Department of Enterprise and Innovation and Enterprise Ireland, the competition is open to people between the ages of 18 and 35 with an innovative business idea, new start-up or established business.
Awards for Best Business Idea, Best Start-Up Business and Best Established Business are up for grabs.
In the region of 450 young entrepreneurs will be invited by the LEOs to attend free regional ‘Entrepreneur Bootcamps’ later in the year to help them develop their business and new venture ideas.
With an IBYE investment fund of €50,000 each, every LEO will award up to six investments to three category winners and three runners-up at county level. The local winners in the Best Start-Up and Best Established Business categories at county level will receive investments of up to €15,000 each and the two runners-up will each receive up to €5,000.
The Best Business Idea winner at county level will receive an investment of up to €7,000 and the runner-up will receive up to €3,000 of investment.
Winners at county level will progress to Regional Finals early next year and the national IBYE finals will be held in March 2018.
