Some 140 Irish business leaders head to Japan as part of Entrepreneur of the Year retreat
Some 140 Irish entrepreneurs and business leaders have travelled to
Japan
on what's being dubbed the biggest unofficial trade mission to the Asian country.
The trip has been organised by EY as a CEO retreat that is part of the Big Four firm's annual
Entrepreneur of the Year
(EOY) programme.
The visit includes the 27 Irish entrepreneurs representing 24 companies who will vie to win awards across three categories – emerging, established and international – later this year.
The overall Entrepreneur of the Year is then chosen from the three category winners from a panel of judges chaired by Harry Hughes of Portwest. Former EOY winners and finalists are also making the trip to Japan.
READ MORE
The group will meet local business leaders, academics and Irish agencies during the weeklong trip.
[
Shortlist for 2025 EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards revealed
Opens in new window
]
In a busy itinerary, they will visit the Tokyo Stock Exchange, be hosted by Japanese corporate giant SoftBank and meet with its president Kunihiro Fujinaga and executive vice-president Daichi Nozaki. They will also meet the Irish Ambassador Damien Cole to discuss Irish-Japanese business ties, travel to Osaka for the World Expo, and have a 'mini MBA' experience at Hitotsubashi University.
Japan is the world's fourth largest economy and is Ireland's second largest trading partner in Asia Pacific. Many of the entrepreneurs travelling to Japan are already conducting business there, while others are seeking to expand their markets.
Commenting on this year's retreat, Roger Wallace, partner lead for EY Entrepreneur of the Year said: 'This year we are taking the biggest ever cohort of entrepreneurs on the retreat.
'Japan is renowned as an innovative leader across various industries, including manufacturing, electronics, automotive and robotics, with world-class Japanese companies such as Sony, Honda, Yamaha. This retreat is an opportunity for Irish entrepreneurs to delve deeper into new market opportunities in Japan and expand their knowledge of business and trade in the region.'
The finalists in the emerging category are: Alan Doyle of Aerlytix; Eoin Cluskey of Bread41; Eddie Dillon of CreditLogic; Laura Dowling of fabÜ; Caitríona Ryan & Nicola Ralph of Institute of Dermatologists; Liam Dunne of Klearcom; Aidan & Hilary O'Shea of Otonomee; and Áine Kennedy of The Smooth Company.
In the established category, the finalists are: Karl Fitzpatrick of Chevron College; Derek Foley Butler of Grid Finance; James Kelly of LMH Engineering Group; William McColgan of McColgans Quality Foods; Gareth Sheridan of Nutriband Inc; Terry Hughes of Pivotal; Larry Bass of Shinawil; and Gary Lavin of VitHit Drinks.
The international category finalists are: Donnchadh Campbell of Europlan; Conor Buckley of Granite Digital; Seamus Fahey of ICS Medical Devices; Brendan Noud and Desmond Anderson of LearnUpon; Brian McGrath of MSL Engineering Limited; Martin Tierney of Seating Matters; David Corcoran of Soltec Ireland Ltd; and Edward McCloskey of WaterWipes.
The EOY programme is supported by Enterprise Ireland, Invest NI and Julius Baer, with The Irish Times and Newstalk as media partners.
