Young guns compete for entrepreneur awards

Sixteen young entrepreneurs from all over Ireland have been selected as finalists in the Shell LiveWIRE Young Business Start Up Awards.

The Awards were open to anyone aged between 16 and 31 whose businesses have been up and running between three and 18 months.

The finalists this year are Terry Wymer, Kranos Security Technologies Ltd, Ronan Perceval and Dylan Collins, Phorest Networks, Margaret Fitzsimons, All Hampers Ltd, Rob Rankin, Vagabond Tours Ltd, Kealan Doyle and Ken Maher, Seahorse Ireland, Liadain Butler, Liadain De Buitlear, Jim Somers, Barrow Automation Ltd, Alan Moynihan and Simon Egan, Highlife Adventures, Roisin Bell and Niamh Reynolds, KnowledgeWorks, David Pierce, Sheep Wool Insulation Ltd, Michael Lennon, M. Lennon Catering, and Gerald Histon, Wave.

The overall Shell LiveWire Young Business Start Up Winner will receive €5,000 while each of the other four winners will be presented with €1,500. The other Awards sponsored by the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment and PricewaterhouseCoopers are Runner Up Award, Best Customer Focused Business Award, Best Managed Business Award and an Innovation and

New Technology Award.

These Awards are part of the international Shell LiveWIRE programme, which was launched in Ireland in 1999. Operating in 16 different countries, it is estimated that since its inception in 1982, four million young people have had contact with a Shell LiveWIRE programme.

An Tánaiste, Mary Harney, TD will present the Awards at a luncheon ceremony in Croke Park on Thursday, May 15 2003.