Prize of €25,000 for Westmeath's Best Young Entrepreneur
The Taoiseach and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation have launched a new competition to find Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur, with a total fund of €2m to invest in winning businesses at entrepreneurs in every county.
In Westmeath, the competition will be run by the new Local Enterprise Office, and winners will be named in three categories – best new idea, best start-up, best new venture for established business – as well as an overall winner, who will be Westmeath’s Best Young Entrepreneur.
The Westmeath LEO will have a total fund of €50,000 to invest in the three winning businesses, according to criteria including the prospects and investment needs of each. The winner can receive an investment of up to €25,000.
Mentoring, marketing and other supports will also be available to participating businesses at various stages of the competition.
The competition is open to individuals aged 30 and under and will be judged under three categories: best new idea; best start-up business; best established business with new add-on.
The first stage will be a county-based competition (run by the 31 LEOs) leading to the naming of the Best Young Entrepreneur in each county. This stage will include boot camps and mentoring programmes. This will be followed by regional finals and national finals.
This project is an integral part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 and is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through the LEOs.
Applying is simple – go to localenterprise.ie or your LEO – localenterprise.ie/Westmeath – the deadline is June 30.