Twenty-four young entrepreneurs have reached the national finals of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur.

The competition this year attracted 1,400 applicants between the ages of 18 and 30. This was a 40% increase from applicants to last year's first annual Best Young Entrepreneur competition.

The 2015 finalists include 2014 entrant Philip Martin of Blanco Nino, who also represented Tipperary last year. Martin is pictured right with  Dean Gammell (left) and 2014's overall winner Eamon Keane of Xpreso.

This year's contestants have now been narrowed down to 24 finalists, hailing from 17 different counties and doing business in a range of sectors, including fashion, retail, food, technology and life sciences.

The national final will be held in Google's Dublin offices on December 6.

In Association with

For this year’s competition, young Irish people who have emigrated in recent years were encouraged to apply. Applications were received from 40 young Irish entrepreneurs based in countries such as the US, UK, Italy, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

Two of this year’s international applicants made it through to December’s national final.

The nationwide competition forms part of the government's Action Plan for Jobs, with a total €2 million fund available to county winners and overall national winners.

Winners each can win a total of up to €70,000 investment in their business — €20,000 at the county level and €50,000 at the national level. Winners of individual categories can also earn additional investments.

The Finalists

The first stage of the competition was county-based, run by the local enterprise offices, which led to the naming of the Best Young Entrepreneur in each county. This stage also included bootcamps and mentoring programmes.

Next came eight regional finals, where the current finalists were selected. At the upcoming national final, one businessperson will be crowned Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur.

The competition is judged under three categories:

·        Best Business Idea (best idea for a new business)
·        Best Start-Up Business (in business for up to 24 months or less)
·        Best Established Business (in business for longer than 24 months)

Among the eight ideas shortlisted for the 'Best Business Idea' category are affordable diagnostics for neglected tropical diseases, a mobile app for e-Books and a medical device for bowel cancer patients.

A wearable fertility tracker for women, healthy convenient foods and an equestrian data analytics company all made the final eight in the ‘Best Start Up Business’ category.

The final eight in the ‘Best Established Business’ category feature a fashion milliner, speciality retailers and a furniture-maker.

The three category winners all have a chance to be crowned Ireland’s overall ‘Best Young Entrepreneur’, sharing the €100,000 national final investment fund.