North Mayo business wins County Enterprise Award for 2023
A COSMETICS development and manufacturing business from Ballina is this year’s winner of the Mayo County Enterprise Award, the Mayo Local Enterprise Office (LEO) has announced.
Noreen Hackett, founder and director of Advanced Cosmetics, took the top prize of €2,500 and will now represent Mayo LEO at the 23rd National Enterprise Awards at the Round Room in Dublin on June 1.
Noreen identified a gap in the market for providing more choice to small scale cosmetic companies requiring the development of one-off products and established Advanced Cosmetics HQ Ltd in 2018 to cater to this need.
Advanced Cosmetics HQ Ltd works with Irish and international brands to research, develop, create and rapidly innovate cosmetic products such as skincare, self-tanning and body care.
Noreen has grown her business steadily over the past number of years and has a loyal customer base. She has also received feedback from her customers about the challenges of procuring small batch production runs for their products, with some going to overseas suppliers to manufacture their products.
Noreen saw another opportunity to further service this sector and has established her own contract manufacturing facility specialising in cosmetics called Advanced Cosmetic Manufacturing Ltd.
Advanced Cosmetics will now be competing against 30 other finalists from every local authority area for a share of the €35,000 winners prize fund as national judging gets underway in May.
Categories this year include Best Export Business, Best Start-Up, and Innovation, along with One to Watch and a Sustainability/Green award in addition to eight regional awards.
Last year saw Mayo's David McIntyre, founder of Cubbie, taking home the Innovation Award.
The Cubbie installation, which is in over 200 schools across Ireland, enables students with neurodiversity or sensory challenges to regulate their senses with a bespoke programme to ensure their learning and academic experience is not adversely affected.
The Mayo Enterprise Awards took place as part of a very successful Local Enterprise Week programme of events. There are over 300 physical events taking place across the country, run by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices, from March 6 to 10.
Said John Magee, head of enterprise with LEO Mayo, said: “Advanced Cosmetics is a very deserving winner of this year’s Mayo Enterprise Award and the team in Local Enterprise Office Mayo are very proud of their achievements. We wish them every success as they continue to grow their world class business from County Mayo.”
Other high-profile events taking place during the week include online workshops like Introductory Start Your Own Business, Lean / Green: What’s in it for My Business, as well as Smartphone Product Photography.
In celebration of International Women’s Day, LEO Mayo, in conjunction with Network Ireland Mayo, has celebrated #EmbraceEquity in Breaffy House Hotel, with a huge turnout from all women across the business community in Mayo.