Some 140 Irish business leaders head to Japan as part of Entrepreneur of the Year retreat
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
RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Intel gets $2 billion lifeline in the form of SoftBank equity investment
Intel is getting a $2 billion capital injection from SoftBank Group in a major vote of confidence for the troubled US chipmaker that is in the middle of a turnaround effort. The equity investment, announced by the two companies yesterday, is a lifeline for the once-iconic US chipmaker which has struggled to compete after years of management blunders that left it with virtually no foothold in the booming artificial intelligence chip industry. It will make SoftBank a top-10 shareholder of Intel and add to the Japanese tech investor's ambitious bet on artificial intelligence that includes the $500 billion Stargate US data centre project. The deal follows media reports last week that the US government may buy a stake in Intel, after a meeting between new CEO Lip-Bu Tan and President Donald Trump that was sparked by the President's demand for Tan's resignation over his ties to Chinese firms. SoftBank's decision to invest in Intel is not connected to Trump, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the US, with Intel playing a critical role," SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said in a statement. It will pay $23 per Intel share, a slight discount to Monday's closing price of $23.66. SoftBank's investment will come via a primary issuance of common stock by Intel, and, based on the US company's market capitalisation at close of trading yesterday, represent an equity stake of just under 2%, an Intel spokesperson said. The Japanese company would become the sixth largest investor in Intel, according to LSEG data. SoftBank shares dropped more than 5% today following the announcement, while Intel surged 5.6% in after-market hours trading. The Japanese company will only take an equity stake in Intel and will neither seek a board seat nor commit to buying Intel's chips, the person familiar with the matter said. Intel has struggled financially and recorded an annual loss of $18.8 billion in 2024, its first such loss since 1986, as it grapples with multiple challenges. Its longtime rival AMD has been gaining share in Intel's mainstay personal computer and server semiconductor markets, while its ambitious and costly plan for a chip contracting business that rivals that of Taiwan's TSMC has failed to take off. The company is now considering a significant change to its contract chip manufacturing business to win major customers, Reuters reported last month, in a potentially expensive shift from its previous strategies. "Intel's dual role as designer and manufacturer/fabricator uniquely positions it as potentially the best platform in the U.S. to compete with TSMC," said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo. Bloomberg News reported earlier that the US government is in talks to take a 10% stake in Intel. SoftBank declined to provide more details on the Intel investment when asked to comment by Reuters. The Intel funding is the latest in the Japanese company's run of mammoth investment announcements in 2025, which include committing $30 billion to ChatGPT maker OpenAI as well as leading the financing for Stargate.
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
SoftBank makes surprise $2bn bet on Intel's AI revival
SoftBank agreed to buy $2 billion of Intel stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. The Japanese company, which is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes AI linchpins Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, will pay $23 a share – a small discount to Intel's last close. Shares of the US chipmaker, which will issue new stock to SoftBank, surged more than 5 per cent in after-hours trading. SoftBank's stock fell as much as 5.4 per cent Tuesday in Tokyo, its most since April. SoftBank, which owns Arm Holdings, has for decades tried to be a central player in AI, but has been largely a bystander to a global spending boom in hardware. Progress has been slower than expected at Stargate, a $500 billion endeavour with OpenAI, Oracle and Abu Dhabi fund MGX to build data centres in the US. Masayoshi Son's plan to design an energy-efficient chip to better compete alongside Nvidia through the 'Izanagi' project has also yet to translate into a marketable product. 'It's hard to see how much this investment contributes to either SoftBank's value or short-term earnings,' said Tomoaki Kawasaki, senior analyst at Iwaicosmo Securities. For Intel, the Tokyo-based company's move delivers a strong vote of confidence in a storied US chipmaker that's struggled to remain relevant in the AI sphere. Intel aims to prove it can be a technology leader again after falling behind TSMC in contract chipmaking and Nvidia in chip design. Chief executive Lip-Bu Tan met US President Donald Trump at the White House last week, helping lay the groundwork for discussions around ways to rescue Intel. The company held talks with the Trump administration about a deal that would potentially turn the US into its biggest backer. Officials have discussed taking a stake of about 10 per cent in the chipmaker, Bloomberg News reported Monday. For SoftBank, buying Intel stock expands its US footprint at a time Tokyo is pressing Washington to cut tariffs in exchange for investments in the US. SoftBank recently inked a deal to buy Foxconn Technology Group's electric vehicle plant in Ohio in a move that could kick-start Stargate. That's as some of Asia's biggest companies including TSMC and Samsung Electronics reiterate plans to spend billions of dollars on factories in the US. But the timing of the deal – days after Mr Trump and Mr Tan's meeting – is spurring fears that politics may have played a part. 'If it's political, then it's not profit-motivated,' said Amir Anvarzadeh, Japan equity strategist at Asymmetric Advisors. 'Investing in Intel to appease Trump is perhaps not seen as good business.' In announcing its investment in Intel, SoftBank paid tribute to the chip pioneer's history. 'For more than 50 years, Intel has been a trusted leader in innovation,' Mr Son said in a statement. 'This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role.' Intel CEO Tan, a chip industry veteran who took the helm this year, has invested in start-ups alongside Mr Son and spent years on SoftBank's board as an independent director before resigning in 2022. 'I appreciate the confidence he has placed in Intel with this investment,' Mr Tan said. – Bloomberg
