Kinnegad winner of overall young entrepreneur award for westmeath

 

 

A Kinnegad-based entrepreneur has been named as winner of the overall award at the Westmeath Local Enterprise Office Young Entrepreneur awards.

 

Dean Gammel, of DG Ventures, Kinnegad, is to receive a prize of €20,000, as winner of the

Best Established Business  award.

 

His business concentrates on group bookings for the travel and leisure industry.

 

The winner of the Best New Idea award was Rebecca Butler from Streete, for her idea to start up a business catering for an alternative animal feed product.

 

The award for the Best Start up Business less than 18 months in operation with a prize fund of €20K went to Brian Kelly, T/A BK Leisure, Unit 4 Garycastle, Dublin Rd, Athlone.

 

All three now go on to the regional finals, with the hope of winning through to the national finals, and a chance at winning Ireland’s Best Young Enterpreneur title.

 

The competition is a new one, run over the summer by the Local Enterprise Office.

 

Entrants in each category of  the competition attended workshops and received one to one mentoring to assist them to develop a business plan and prepare for the ‘pitch’ day to a panel of judges which took place during September.

 

The aim of the initiative is to encourage and support a culture of entrepreneurship among young people in Ireland, to promote entrepreneurship as a career choice, and to encourage the establishment and development of new innovative businesses by Ireland’s young entrepreneurs. 

 

Mr. Pat Gallagher, CEO, Westmeath County Council in presenting the winners said ‘This is the first time that this competition has been hosted.

 

“I would hope that this competition is an annual event and I would encourage young people in every part of the country who are considering starting a business, or who might have a business idea – get involved, pitch your idea, take advantage of the mentoring and the supports, and maybe become Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur in 2015.”

 

 

The Awards Ceremony took place in conjunction with an Information morning for people already in business and those thinking of starting up a business to address any questions they may have on accessing finance, investigating a business, grant aids, state supports and marketing.

 

There were a number of Government Agencies present with information stands to speak with people including LEO,  Enterprise Ireland, Micro Finance Ireland, Social Protection, Westmeath Community Development, Athlone Institute of Technology, Revenue Commissioners, Opportunity in a Million, Employability Service Midlands & Patents Office

 

Mullingar’s Gerry Duffy (32 Marathons in 32 Days) addressed the large audience in attendance.

 

Gerry Duffy is a professional motivational speaker, goal setting coach and writer.

 

During his career to date, Gerry Duffy has been employed in a wide range of fields including the travel, insurance and property sectors.