Latest news with #EYEntrepreneuroftheYear
Business Mayor
25-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
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. 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 ] 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. Read More Here's the Roundup for the Week Ending March 28 '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. Read More Neysa Wilkins Retiring From WJHG in Panama City After 32 Years
Business Post
05-05-2025
- Business
- Business Post
Irish engineering firm Europlan to double revenue amid global expansion
Europlan Group, a Dublin-based engineering company, expects revenue to double this year. Based in Clonskeagh, the firm was founded by Michael Campbell in 1977 and is now led by his three sons, Micheál, Donnchadh and Caoimhín. In addition to its headquarters, the business has offices in Clonmel, the UK, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Philippines. The company has 90 permanent staff and works with a large team of subcontractors and had revenue of €29 million last year. 'We're a design-led programme management company,' Michéal Campbell told the Business Post. 'That means we take over a client's project and turn it over on a turn-key basis. Once the client gives us the concept, we give them the keys to the front door with it all as they had imagined it would be.' 'We cover every aspect, including commercial matters, engineering design and the actual construction of the property.' Campbell developed the idea for Europlan Group while working at the Kentz group in Clonmel. The three Campbell brothers joined the business in the 2010s and 2020s. Donnchadh Campbell had an engineering background while the other two brothers came in having previously worked as accountants. 'When he left Kentz, he started developing Europlan Group. Up until 2010 it was a very Ireland-focused business. As the first part of the succession plan, we decided to focus more on international clients,' Michéal Campbell said. 'It took a lot of time. It started off getting one customer at a time. There were small purchase orders coming in. Then, in 2020, we got our first big break in the Middle East doing a desalination project. From that, we attracted more clients including Sumitomo, and it has built up from there.' Enterprise Ireland has supported the business as it expanded internationally and Campbell praised the agency for its assistance. 'They've been a great support in terms of local knowledge on the ground. We've been to many of their local offices overseas. That knowledge, where they give you the local market information, has been fantastic,' he said. 'Even when it comes to marketing the company, they have been a big help. We've been named as a finalist for EY Entrepreneur of the Year and that came about with the help of Enterprise Ireland.' Campbell is, understandably, bullish on the prospects for Europlan Group. In addition to the major award nomination, the business is engaged in a project with Sumitomo for a sub-sea cable in Scotland. That being said, he is strategic in his approach to growth. 'We've had a lot of growth in the last two or three years. For the next four or five years, the focus is on making the company sustainable. Our focus last year was on getting the right people in the right positions so we can build upon the revenue pipeline that we've developed so far,' he said.
Irish Times
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Enda Kenny's life and times offer five lessons for today's politicians
For the first time in a long time, the smiley Mayo head of Enda Kenny adorned the front page of Thursday's The Irish Times, as the former taoiseach received what is surely an overdue honorary doctorate from DCU. Kenny, a youthful 74, looks like a man who is enjoying a good retirement. It's fair to say he earned it – a TD for 45 years, twice taoiseach, he was Fine Gael 's most successful-ever leader and led one of the most consequential governments in the country's history. Here are five lessons for politics and politicians from the life and times of Enda. 1: Stick at it Kenny's rise through the ranks was hardly meteoric. Elected a TD in a 1975 byelection caused by the death of his father, he became a junior minister after 11 years in the Dáil and a cabinet minister after 20. He ran for the leadership of his party unsuccessfully in 2001. It was only after Fine Gael was massacred at the 2002 election that Kenny finally secured the top job. With Bertie Ahern in his pomp, leading Fine Gael was a daunting task. But Kenny slaved away and rebuilt the party, leading it to the brink of power eight years later in the wake of the financial crash. He still had to withstand a challenge to his leadership from within the party, in 2010, just months before he would win the general election (an episode that demonstrated Fine Gael's then entertaining habit of trying to knife its own leader). Kenny beat off the challenge – testament to his grit, resilience and general bouncebackability. They're vital qualities for any would-be leader. 