The Mayor of the County of Cork Cllr. John Paul O’ Shea this week applauded the business community in Duhallow for their continued courage, determination and drive to keep their businesses viable and productive during 2015. He made his comments at the IRD Duhallow Business Awards where he was guest speaker on the night.
The Duhallow Business Awards initiative acknowledges the hard work, dedication and vision of business owners and entrepreneurs in Duhallow. The current economic climate makes it difficult to start up a business, however, there are people who do it successfully and the awards afford a platform to highlight these success stories.
Mayor of County Cork Cllr. John Paul O’ Shea with the Wild Board Production Team who were finalists in the Best Business Started with assistance from the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance / Short Term Enterprise Allowance category in the Duhallow Business Awards 2015.
Commenting on the awards, Mayor O’ Shea said “These awards are an ideal opportunity to recognise and award the business community right across the region. There are so many hard working and dedicated entrepreneurs throughout Duhallow striving to make their lives and the lives of others better. Many of these businesses create the much needed economic spend throughout the local community, which in turn is assisting for the survival and expansion of Duhallow. I want to commend all nominees and winners and wish each and every one of these businesses continued success into 2016”.
Awards on the night were made to the following businesses:
- Best Start Up Business – Cherry Blossoms Pre-School & Afterschools
- Best Established Business – Boherbue Co-op
- Best Business Started with assistance from the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance / Short Term Enterprise Allowance – ICU Security
- Best Creative Industry Award – Killarney Candle Makers
- Best Women Lead Business – The Hair Studio
- Best Community Enterprise – Banteer Community Childcare
The Business Awards are part of IRD Duhallow’s multi prong approach to helping the growth of enterprise in Duhallow. Their Enterprise Team work tirelessly to animate and develop micro enterprises, as well as receiving ongoing input and guidance from their working group and enterprise network.
The overall Duhallow Business Award for 2015 went to Banteer Community Childcare where Mayor O’ Shea presented Manager Mary Murphy with the prestigious prize of a hand made piece of wooden crafted furniture from Brogeen Crafts, Kanturk, themselves, a previous winner of a Duhallow Business Award.
Mayor O’ Shea concluded “Banteer Community Childcare are a wonderful example of a developing community enterprise, where the community responded greatly to a specific need in the area. Run by a voluntary board, this community childcare facility is a state of the art premises which provides over 30 jobs for the area. The award is well deserved and a culmination of many years of hard work by the staff and board. Many congratulations to Banteer Community Childcare”.