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Irish Times
Donald Trump's era of Dick Turpin economics is a menace to our State
US president Donald Trump and his cronies 'flood the zone' with so much noise that it is easy to let stuff slip past. But sometimes we need to listen. Because there is a risk that these guys actually mean at least part of what they are saying. Little attention was paid this week, for example, when US treasury secretary Scott Bessent spoke in an interview with Fox News about the 'promises' countries like Japan, Korea and the EU had made to invest money in the United States as part of trade agreements. The countries involved made these commitments in the full knowledge that they couldn't fulfil them. They were a way to dress up trade deals with a little fluff, based on the likelihood that big companies were likely to continue to invest in the US in any case. After all, how could European Union governments, for example, direct their companies to invest $600 billion (€513 billion) in the US by 2028 , which is the figure mentioned in the political deal reached between Trump and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen ? Did the EU have its hands tied before striking a trade deal with the US? Listen | 23:32 But Bessent has a different view. He likened the money promised in the deals to an offshore wealth fund, with the US able to 'direct' where the money would be invested. The trade surpluses these countries had with the US were to be recycled into investment in the US, at the president's discretion. READ MORE Whether this is serious or just part of the ongoing public relations of Trump 'winning' is anyone's guess. Still, perhaps it explains why we have yet to see anything by way of a written agreed statement of the US-EU 'deal', even though the 15 per cent tariffs have been applied. The EU has fudged that the $600 billion is 'as an indication based on the executive's contacts with industry'. Which, of course, is nonsense. Trump has said that if the money is not invested, then the EU tariffs will go back up to 35 per cent. So we have the emergence of this kind of Dick Turpin economics as Trump and his team perform a 'holdup' on countries that want access to US markets. And companies are having to pay the Maga highwaymen, too. After all, Nividia and AMD are to pay the US Government a 15 per cent share of revenues from sales of advanced artificial intelligence chips in China, in return for export licenses. This isn't the free market economics traditionally championed by the Republican Party. It is instead a particular kind of Trumpian crony capitalism – countries and businesses that are in favour, or pay the required price, are okay, while others, like Brazil and Canada at the moment, are targeted. Control from the White House is everything. Against this chaotic backdrop, the 'certainty' that the trade deal was meant to bring European businesses, including those in the Republic , thus looks qualified and uncertain. If you thought everything was settled with a handshake in Scotland, then you haven't been paying attention. The absence of an agreed statement between the two sides on how the deal will operate may well reflect Trump's desire to give him the scope to duck and dive. The issue of the promised European 'investment' in the US remains contested. And Trump has made it quite clear he is willing to take whatever measures he feels are necessary – tariff-based or otherwise – to increase the security of supply for the US in vital pharma and semiconductor products. Pharma is the latest sector subject to the squeeze from Washington, demanding lower prices in the US and more investment there, which will mean higher drug prices and fewer factories and jobs elsewhere. This week Eli Lilly announced it would hike the price of its weight loss Mounjaro in the United Kingdom market by up to 170 per cent, saying it supported Trump's view that drug prices – which are up to three times higher in the US – need to be rebalanced. You can choose to be optimistic or otherwise about how this might play out for pharma investment and tax revenues in this State. But the Central Statistics Office's latest trade figures, published on Friday, show our trade surplus with the US in the first six months of this year was €64 billion, up from €22 billion in the same period last year. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and US president Donald Trump at Turnberry in Scotland on Sunday. Video: Reuters. Illustration: Paul Scott Now the 2025 figures are distorted by the huge movement of pharma to the US to try to beat the initial imposition of tariffs in April. But our huge surplus with the US – based almost entirely on pharma – keeps us under the spotlight in Washington and means the companies concerned will remain under relentless pressure from the White House to change their investment and pricing plans. There is no point in the Republic waiting around for the sky to fall in as all this plays out. The risks are clear, but the outcome will remain uncertain, perhaps for many months to come. The publication of the study by the Trump administration into the pharma sector – the so-called section 232 investigation – will be an important moment, for sure, and should happen soon. Presumably, it will be accompanied by some policy measures and much noise. Trump, as he has done with his other 'holdups', will look for something here – in terms of price cuts and investment commitments from the industry, perhaps – and given our reliance on pharma investment and tax, this could well hurt us. He may well threaten more tariff pain for companies if they do not fall into line. And so the uncertainty will persist. This strategic risk needs to be the backdrop to Budget 2026, along with using the opportunity given by our strong economic figures and record tax haul to invest in infrastructure vital for people's lives and business investment. There is no point waiting for some kind of 'certainty' because it isn't coming. We need to do this on the basis that this may be our last chance to plan this before – sometime over the next few years – the exchequer picture starts to look a lot tighter. And that in the meantime, disruptive shorter-term risks remain. Instead, we may well spend the next six weeks arguing over whether households should get a few euros in energy credits and a double child benefit week.