Some 650 alumni have come through the EOY awards programme since inception. According to EY, three-quarters of them conduct business with one another. Together, EOY alumni generate revenues in excess of €25 billion and employ more than 250,000 people across the island.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
12 hours ago
- Irish Times
EI's new CEO must think big to help domestic businesses scale to create next ‘Kerry Group or Smurfit'
It's all change at Enterprise Ireland . On Friday, it appointed Jenny Melia as its chief executive and one of her key tasks will be to implement its new five-year strategy, which has just been put into effect. A lot has changed since EI's last three-year plan, not least the return to the White House of Donald Trump and his threat to impose tariffs and other measures on the rest of the world. Suddenly, our pharma exports and the financial spin off they yield, are under major threat, along with billions in corporate tax revenues from Big Tech firms, which fund many of our essential day-to-day services. On Wednesday, EI chairman Michael Carey and interim CEO Kevin Sherry gave a presentation on the new strategy in Tokyo to 100-plus Irish business leaders who had travelled to the country as part of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year programme's CEO retreat. READ MORE 'It has an underlying ambition to ensure that indigenous Irish businesses, Irish exporting companies and international trading companies... that those businesses become the primary driving force of the Irish economy to provide a counterbalance for the great success of FDI [foreign direct investment] and the great work that the IDA do,' Carey said. Scaling is a potential 'game changer', he said, adding that the ambition is to establish a large fund (a mix of State resources and private sector money) that would allow it write larger cheques for companies with the ambition to become 'the next Kerry Group or Smurfit'. That step change in funding is a big gap in the system at the moment. EI's ambition is to seed the next generation of Irish multinationals. According to Carey, EI is the largest private equity investor in Europe, a fact previously unknown to Cantillon. Now is the time to build on that expertise. As an entrepreneur himself, Carey should be well placed to help EI deliver on its new strategy. When appointed in 2023, he was the first EI chairman to have been a client of the agency, and his biscuit manufacturer East Coast Bakehouse is itself trying to scale into markets outside Ireland.
The Journal
a day ago
- The Journal
Trump says he's doubling the US tariff on steel to 50%
US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has said that he is doubling the tariff rate on steel to 50%, a dramatic increase that could further push up prices for a metal used to make housing, cars and other goods. Trump spoke at US Steel's Mon Valley Works–Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, to discuss investments by Japan's Nippon Steel. The price of steel products has increased roughly 16% since Trump became president, according to the government's producer price index. Trump said US Steel will stay an American company under a deal for Japan-based Nippon to invest in the steelmaker. Few details about the deal have been made public. 'We're here today to celebrate a blockbuster agreement that will ensure this storied American company stays an American company,' Trump said as he opened an event at one of US Steel's warehouses near Pittsburgh. 'You're going to stay an American company, you know that, right?' Trump said doubling the tariffs on imported steel 'will even further secure the steel industry in the US'. But such a dramatic increase could push prices even higher. Advertisement Employees, Trump supporters, local officials and others filled one of the massive warehouses on the grounds of the Irvin finishing plant to hear Trump. Donald Trump speaks to steel workers in Pennsylvania Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Giant American flags hung from the ceiling and a sign read, 'The Golden Age'. Steelworkers in orange hard hats and work clothes milled about, and part of the warehouse's cement floor was packed with huge rolled coils of shiny steel sheet produced at the plant and used for appliances, doors and other applications. Though Trump initially vowed to block the Japanese steelmaker's bid to buy Pittsburgh-based US Steel, he changed course and announced an agreement last week for what he described as 'partial ownership' by Nippon. It is not clear, though, if the deal his administration helped broker has been finalised or how ownership would be structured. Trump stressed the deal would maintain American control of the company, which is seen as both a political symbol and an important matter for the country's supply chain, industries like car manufacturing and national security. Trump, who has been eager to strike deals and announce new investments in the US since retaking the White House, is also trying to satisfy voters, including blue-collar workers, who elected him as he called to protect US manufacturing. US Steel has not publicly communicated any details of a revamped deal to investors. Nippon Steel issued a statement approving of the proposed 'partnership' but also has not disclosed terms of the arrangement.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
