Companies in the tech and construction sectors loom large among the emerging business nominees for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition. Food and marketing companies are also included in this final group of nominees.
Childhood friends Cullen Allen and Colum O'Sullivan set up Cully & Sully in Cork in 2004 to supply pre-made meals to the retail sector. Clients include SuperValu, Dunnes, Spar and Superquinn. They moved into the pub market last September.
Aldagh McDonogh and Sandra Lawler were also friends before setting up their marketing services business Alternatives in 2000. Their panel of 400 marketers are available to clients as consultants or as interim or permanent staff. Current turnover is € 4 million. Clients include Diageo and Coca Cola.
Dr Steven Brankin established his software consultancy Asidua just as the tech collapse took hold in the middle of 2002. The company led a management buy-out of Fujitsu's research and development unit in Belfast. Clients now include BT, Deloitte and public sectors bodies.
In his spare time, Dylan Collins is a DJ. By day, his company DemonWare makes software that powers online games such as Starship Trooper and Splinter Cell on the Xbox and Playstation platforms. DemonWare has offices in Dublin, Vancouver and Los Angeles. Customers include Ubisoft, Atari and Sega.
Alan Scroope set up his Tralee-based inventory asset management company Freeflow in a bedroom in his mother-in-law's house. Now, three of his 15 staff are based in California. His technology enables customers to promote inventory to clients, auction it to liquidators and reprocess it to recyclers.
Sean Gallagher's Dundalk-based company Smarthomes cables new homes for telecom and entertainment systems. Its system provides high-tech services in all rooms. Home-heating control is via text message. Turnover will reach € 4 million this year.
Donegal company Mantis Cranes, owned by Seamus McMenamin, is the only maker of self-erecting cranes in northern Europe. McMenamin set it up when faced with the prospect of redundancy from a former job. Clients include Sisk, Bowen and PJ Hegarty.
Dansk Window Systems in Dublin makes windows for high-rise apartment blocks and offices. Set up in 2002 by Christopher Foley, the company has seen its turnover grow by 800 per cent since then. He projects 80 per cent turnover growth this year.