2: Get the right people Kenny was able to beat back the 2010 challenge largely due to the help of Phil Hogan , his enforcer in the party. Hogan would later be Kenny's nominee as European Commissioner, a gig regarded as probably the biggest plum in the political orchard. Reconstituting his front bench afterwards, Kenny brought back as finance spokesman the former party leader Michael Noonan , who would go on to play an indispensable role in the Fine Gael-Labour government. Kenny also resisted the temptation to exile the plotters, and so Richard Bruton, Leo Varadkar, Lucinda Creighton, Brian Hayes and Simon Coveney would all go on to play roles in government. Kenny surrounded himself with a group of able, hardworking and completely loyal staff and advisers – Andrew McDowell, Ciaran Conlon, Feargal Purcell, Mark Kenneally, Mark Mortell and others – who were central to his achievements. [ Enda Kenny to get special recognition gong at EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards Opens in new window ] 3: And get on with them Kenny is a nice man – and most people who meet him like him. That doesn't mean he isn't tough – you have to be tough to be taoiseach – but he made an effort to get on with people. In private, Kenny's staff at all levels speak warmly of him, even when they are acknowledging his mistakes or political failings. They like him. Even when the 2011-16 government, amid the depths of the bailout, was under the most extreme pressure as it implemented the Troika-mandated austerity programme, Kenny kept relations with his Labour counterpart Eamon Gilmore mostly on an even keel and kept a sense of coherence in his cabinet. He is by nature gregarious, but he had to work at leadership, too. READ MORE 4: Beware the easy option Most political decisions are not straightforward choices between the good option and the bad. Rather, they are choices between which is the lesser of two evils. In 2011, Kenny faced the question of whether Ireland should default on the gargantuan debts the banks had run up and which had been transferred to the State. Default was the option favoured by many politicians contemplating the alternative of years of austerity to fix the public finances. Gerry Adams said he would tell the IMF to go home and take their money with them. The Sunday Independent found itself in rare agreement with Adams: 'Default! Say the People!' shouted one front page. Some economists thought the debts were so huge that Ireland would end up defaulting anyway and might as well get it over with. Repaying the bailout was certainly painful and there are very legitimate arguments about how the burden was spread across society in tax increases, cuts to public spending and pay cuts. But on its own terms at least, the approach worked – as the public finances were fixed, the economy bounced back with astonishing vigour. Defaulting would have shut Ireland out from the bond markets, meaning that the gap between what Ireland was raising in taxes and spending on running the State would have needed to be closed overnight. That would have required adjustments of about one third of the total government budget, or €19 billion. But yeah, default, say the people. Kenny and his government did the wise and difficult thing. It turned out to be unpopular. But does anyone seriously now believe we should have defaulted in 2011? 5: Don't expect to be thanked Of course, the years of austerity were tough – and many of the measures were enormously unpopular. Fine Gael unwisely asked people to 'keep the recovery going' in the 2016 election, when many people weren't feeling any recovery at all – and got monstered by voters. Labour dumped its leader in a panic in 2014 but still lost nearly all its seats in 2016, and spent the next political cycle apologising in opposition for what it did in government. That did not turn out to be a wise tactic either. [ 'I have the freedom now to say things I could not while holding office': Leo Varadkar pens autobiography Opens in new window ] However you look at it, the Fine Gael-Labour government – albeit at great social and economic cost – restored the country's fortunes. That looked unlikely in 2011. Maybe virtue is its own reward. So the final lesson from Enda? Even when you get things right, don't expect to be thanked.
