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Limerick’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2017 Limerick’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2017

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Chris Kelly pins down position as Limerick’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2017

Best Startup Business, Chris Kelly-pinpoint innovations Ltd presented by Eamon Ryan, Head of Enterprise for LEO Limerick, Patrick O Donovan,T.D, Minister of State at the Departments of Finance, and Public Expenditure and Reform and Stephen Keary, Mayor of the City and County of Limerick at Limerick’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2017  county final that took place in the Strand Hotel. Picture Sean Curtin True Media.

Chris Kelly pins down position as Limerick’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2017

Chris Kelly from Pinpoint Innovations has been chosen as Limerick’s Best Young Entrepreneur  2017(IBYE) at a gala ceremony in the Strand Hotel, Limerick on 13 November 2017.

Chris has also been selected as the Best Start-Up Business during the event which was attended by Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, Cllr Stephen Keary, Minister of State at the Department of Finance Patrick O’Donovan and guest speaker Colm O Brien, CEO of Carambola Kids.


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IBYE is a programme run by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), including LEO Limerick with the support of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and Enterprise Ireland.The competition is open to people between the ages of 18 and 35 with an innovative business idea, new start-up or established business.

Now in its 4th year, IBYE has an investment fund of up to €2 million and there is a €50,000 county investment fund on offer to local winners and runners-up in Limerick.

IBYE is run locally by Local Enterprise Office Limerick across three categories: Best Business Idea, Best Start-Up Business and Best Established Business.

Limerick's Best Young Entrepreneur 2017

The overall winner, and crowned Limerick Best young Entrepreneur for 2018 is Chris Kelly at Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) Limerick county final that took place at the Strand Hotel. Picture Sean Curtin True Media.

The winners were: Overall Limerick’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2017 and Best Startup Business: Chris Kelly – Pinpoint Innovations Ltd, Best Idea Category: Padraic Hayes- myBEV.ie, Best Established Business: Dr. Paddy Finn- Electricity Exchange.

Addressing the awards ceremony, Mayor of the City and County of Limerick Cllr Stephen Keary said: “SMEs are the lifeblood of the cities, towns and villages across the country.  I’m delighted to hear that yet again this year there has been an increase in the number of entries in Limerick and I’m confident that all of them have very good ideas, which will yield results when further developed.”

“The future of entrepreneurship in Limerick looks extremely bright.  Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition has shown that Limerick has a wealth of young entrepreneurs ready to make a difference to the Limerick economy, initially, and then further afield.”

Eamon Ryan, Head of Enterprise for LEO Limerick said: “Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Limerick round of the IBYE.  We had a huge response to the competition this year and judging by the calibre of entries this year, the future of enterprise in Limerick is looking bright.”

“Best of luck to Chris, Padraic and Paddy as they move forward in the competition and in their business ventures.  And best of luck to all the entrepreneurs who entered IBYE this year.  Continue to work on your ideas and continue to engage with LEO Limerick, as we are there to help.”

The overall winner of the Limerick’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2017 was 20-year-old Chris Kelly from Clarina, Co Limerick.  His company is Pinpoint Innovations Ltd, which has developed Tracworx in collaboration with the peri operative care team at the University Hospital Limerick.  Tracworx is a patient tracking system that creates a holistic patient journey, driving hospital efficiencies, ultimately leading to better patient care.

Chris said: “I was delighted and shocked to win the Best Start-Up Business award and I was absolutely ecstatic when I was announced as the overall winner.  It is a huge achievement for our team and it has really resonated with my business partners.”

“LEO Limerick has supported us all the way from the very beginning.  Our first investor was LEO Limerick and they are continuing to support us with advice, funding and training, anything we’ve ever asked them for they have been able to help us.”

“The prize money is going to be huge for our business.  We will be scaling up, add a few more members to our team, so fingers crossed it will add benefit to Limerick as well.”

The winners and runners-up in Limerick will share in an investment fund of €50,000 which will help them to grow their business and build on current success.

Category winners will go forward to represent Limerick in the regional finals on Tuesday 16 January 2018 in Ballygarry House Hotel, Tralee, Co Kerry where they will compete with the winners from Kerry, Clare and Tipperary for the right to compete in the national finals.

The National Finals will take place on Sunday 4 March 2018 at Google HQ and the winners of the competition will share in an investment fund of €100,000.

For more on Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur Awards click here

For more stories on previous Limerick’s Best Young Entrepreneurs click here

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.