Aidan Heavey founder and chief executive of Tullow Oil, has been named the 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Mr Heavey was one of 24 finalists in this year's programme.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Micheál Martin, and businessman Denis O'Brien, who chairs the judging panel, presented him with the award at a televised ceremony at the City West Hotel last night.
Mr Heavey was one of eight entrepreneurs shortlisted in the international category, which he won. Michael Carey of the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group beat seven other finalists to emerge as the winner of the industry category.
The winner of the emerging category was Jerry Kennelly, founder of Stockbyte, the photographic company based in Tralee, Co Kerry. This is the eighth year the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year programme has taken place in Ireland. t is sponsored by The Irish Times, RTÉ, Enterprise Ireland, Invest Northern Ireland, InterTradeIreland and Shannon Development.
The programme is run in 40 countries across the world and Mr Heavey will now go on to represent Ireland at the World Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Monte Carlo in June 2006, where thousands of entrepreneurs will compete for the worldwide title.
Mr Heavey after accepting his award said: "Tullow is a great team of people, this is for them, its shows their achievemtns".
Mr Carey said: "The award is a recognition that we can take on the largest international food importers in Ireland and beat them on our own turf". Mr Kennelly simply said:"This shows you can become a global leader from Ireland".
Tullow Oil was founded in Dublin in 1986 and is a leading independent oil and gas exploration and production group, quoted on the London and Irish stock exchanges. The company began gas production and sales in Senegal in 1987 and now has the largest spread of interests of any oil company in Africa and has a significant presence in the UK. It has 200 employees and another 200 full-time contractors.
Mr Carey, the winner of the industry category, heads the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group formed in August 2004. It combines a collection of great and popular Irish food brands, dating back to the mid-1800s, including Chef, Fruitfield, Old Time Irish, Silvermints, Jacob's Kimberley, Bewley's and Scots Clan. The group employs 500 people.
The emerging category winner, Stockbyte, markets stock photography to the global marketplace. Its images are distributed by every major global distributor of creative imagery and end users include Time magazine, the BBC, Saatchi & Saatchi and AOL. The company employs 40 people in Tralee and has been profitable since 1997, achieving 50 per cent year on year profit growth in the last three years.
Mr O'Brien, who is a previous winner, said the award recognised the cream of Irish entrepreneurial talent. "In addition to the award night, the programme involves a series of global events and seminars, which aim to encourage entrepreneurs to share and build on their experiences to create a world community of entrepreneurs and promote business development worldwide," he said. Mr John O'Shea, founder and chief executive of the international humanitarian agency, Goal, was named the Ernst & Young 2005 Social Entrepreneur of the Year. Goal was set up in 1977 and is dedicated to the alleviation of suffering of the world's poorest people. Since its inception, Goal has sent 1,100 volunteers to work in the developing world, alongside more than 2,000 local staff and spent over €300 million on the delivery of aid.
This year the judges considered entries from 120 companies. The judges panel includes previous winners such as Moya Doherty and John McColgan of Riverdance and Eddie Jordan, as well as representatives from Enterprise Ireland, InterTradeIreland, Invest Northern Ireland and Shannon Development.
The judges look at criteria such as growth in turnover and employee numbers, together with factors such as vision, degree of innovation, creativity in production and marketing, and performance in local and international markets.
