The finalists of the 2024 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland programme have been revealed today. The 24 shortlisted entrepreneurs span a range of sectors including consumer, health tech, pharmaceutical, energy and engineering. Collectively this group of world class business leaders are already generating annual revenues of more than £600M and employ over 4,000 people.

The finalists who hail from across the island of Ireland will compete across three categories – Emerging, Established and International – with a special Sustainability Award presented to the finalist who is making the biggest contribution towards environmental sustainability through their business. One overall winner will be selected as The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2024 at a gala awards ceremony which will take place in November.

Rob Heron, EY Northern Ireland Managing Partner, said: “Each year we enter in to the nomination process hopeful and excited about the incredible people and businesses we are about to meet, and this year we were honoured to receive the most nominations ever in the history of the programme. Our finalists, including those from Northern Ireland – Denise Phillips of Voduz, Connor McCandless of Energystore Ltd, Hugh Cormican of Cirdan Imaging Ltd, and Gilbert Yates of Healthcare Ireland – hail from a diverse mix of backgrounds and are at the helm of some of the most inspiring and innovative businesses in their industries. They are all true trailblazers – leaders with the courage and capacity to plot and follow their own path, pushing conventional boundaries and limits.

“Each of the finalists is exploring new markets and technologies to solve challenges and find solutions that are revolutionising their own industries and creating opportunities for their local communities, the island of Ireland and beyond. I am delighted to formally welcome this year’s 24 finalists into the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year community and I look forward to working with them closely over the coming months.”

The 2024 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ finalists are:

This year’s finalists have been shortlisted out of more than 200 nominations by an independent judging panel of previous winners, chaired by Harry Hughes, CEO of Portwest and Chairperson of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Judging™ Panel who commented: “The high quality of all of the nominations received for the programme this year really emphasised that entrepreneurship is very much alive and kicking across the island of Ireland. Choosing just 24 finalists was extremely tough but I would like to congratulate this year’s finalists and extend a very warm welcome into the EOY community. A hugely valuable experience now awaits each of them and I wish them all every success as they join the programme and become part of this unique group of passionate, courageous individuals driving Irish entrepreneurship.”

Since its inception, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland™ community has grown to a tight-knit network of more than 600 alumni who harness each other’s wealth of experience, with three quarters (75%) conducting business with one another. Together, the EOY alumni community generates revenues of €23bn, and employs more than 250,000 people across the island of Ireland.

The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland programme is supported by Premium Corporate Sponsor Julius Baer International, and Government sponsors, Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland.

For further information, please visit www.eoy.ie

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