Borrisoleigh firm wins the 2016 County Enterprise Awards

Borrisoleigh firm Andy Spillane Bespoke Furniture Ltd. T/a Savvy Kitchens emerged as the overall winner of the 2016 County Enterprise Awards, announced at a ceremony held at Bru Boru, Cashel on Friday 11 March.  Rearcross based Lisduff Foods Ltd was the runner up and Thurles based Pressure Welding Manufacturing Ltd won third place.   Dundrum’s Eavaun Carmody T/a Killenure Dexter won a special award for Excellence in Material Utilisation and Clogheen’s DMA Foods Ltd won a special award for Innovation.  The local competition carries a prize fund of €5,000 in addition to commemorative trophies and certificates and 14 entries were shorted listed to compete in the County Competition.

Sinead Carr DOS Tipperary Co Council, Andy Spillane Savvy Kitchens, Rita Guinan Head of Enterprise, Ita Horan LEO

The winners were announced by Sinead Carr, Director of Community & Economic Development with Tipperary County Council.  Ms Carr in her welcome address applauded the 14 finalists for their contribution to the Tipperary economy in terms of jobs and spend and overall heightening the profile of the diverse range of micro-enterprises in the County.  Ms Carr went on to say that “I am pleased to see that the food sector is featuring strongly in this year’s competition with dairy, pork, beef, potatoes, coffee, rapeseed oil – all being processed here in the County.  In fact the agricultural and agri-tech sector offers huge potential for development in Tipperary and I am therefore delighted to see firms like HerdWatch emerging with leading technology.   The productive sector with furniture manufacturers, steel fabrication, engineering and security solutions are all represented here today and performing exceptionally well on both the domestic and in some cases international markets.  I am also pleased to see that the Tourism sector is featuring on the shortlist” Ms Carr continued.  (A full list of finalists is appended to this release.)

This year’s competition was open to all Local Enterprise Office M1 and M2 clients/ grant beneficiaries.  From the County to National stages the competition is adjudicated using a standard criteria and marking system.  The competition was adjudicated by Martin Troy, Manager AIB and Mary Ryan, CPA, MIATI who are both members of the LEO’s Evaluation and Approvals Committee.

Speaking on behalf of the adjudicators, Martin Troy outlined the criteria set nationally for the competition and confirmed that entries had been marked according to employment potential, marketing strength, financial strength, innovation/technology and quality of the business plan.  Martin said that “the adjudicators were limited to that submitted and in some cases supporting documentation could have made a big difference to the outcome”.

Andy Spillane Bespoke Furniture Ltd T/a Savvy Kitchens will now progress to the Regional Final to compete against Clare, Limerick and Kerry and onwards to the National Finals which takes place in the Aviva Stadium Dublin on 9 June next.   This was the second all-county Enterprise Awards and brought Local Enterprise Week to a successful conclusion in County Tipperary.

The Local Enterprise Office is funded by the Irish Government and by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund 2014-2020.