Watt Footprint makes mark at County Enterprise Awards

A business from Mullingar is this year’s winner of the Westmeath Enterprise Award for 2024, Local Enterprise Office Westmeath has announced.

Paul O’Reilly and Paul Mahon of Watt Footprint Limited from Mullingar took the top prize of €5,000 and will now represent Local Enterprise Office Westmeath at the 2024 National Enterprise Awards at the Round Room at the Mansion House in Dublin on May 23, where there are further prizes to be won.

Watt Footprint offer a one-stop-shop approach to delivering energy savings, from initial energy audit and delivery of upgrades to the measurement and verification of the savings. Watt Footprint have an in-house team of energy specialists including energy engineers, energy auditors, metering specialists, software/technology experts and project managers.

Other winners at the Westmeath Enterprise Awards held at Sheraton Hotel included Peadar Coyle of Zeon Healthcare Ltd from Mullingar, which took second place and a prize fund of €1,500.

Watt Footprint Ltd will now be competing against 30 other finalists from every local authority area for a share of the €35,000 prize fund as national judging starts in May. Categories this year include ‘Best Export Business’, ‘Best Start-Up’ and ‘Innovation’, along with ‘One to Watch’ and a ‘Sustainability/ Green’ award in addition to eight regional awards.

Companies from Westmeath have enjoyed success in the National Enterprise Awards in the past. In 2020, Bevcraft Limited from Mullingar were overall winners at the national finals. The Westmeath County Enterprise Awards took place as part of a successful Local Enterprise Week programme of events. More than 300 physical events run by LEOs took place across the country on March 4-8. Christine Charlton, head of Enterprise with LEO Westmeath, said: “It is not one week in the year we should be celebrating enterprise. In my position, I get to meet many entrepreneurs and small businesses every week that I admire.

“Running a business is not easy. Micro businesses and entrepreneurs represented here today provide valuable employment and their contribution to the economy needs to be highlighted, celebrated and rewarded every day, but today is an opportunity for LEO Westmeath to congratulate entrepreneurs in the county and to recognise their hard work to make their business a success and acknowledge the contribution they are making to the economy.”

Seven other Mullingar businesses were also shortlisted this year: CJC Marketing T/A Social Media Elite, owned by Conor Cochrane; Valoy Automation, run by Vanessa Loiola; Declan Murray T/A Skyfab; and Klaas Kickz Ltd, an enterprise founded by Mark Connaughton.

Athlone firms on the shortlist were DcodeDyslexia Ltd, founded by Mary Moran; Maivjo Ltd T/A Tapitag, the business of John McHugh, and Georgia Quealy’s Bon Chocolatiers Ltd.

Among the special guests at the ceremony were An Cathaoirleach, Westmeath County Council Cllr Liam McDaniel and interim chief executive Barry Kehoe. Members of the judging panel included Catherine Kane, senior enterprise development officer in Local Enterprise Office Longford, and Gordon Naughton of Tactive Commercial Advice Ltd.

Other high-profile events that took place during the week included the International Women in Business Day regional event in conjunction with the LEOs in Longford and Leitrim on March 8 in the Mullingar Park Hotel and the Student Enterprise Awards County Final on March 6 in the Golden Island Shopping Centre Athlone.

Local Enterprise Week is organised by the Local Enterprise Offices and supported by Enterprise Ireland, local authorities and the Government of Ireland with over 300 events taking place nationwide this year.