Mayo man scoops big prize at celebration of start-ups in Cork

The IGNITE programme at University College Cork (UCC), which nurtures start-ups from idea stage to commercial reality, held its Awards and Showcase in The Hub, UCC.

Mayo man Paddy O'Toole won the overall Bank of Ireland Best Business Award at the event with his company, Nternz.

Paddy is a graduate of Bsc Government and Political Science at UCC and the founder of Nternz (www.nternz.com), a professional social network platform designed and optimised specifically for college students.

According to Paddy, students will be able to discover and connect with careers and companies that reflect their own interests and values, build their professional work experience, and earn some much needed additional income.

Twenty start-up founders were introduced at the event last night (Tuesday) with backgrounds in science, engineering, business and the arts, working on ideas in areas such as renewable energy, the circular economy, health and wellbeing, and business services, including four shortlisted start-up founders who pitched their business ideas to the audience of entrepreneurs, business owners and investors.

This year's event also featured UCC’s four students who have received QUERCUS scholarships for their achievements in innovation and entrepreneurship.

The four IGNITE start-ups that pitched for the awards are Nternz, RecruitRoo (which provides companies with access to global talent by building technology solutions that reduce friction of screening, migration and onboarding), FemToFire (which is building a technology platform to help assess and locate fire risks within forests) and SimpleScents (Ireland’s first ever fragrance subscription service).

The awards were determined by an adjudication panel of Mark Knowles of Bank of Ireland, entrepreneur Kate Hyde of Glencove Ltd, and investment advisor Ted Foley of CorkBIC.

IGNITE is delivered by University College Cork and supported by Bank of Ireland, the Local Enterprise Offices of Cork City, South Cork and North and West Cork, Cork City Council and Cork County Council.

IGNITE director Eamon Curtin said: “It is great pleasure to be here again to celebrate start-ups at University College Cork. The 20 start-up founders we are working with are demonstrating that hard work and dedication can ensure that a good idea can be developed into a great business with the right support.

“Congratulations to the four start-ups progressing from the programme at this time. We are working towards a flexible programme that provides start-ups with the support they need when they need it. And we continue to invest in development of the programme to meet the emerging needs of our start-up founders.”

Mark Knowles, manager with Bank of Ireland, added: “We at Bank of Ireland are honoured to be part of the fantastic IGNITE programme this year. The founders have inspired us with their ideas and we wish the IGNITE programme every success in the future as it continues to support our budding entrepreneurs of the future.”