Irish Times
01-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Losses widen at Shorla Oncology
The head of Shorla Oncology said the business expects to increase revenues significantly in 2025, even as losses widened in 2023. Chief executive Sharon Cunningham was commenting on new accounts for the Clonmel headquartered Shorla Pharma Ltd which show that the group recorded a pre-tax lopretax8.07m in 2023 as the business continued in its development phase. The pretax loss followed a €6.2 million loss in 2022. Last year, Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan from Shorla Oncology were named 2024 EY Entrepreneurs Of The Year. READ MORE Ms Cunningham said: 'Our business is very capital intensive in the product development phase. It takes several years to develop and commercialise pharmaceutical drugs to start generating revenue and realise a return'' The company is currently conducting another round of fundraising after having already raised $45 million, she added. The accounts show that the company recorded its first revenues in 2023 at €2.49 million and Ms Cunningham said: 'There was a significant increase in revenues in 2024 and we expect another significant increase in revenues this year.' Research and development spending increased from €2.12 million to €3.26 million in 2023. 'We are very pleased with the progress of our business and we are exactly where we planned to be and want to be from a revenue and pipeline progression perspective,' Ms Cunningham said. The company has currently four FDA approved medicines for the US market and launched the fourth of those this week in the US. It also has a US office at Cambridge, Massachusetts where Ms Cunningham is based. The Waterford native said that numbers employed now total 45 and said that she expects employee numbers to increase further this year. The accounts show a capital injection of €28.45 million in 2023 resulted in the company having shareholder funds of €17.12 million at the end of 2023. Asked on the impact of winning the EY Entrepreneur of the Year for 2024, Ms Cunningham said that it has been ' phenomen'l'. 'It's extremely beneficial to have access to such a dynamic group of successful entrepreneurs and winning the competition overall has provided validation and further credibility of our business'' The company will be representing Ireland in the world EY Entrepreneur of the year competition in Monaco in June.
Irish Examiner
01-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Clonmel-based Shorla Oncology to increase revenues significantly
The CEO of Shorla Oncology said on Thursday that the business expects to increase revenues significantly in 2025. Ms Sharon Cunningham was commenting on new accounts for the Clonmel-headquartered Shorla Pharma Ltd which show that the group recorded a pre-tax loss of €8.07m in 2023 as the business continued in its development phase. The pre-tax loss of €8.07m followed a pre-tax loss of €6.2m in 2022. Last year, Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan, from Shorla Oncology, were named 2024 EY Entrepreneurs Of The Year. At the time, Ms Cunningham said: 'Our business is very capital intensive in the product development phase. It takes several years to develop and commercialise pharmaceutical drugs to start generating revenue and realise a return Ms Cunningham said that the company is currently conducting another round of fundraising after having already raised $45m. The accounts show that the company recorded its first revenues in 2023 at €2.49m, and Ms Cunningham said: 'There was a significant increase in revenues in 2024, and we expect another significant increase in revenues this year.' The company's research and development spend increased from €2.12m to €3.26m in 2023. Ms Cunningham said: 'We are very pleased with the progress of our business, and we are exactly where we planned to be and want to be from a revenue and pipeline progression perspective." US market Ms Cunningham said that the company has currently four FDA approved medicines for the US market and launched the fourth of those this week in the US. The firm also has a US office at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Ms Cunningham is based, and she said that the medicines include treatments for breast and ovarian cancer and leukaemia. The Waterford native said that numbers employed now total 45, adding that she expects employee numbers to increase further this year. In accounts signed off on March 13, they show that a capital injection of €28.45m in 2023 resulted in the company having shareholder funds of €17.12m at the end of 2023. Cash funds increased from €4.73m to €14.49m. A note attached to the accounts states that the company meets its day-to-day working capital requirements through existing cash resources and from future funding. A separate note states that 'the projections indicate that additional funding will be required in 2026, and assume that the company will successfully obtain such funding'. Asked on the impact of winning the EY Entrepreneur of the Year for 2024, Ms Cunningham said that it has been "phenomenal". She said: 'It's extremely beneficial to have access to such a dynamic group of successful entrepreneurs and winning the competition overall has provided validation and further credibility of our business." Ms Cunningham said that the company will be representing Ireland in the world EY Entrepreneur of the year competition in Monaco in June. Read More Smurfit Westrock posts 'strong' first quarter after merger
