Entrepreneur of the Year Award is designed to highlight role models, writesBarry O'Halloran.

Irish people are increasingly recognising the important role that entrepreneurs play in the development of the country, according to Mr Enda Kelly, the partner in charge of the 2004 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

"These people are being acclaimed and are increasingly seen as role models," Mr Kelly says.

They are seen as the people who take risks in order to begin and develop businesses, and, in turn, make an important contribution to the economy as a whole, he says.

"Entrepreneurs are fascinating people and they nearly all have fascinating stories to tell.

"For example, very few people in Ireland knew about last year's winner, Mr Liam Shanahan of Shanahan Engineering, because it does very little business in this country, but it has a presence in every continent."

The 24 finalists of the 2004 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award will benefit from a trip to Harvard University in Boston, in what will be a new feature of the overall awards programme.

The finalists, chosen from a potential 150 nominees, will spend two days at the university known worldwide for its business school, discussing strategy and networking with each other.

"What we have found is the entrepreneurs know their business but often they don't know other entrepreneurs. This will be an opportunity for them to get to know their peers," he explains. "Also, there is a huge interest in business in the academic side, so that's why we chose Harvard."

Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland have signed up to back that element of the 32-county competition.

There are other advantages to taking part in the competition and reaching the finals. The Irish Times, one of its media partners, will publish profiles of all 24 participants and their businesses.

RTÉ will run a series of programmes telling the stories of the short-listed nominees and will screen the finals in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin.

The overall winner will go on to represent Ireland in the world finals in Monte Carlo.

This international element has the potential to open doors to all nominees. Irish nominees will benefit from a shared "badge of honour" recognised by the competition's 10,000 nominees worldwide. Participants will also be able to join their peers from around the globe on entrepreneur community platforms, which will allow them to share information and ideas.

There are other benefits too. "The banks and the venture capital community are very conscious of these companies, because they are chosen by business people," Mr Kelly says.

He believes that participation also helps to build the businesses' brands and to tell the stories behind each of their successes.

"We know that there are a lot more stories out there waiting to be told," he says.