The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
KILRUSH based Scattery Island Tours have been named as a finalist in the SFA National Small Business Awards 2020.
There are 41 finalists across nine different categories, with Scattery Island Tours qualifying in the Outstanding Small Business category.
The aim of the awards is to celebrate the achievements of small business in Ireland, and to recognise the vital contribution of the small business sector to Irish industry.
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, TD, who is Patron of the Awards, stated that: “Small and medium businesses make a huge contribution to the Irish economy and the SFA awards are a fabulous and timely opportunity to recognise the talent and innovation in the Irish SME sector.”
The finalists in the SFA National Small Business Awards 2020 were officially announced by Sue O’Neill, SFA Chair and Chair of the SFA Awards Judging Panel.
“The response to the awards programme serves as a reminder that Irish small companies are resilient, putting their best foot forward and seeking recognition for their efforts” commented Sue O’Neill. “As well as our eight award categories, we also feature five of the best Emerging New Businesses (less than two years established) and, given the quality of the businesses represented this year, entrepreneurship is alive and well in Ireland.
“The SFA National Small Business Awards are now entering their sixteenth year and are a celebration of small business owners who in the past five years created over 75,000 jobs. The 267,000 small firms in Ireland employ half of the private sector workforce and these awards aim to promote excellence, achievement and innovation amongst these companies in all sectors and parts of the country. The companies that have been announced as finalists this year represent all that is good about small business” said O’Neill.
The Awards prize package for all finalists includes participation in the SFA Business Connect event on February 6, 2020, a strategic management masterclass weekend, as well as broad-ranging national and local media coverage, all valued at €50,000. Finalists also receive five complimentary tickets to the gala prize giving ceremony which will take place in the RDS on March 12, 2020 when the category winners and overall winner will be announced.
The category winners will be presented with a trophy and free membership of the Small Firms Association for one year. The overall winner will also receive a bursary of €5,000 to present to a charity of their choice (funded by the 2013 Overall Winner, Megazyme International Ireland).
