Three young Mayo entrepreneurs are flying the flag for the county at the regional finals of the inaugural Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition, which is offering an investment prize-fund of €2 million.

Launched by the Government earlier this year, Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition is an integral part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 and is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through the 31 Local Enterprise Offices around the country.

The Mayo winners, who have been selected to represent the county at the regional finals are: Daniel Loftus from Newport; was the Mayo Best Idea category winner. Niamh Ryan from Ballina; was the Best Established Business (with new add-on) category winner for Mayo; and Donal Byrne from Aghamore, winner of the Best Start-Up in Mayo and winner of the overall title of Mayo’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2014.

Speaking at the Mayo Final, Joanne Grehan, CEO of Mayo Local Enterprise Office said: “Our winners are proudly ‘flying the flag’ for the county, competing against other young entrepreneurs in the region for a place at the prestigious national final. But the benefits of entering the competition don’t end there. Throughout Ireland, over 400 finalists have already benefited from intensive business bootcamps and mentoring programmes at local level, so the impact of the IBYE programme will be seen for many years to come.”