Nintendo's Switch 2: Nostalgia is the driving force as gaming fans await heavily hyped console
Along a pristine sandy shore, a woman casts her fishing rod out into the sea and waits. She's dressed in a stripy swimsuit with cute red boots and star-shaped sunglasses. For her, every day is beach day. She is, of course, a character in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the second most popular video game – with 48 million copies sold – for the Nintendo Switch. (Mario Kart 8 is first.) Animal Crossing has little in the way of a linear story. Players are entertained by endless low-stakes side quests such as fishing, farming, fossil hunting and helping out friends on the island – all to the tune of calm guitar, e-piano and drums. Above our fashionable angler, a neatly tied present floats inland on a parachute, ready to be knocked out of the sky with a slingshot. A fossil peaks out from a tuft of grass nearby. Butterflies socialise in the morning light. And the island's anthropomorphic inhabitants are chattering away in a high-pitched gibberish. READ MORE There are no threats here. Even the home-extension loans are interest-free. [ Can Nintendo's Switch 2 re-energise a stagnant gaming industry? Opens in new window ] In a recent episode of Kit & Krysta , a gaming podcast hosted by two former Nintendo employees, Krysta Yang said the game 'saved our lives'. It's a common sentiment: Animal Crossing was the breakout video game of the Covid pandemic, reaching women, men, casual players and hardcore gamers in equal measure. Released in March 2020, just in time to provide a much-needed antidote to the lockdown anxiety many were feeling, it cradled players when they needed it most and spawned an online community when corporeal ones were taken away. Its impact shows the difference between a good game and a great game – something Nintendo has achieved time and again. (At one point in the late 2000s, almost every livingroom seemed to have Wii Sports or Mario Kart on the television.) With the much-hyped release of Nintendo's Switch 2 next week, gamers are nostalgic for its predecessor, now the highest-selling games console of the last 20 years. 'Nobody really saw it coming,' says Stuart Dempsey, chief executive of GamerFest , Ireland's biggest gaming event. Following highs in the 2000s with the Nintendo DS and Wii, the Japanese games company appeared to lose its edge with the release, in 2012, of the Wii-U, a commercial and critical flop. 'So to rebound like that,' Dempsey says of the release of Nintendo Switch in 2017, 'was absolutely incredible.' Stuart Dempsey, chief executive of GamerFest, at the convention in the RDS last weekend. Photograph: Conor Capplis When The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – then the latest in a long-running adventure series – was released alongside the Switch, it was immediately clear fans had their hands on something special. At the Game Awards in 2017, the jubilation on the faces of its creators when Zelda won game of the year was not only a heartwarming moment, but it also heralded the beginning of an era when Nintendo was back on top. I'm speaking to Dempsey just outside the RDS in Dublin, where thousands of attendees are wading into the main hall dressed in handmade costumes, videogame-themed hoodies and all manner of merchandise. The Switch 'was the first time a console had ever felt that portable to me. They'd tried it a few times, but that was when the magic happened' — Digital artist Katie O'Kane The event features virtual-reality demonstrations, game developers testing their latest projects on willing guinea pigs, and traders selling artwork, figurines and second-hand games. The legacy of Nintendo properties is pervasive here, almost every stall including some reference to Pokémon, Mario or Zelda. 'The Switch was a gamechanger,' says Dempsey. 'It [is] such an innovative console. They're not reinventing the wheel this time, but nonetheless I would expect it to do very, very well.' DFC Intelligence videogame industry projections. Graph: DFC Intelligence The Switch gives players the option to play games through their television or use it as a hand-held console – though, importantly, the system gives users more processing power in their pockets than ever before. 'Covid was actually a massive catalyst' for online gaming, says Dempsey. 