The Best Young Entrepreneurs in Galway who are pushing forward with innovative business visions were named recently by the Local Enterprise Office.
The awards for the county level of the Irish Best Young Entrepreneurs competition took place at the Portershed off Eyre Square.
Galway’s Local Enterprise Office had €50,000 in investment prizes to award to winners and runners up for the Best New Idea, Best Start-Up Business, Best Established Business among Galway’s young businesspeople.
Elizabeth McGloughlin, founder of Tympany Medical in Galway City won €7,000 for the Best Business Idea.
She is developing a visualisation device to enable surgeons to ‘see around the corners’ of the ear canal, enabling minimally invasive surgery.
The runner-up award and €3,000 investment fund went to Liam McMorrow of Adelie PenPal in the city.
The winner of the ‘Best Start-Up Business’ category and the €15,000 investment fund was Keith Lofus aged 25, founder of All About Kombucha.
Kombucha is a type of fermented tea considered a healthier alternative to your fizzy drink and Keith and co. are brewing their own brand out in Moycullen.
The runner-up was Cáit Ni Mháille of Go Study Ireland who took home €5,000.
Meanwhile, the title of ‘Best Established Business’, with an investment fund of €15,000, went to Barry Flannery of Xerotech.
Xerotech is an electrification provider who design and manufacture advanced automotive grade lithium-ion battery packs and battery management systems for OEMs.
The runner-up in this category, scooping a €5,000 investment fund, was Donal Reilly of Thermosol.
Barry Flannery was also awarded the overall title of ‘Best Young Entrepreneur’ for Galway.
Now in its fifth year, the Irish Best Young Entrepreneurs competition awards €2 million in investment funding to young businesspeople agaed 18 to 35.
These three will now progress on to compete at the Regional level later this summer, with the national finals taking place on September 15.
