This year’s 24 EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalists collectively generated revenues of more than €700m and employ more than 4,000 people.
Twenty-four finalists have been revealed for the 2024 EY Entrepreneur of the Year programme.
They span a range of sectors including consumer, health tech, pharmaceutical, energy and engineering.
“They are all true trailblazers – leaders with the courage and capacity to plot and follow their own path, pushing conventional boundaries and limits”
In all more than 200 nominations were received – the highest in the programme’s history.
The finalists who hail from across the island of Ireland will compete across three categories – Emerging, Established and International – with a special Sustainability Award presented to the finalist who is making the biggest contribution towards environmental sustainability through their business.
One overall winner will be selected as The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 at a gala awards ceremony which will take place in November.
The winner last year was Sam Moffett, CEO and co-founder of Monaghan business Moffett Engineering.
Entrepreneurship is alive and kicking across Ireland
“Each year we enter in to the nomination process hopeful and excited about the incredible people and businesses we are about to meet, and this year we were honoured to receive the most nominations ever in the history of the programme,” said Roger Wallace, Partner Lead for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year programme.
“Our finalists hail from a diverse mix of backgrounds and are at the helm 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. I am delighted to formally welcome this year’s 24 finalists into the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year community and I look forward to working with them closely over the coming months.”
Since its inception, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland community has grown to a tight-knit network of more than 600 alumni who harness each other’s wealth of experience, with three quarters (75%) conducting business with one another.
Together, the EOY alumni community generates revenues of €23bn, and employs more than 250,000 people across the island of Ireland.
“The high quality of all of the nominations received for the programme this year really emphasised that entrepreneurship is very much alive and kicking across the island of Ireland,” said Harry Hughes, CEO of Portwest and chair of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Judging Panel.
“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.”
The 2024 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year finalists are:
| Emerging | Established | International |
| Kasper Weber Anderson and Liam McMahon of Beyond Creative Limited | Duncan O’Toole of Captured Carbon | Rosaleen Hyde and Maxine Hyde of Ballymaloe Foods |
| Seamus Tighe of Ecoplex Energy Solutions | Hugh Cormican of Cirdan Imaging Ltd | David Maguire of BNRG Renewables |
| Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan of Shorla Oncology | Padraic O’Kane of Corporate.ie | Kenneth Fox of Channel Mechanics |
| Adrian Gilbane and Will Kennedy of Sons | Connor McCandless of Energystore Ltd | Conor Hanley of FIRE1 |
| Jack Kirwan of Sprout & Co | Sean Moran of Home Project Centre Limited | Gilbert Yates of Healthcare Ireland |
| Ciaran Burke and Andrea Reynolds of Swoop | Ruth Mackey, David Mackey and John Mackey of Mbryonics Limited | Brendan Mee of MTM Engineering |
| Denise Phillips of Voduz | Clare Hughes of Telenostic | Ivor Queally of QK Group South Africa |
| Damian Young of ZEUS Mobility | Dr Barry Flannery of Xerotech | Jonathan Larbey and Mark Gilmartin of T-Pro |
Main image at top: Conor Hanley, CEO of FIRE1, Eimear McCrann, Director, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year and Roger Wallace, Partner Lead, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year. Photograph: Naoise Culhane
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