events such as the CFO Lab, which covers off key professional challenges facing the CFOs of entrepreneurial businesses, as well as the C-Suite Sessions which provide a deep dive into pertinent business-related topics that are relevant to the entrepreneurs’ respective C-Suites.
Peter Fitzgerald (Chief Executive, Randox Laboratories) is another Northern Irish entrepreneur who was named overall winner of the Ireland competition in 2004.
The judging process Chaired by the 2002 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Pádraig Ó Céidigh, the EOY judging process is managed independently of EY. The panel comprises previous EOY winners and includes notable business names such as Denis O’Brien, Jerry Kennelly, Anne Heraty, Liam Casey, Brian Long, Terry Clune, Pat McDonagh, Dr. Edmond Harty and representatives from Enterprise Ireland, Invest Northern Ireland and InterTradeIreland. The judges are tasked with selecting a winner for each of the three categories (Emerging, Industry and International) and, from these three winners, an overall winner is selected. When selecting the 24 finalists at the outset of the EOY programme as well as the ultimate winners, our judges look for evidence of the following: • Innovation • Value creation • Vision • Sustainability and growth in turnover and employee numbers • Expansion within local and international markets • Risk analysis and strategies executed to overcome risk • Contribution to society, industry and communities. The decisions are based on the final scores that emerge from combining the individual
Brian Conlon (Chief Executive, First Derivatives) pictured in 2010 with the then President of Ireland Mary McAleese when he was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Ireland.
judges’ scorecards on each of the finalists. The final results are announced at the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards held in October each year, which brings together 1,500 business leaders from across the island of Ireland. Renowned as one of the most prestigious events on the Irish business calendar, the Awards show is televised ‘as live’ on RTE 1 as the who’s who in Irish business gather to celebrate Ireland’s entrepreneurial talent. The overall winner then goes forward to represent Ireland at World Entrepreneur Of The Year (WEOY) in Monte Carlo the following summer against their fellow country winners from 60 countries across the globe. In addition to the glittering Awards ceremony, the attendees have the opportunity to network with leading entrepreneurs on a global stage and attend best-in-class conferencing covering topics such as growth, future trends, emerging markets and family business. Previous guest speakers include Sir Alex Ferguson, Martha Stewart, Mika Hakkinen, Kofi Annan, John Cleese and Sir Timothy Berners-Lee. For the first time in 2013, EY opened up the WEOY conference to all of our EOY Alumni – an unrivalled opportunity to establish ties with like-minded entrepreneurs from across the world. Since the beginning of WEOY fourteen years ago, our Irish winners have proved time and again that we are among the best in the world when it comes to entrepreneurship. The EOY 2015 programme will open for nominations on January 29th as we, once again, search the island of Ireland for exceptional entrepreneurial talent. If you are an entrepreneur who is interested in finding out further information or if you would like to nominate someone for the prestigious awards programme, please don’t hesitate to contact the EOY team on 01-221 2250 or visit www.eoy.ie.
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dare to be an Entrepreneur
and forge links to new markets. Over 100 entrepreneurs attend the annual trip which comprises networking, world class executive education, thought leadership sessions and opportunities to hear from the CEOs of some of the world’s most successful multinationals and entrepreneurial businesses. Over the years, CEO Retreat destinations have included Boston, Shanghai, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Miami, Brazil, India, Silicon Valley, Chicago, New York, Indiana, Seattle and Vancouver. Throughout the year, EOY runs a programme of initiatives that enable the entrepreneurs in our community to extend their personal networks and enhance their personal and professional development. Our EOY University initiative and alignment with Jerry Kennelly’s Junior Entrepreneur Programme has brought entrepreneurs into lecture halls and classrooms throughout the island, imparting practical lessons from the frontlines of entrepreneurship to students of all ages. This year also saw the introduction of the “Entrepreneurs Anonymous” peer mentoring programme following requests from the Alumni to facilitate a programme that enables our entrepreneurs to support and advise one another on business and personal challenges they may currently face. We’ve also looked to bring these lessons to the professional sporting community through a partnership with the IRFU, where our entrepreneurs mentor and advise the IRFU players on their careers after rugby be that joining the workforce in a particular sector or starting an enterprise of their own. Over and above our burgeoning community of entrepreneurs, the EOY programme has looked at ways of nurturing a similarly supportive network amongst the key individuals in our Alumni’s leadership teams, introducing