'Because you had young people stuck at home with no opportunity to hang out together, gaming online became a really important outlet for them to keep in touch and socialise.' Nearby, we see this community out in the open. Some excitable teenagers in military khakis and Spider-Man masks hold up airsoft guns in a sort of Mexican standoff – a reference, no doubt, to a classic Spider-Man meme . We should give them some space, I suggest. Their weapons 'all get checked at the door', Dempsey says reassuringly. [ Sales of Nintendo Switch top 100m, surpassing Wii's lifetime figure Opens in new window ] It's nostalgia that comes up again and again when speaking to fans about what made the Switch and its games so special. And though the Switch 2 will come with a bigger screen, more storage and better performance, its biggest titles will feature the same old titans that have fronted Nintendo for years. Some cosplayers catch my eye. Devlyn Marcos and Matthew O'Donoghue are dressed as two such titans, Mario and Luigi. O'Donoghue, being the taller of the pair, is aptly dressed as Luigi. He has pre-ordered Switch 2; he says he's most excited about being able to play his favourite childhood games, from Nintendo's GameCube era in the early 2000s. Devlyn Marcos and Matthew O'Donoghue cosplaying as Mario and Luigi at GamerFest 2025. Photograph: Conor Capplis 'It's a nostalgia thing for me too,' says Amy Quinn, a long-time Nintendo fan who owns the video-game reseller Retro Ralph Gaming . 'It's the stuff I grew up with really. I'm going back to the same characters with new stories. The old classic games like Mario, they keep you entertained for hours on end. The new ones on the PlayStation 5, for example, you play them once or twice and it's not the same.' Helen and Amy Quinn at Amy's stall at GamerFest 2025. Photograph: Conor Capplis She's holding off on pre-ordering the new console, hoping it will come down in price over time. (Nintendo Ireland has priced the Switch 2 at €469.99 – that's without any games – at the time of writing.) In front of Quinn are stacks of video games, with not a Switch box in sight. They still sell very well, she says. Katie O'Kane is selling her artwork at a nearby stall. The digital artist has pieces inspired by a range of Nintendo video games, including The Legend of Zelda. Tears of the Kingdom, the latest game in the series, is her favourite. 'There's so much to it,' she says. 'You can pick it up and get lost for a few hours.' Digital artist Katie O'Kane selling her artwork at GamerFest 2025. Photograph: Conor Capplis 'Nintendo has always been about taking games wherever you go, in your pocket,' she says. The Switch 'was the first time a console had ever felt that portable to me. They'd tried it a few times, but that was when the magic happened.' Travis Mack, owner of Retromania , Ireland's largest reseller of retro Nintendo portable consoles and games, says that while other game companies chase the teenage or adult markets, Nintendo make games for all ages and genders. 'They didn't exclude anybody,' he says. 'They tried to push their console on everybody, and it worked. It literally is the biggest impact of a console in the last 20 years.' Travis Mack, owner of videogamer store Retromania, at GamerFest 2025 in the RDS. Photograph: Conor Capplis Mack says the backwards compatibility of the new console, which means users can play their old games on the new system, has been such an appealing feature that the usual trading in of old titles in advance of a new console launch isn't happening – to his apparent frustration. Gamers are, however, selling their old console to afford the new one, he says. Mack will travel to Wexford next week for a midnight launch of the Switch 2 at the Retro Gaming Store , where he will get together with some friends and play Mario Kart World, Nintendo's flagship title for its new console. The Switch 2 comes at a critical time for the stagnant gaming industry . As Nintendo projects a growing confidence in its supply chain, overcoming fears that US tariff chaos would hinder its rollout, the gaming-market analyst DFC Intelligence recently increased its year-one sales estimates for the Switch 2 from 15 million units to 16 million. It expects 100 million units to be sold globally by the end of the decade. Mario Kart World on the new Nintendo Switch 2: 'The only downside to the first Switch was that it was underpowered. The new Switch, though, is taking care of all of that,' says Travis Mack of Retromania. Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty 'The Nintendo Switch 2 is arguably the most important product launch in video game history,' DFC said earlier this month, adding that it expects it to be the fastest-selling console system ever. Since Grand Theft Auto VI – widely considered the most anticipated video game of all time – was delayed from its 2025 release date to May 2026, much more is at stake for the industry this year than Nintendo's bottom line. DFC says the Switch 2 'has the potential to lift a video game industry that has been grappling with product delays, rising costs and economic uncertainty'. If the industry finds itself in the doldrums today, DFC expects sails to be raised high in the coming years and for hardware and software sales records to be broken. All eyes are on the Switch 2. 'It's bringing a bit of Japan to the rest of the world,' Mack says. 'Japan have been the masters of portable gaming. On trains, people are playing games. On planes, people are playing games. They're bringing their culture over to us and are embroidering the whole family unit. 'The only downside to the first Switch was that it was underpowered. The new Switch, though, is taking care of all of that.' Nintendo Switch 2 is available in Ireland from Thursday, June 5th
