John Collins - Irish Times Business Correspondent
The finalists in the industry category will be showcased on RTE 1 television tonight although at the slightly later time than usual of 8.30 pm.
It's an interesting category with a whole range of industries represented. The judges have certainly had their work cut out this year. Tonight's finalists are:
Colette Twomey from Clonakilty Black Pudding
Dave Sullivan & Malcolm Bell from Technopath
Eamon O'Hare of O'Hare & McGovern
Jim Barry from Barry Group
John Toner of Williams Industrial Services
Michael Guerin from Medicare
Pat & Mike Glennon of Glennon Brothers
Terence Donnelly from Donnelly Group
Things are certainly hotting up ahead of next week's gala final.
It's official – the public have a taste for entrepreneurship. Figures for the first programme profiling the Entrepreneur of the Year finalists show it achived a 15.16 vieweship share. That's 180,000 viewers for thw show which went out last Friday on RTE last Friday at 7.30 pm. That compares to a 30.88 per cent audience share for Cornation Street which went out the same evening.
Don't forget to tune in tomorrow night at 7.30 when the International category finalists will be featured.
Although absolutely loads of work has been happening on the Entrepreneur of the Year behind the scenes the public side of the event starts tonight with the first of three programmes profiling the finalists being broadcast on RTE 1 at 7.30.
Chairman of the judging panel, Pádraig Ó Céidigh, has travelled the country to meet the 24 finalists and tonight he'll be profiling the 8 nominees in the emerging category.
Personally I've spent a large part of my career as a business journalist covering start-ups and early stage companies so I'm particularly looking forward to seeing the entrepreneurs telling their own story. Tonight's show will feature:
Conrad Burke, chief executive of Innovalight, a Silicon Valley based company that produces a high-tech ink which significantly improves the efficiency of solar energy cells.
Declan O'Halloran, the Seville-based entrepreneur whose Quintas Energy finances, develops and provides consultancy on projects in the renewable energy sector.
Serial entrepreneur Dylan Collins of Jolt Online Gaming, a provider of web-based games which has already been acquired by the world's largest video game retailer.
Emmet O'Neill, founder of Smiles Dental, a chain of dental clinics which has been rapidly expanding its presence around the country.
Fred Karlsson of Donedeal.ie is giving eBay a run for its money in the Irish market with his classified ads site.
Liam Griffin, founder of the award winning Monart Destination Spa, an award winning luxury spa that has bucked the trend in the hospitlaity sector.
Neven Maguire, chef and proprietor of MacNean House & Restaurant, has created a culinary destination in Blacklion, Co Cavan while also becoming one of Ireland's best known chefs
Sean Carty, chief executive of Lita Lighting, designers and manufacturers of energy efficient LED lighting systems, which aim to show Ireland can still have a viable manufacturing base
I know the team at E&Y are absolutely delighted that the shows have secured a primtetime slot. With so much of the business news at the moment, firmly falling into the "bad news" category, it will be great to see some positive business stories being showcased.
The 24 graduates who are chosen to work with this year's Entrepreneur of the Year finalists are guaranteed an experience that will get their careers off to a flying start. With our current high level of unemployment hitting the under-25s disproportionally hard it's an experience that many of their peers will covet.
I've had the pleasure of spending quite a bit of time with this year's finalists since last June, including an extended period on the week-long chief executive's retreat, now an essential part of the annual competition. This year's trip was to Shanghai in China to tie in with the World Expo which the Chinese authorities have poured about $50 billion into - more than the cost of the 1998 Olympics in Beijing.
It is hard to make generalities about a group of 27 entrpreneurs (some of the nominations cover two executives in a single company). Particularly a group whose businesses span recycling to solar energy, dental services to hospitality, software to construction. Nonetheless I've noticed some common characteristics that mark out this year's finalists, as well as most of the other successful business people I've got to know over the years.
Principal amongst these is an incredible openess and willingness to share information and ideas. Many times in recent months I've sat amongst the entrepreneurs and been shocked at how willing they are to openly discuss the challenges facing their businesses and how they have tackled them. While there might have been an occassional 'this is off the record' in my direction the fact that many of the social and business events were attended by myself and Conor Brophy, Newstalk's business correspondent, did little to dampen their enthusiasm and desire to share ideas.
I have no doubt this same attitude will be brought to bear on the Internship Programme launched today and the successful candidates will get the chance to learn about a successful business from the inside. If you think you'll get three months paid work licking envelopes you should think again.
That's why I think the EOY Internship Programme 2010 is a great addition to the competition and will provide an excellent opportunity for 24 graduates starting out on their careers.
JOHN COLLINS.
Nature or nurture – it’s an age old debate in almost every sphere of life. For people of a certain age (i.e. me) we were first introduced to the concept in the 1983 film Trading Places starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. (If you need a plot recap check out the film’s Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trading_Places)
It was some comments from Frank O'Keeffe, the partner in charge of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Programme in this video (http://www.eoy.tv/videos.php) that got me thinking about whether you can teach entrepreneurship.
“A lot of people would say, and a lot of entrepreneurs would say, that you are a born entrepreneur and that it’s something that you can’t necessarily teach. Actually I don’t believe that – it’s not quite true. There is a special dynamic to an entrepreneur that really makes them build their businesses. They have a vision and they go after it and they succeed. But they can teach an awful lot of people that work with them and everybody should be able to learn from these fantastic business leaders in Ireland.”
My take? There are some things you just can’t teach. I personally know plenty of people who excel in their chosen career but no matter how much training or mentoring they received it is unlikely they would ever be successful setting up their own business. That said, there are also people I know who work in not-for-profit sectors who would clearly thrive running their own project if they were given a prod in the right direction.
In summary – you can’t create entrepreneurs from scratch but you can certainly help those who have potential to fast track their development.
It will certainly be interesting to see what the 24 graduates who secure internships with this year’s finalists learn from their mentors.
