Limerick entrepreneur meets Minister Bruton ahead of IBYE Final

LIMERICK, Ireland - Nov. 20, 2014 - PRLog -- The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton T.D. today met Paddy Finn from Castletroy-based Electricity Exchange, a national finalist in this year’s ‘Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur’ competition.

Mr. Finn is being supported in the competition by the Local Enterprise Office Limerick which last month awarded him a €20,000 investment after being named Limerick's Best Young Entrepreneur.

Over 1,000 young entrepreneurs, all aged between 18 and 30 and from every county in Ireland, applied for the first ever ‘Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur’ competition, which is being run by all 31 Local Enterprise Offices.    24 finalists from 17 counties have now made it to the national final and the announcement of winners will take place on Sunday, December 7th at Google’s European Headquarters in Dublin.

Speaking after meeting with Paddy Finn during the one-day business bootcamp at Wayra in Dublin, Minister Bruton said: “Two thirds of all new jobs come from start-ups in their first five years of existence – that is why we have put in place a range of measures through our jobs plan to encourage more people to establish and grow new businesses in Ireland. A key part of this is encouraging more young people to consider starting a business as a career choice, and that is why we have put in place IBYE – to support, encourage, and celebrate our brilliant young entrepreneurs."

"The sheer energy and quality of the 24 entrepreneurs who will compete in the IBYE national final, having come through a competition involving over 1000 applicants, is hugely encouraging. I look forward to seeing more of them over the coming weeks as they compete to be named as Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur," added the Minister.

Eamon Ryan of Local Enterprise Office Limerick highlighted the year-round supports that are on offer to young people thinking of setting up their own businesses.

He continued: "The Local Enterprise Office is a first stop shop for any new start-ups or small businesses looking to grow and expand. As well as one-to-one mentoring support and specialised training, the Local Enterprise Office can also offer access to grants and loan facilities, to help get more businesses up and running.”

Electricity Exchange Ltd. is a new entrant in Ireland’s electricity market and is operated by Dr. Paddy Finn and Duncan O'Toole. Based at the Castletroy Commercial Campus, the company aggregates large industrial electricity consumers that have the ability to reduce their consumption of power at short notice. The potential demand reduction capacity is in-turn sold to the Single Electricity Market through the Demand Side Unit mechanism. When called upon by EirGrid to reduce consumption on the grid, Electricity Exchange remotely operates generators or temporarily shuts off equipment on its clients’ sites in order to achieve the required reduction.

Launched earlier this year by Minister Bruton and supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the nationwide IBYE competition forms part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014, with a total €2million fund available to county winners and overall national winners, who each can win a total of up to €70,000 investment in their business. Winners will also be offered a place on the Google “Adopt a Startup” programme for 2015.

Further updates about ‘Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur’ and YouTube videos for each of the national finalists are available through www.ibye.ie  or by searching #ibye on social media.