Suretank founder vies for World Entrepreneur of the Year

Suretank founder Patrick Joy will represent Ireland at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year competition in Monte Carlo this Saturday.

As winner of the 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year award for Ireland, he will be inducted into the prestigious World Entrepreneur of the Year hall of fame at a black-tie awards gala, where 51 country winners will vie for the World Entrepreneur of the Year title.

Four days of events, including workshops on private equity, educating the workforce of the future and big data have been organised in the run up to the gala awards ceremony.

Speakers will include former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, US entrepreneur Martha Stewart, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank Prof Muhammad Yunus, European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley, Yahoo chief financial officer Ken Goldman and Anne Heraty, chief executive of Irish recruitment firm CPL Resources.

Suretank was Mr Joy’s third attempt to “be his own boss and to control his own destiny”. Headquartered in Co Louth, the company is the world’s largest manufacturer of cargo-carrying units for the offshore oil and gas industry.

The company manufacturers offshore transport tanks for chemicals, helifuel and acids and has a 62 per cent global market share. Mr Joy founded the business in Dundalk in 1995 supplying these products to the North Sea.

Last year, HitecVision agreed to buy a two-thirds stake in Suretank. At the time, Mr Joy said the Norwegian company’s offer for its stake valued Suretank at €52 million.

More than 100 Irish entreprenurs last week embarked on a week-long chief executive retreat in the US and Canada, as part of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year programme. The group were brought on private tours of EA Sports, HootSuite, Microsoft’s global headquarters and the Boeing factory.