Cavan Business of the Year to be announced tonight!
Excitement is building ahead of this evening's eighth annual Cavan Business & Tourism Awards.
The Gala Awards Night will be hosted in the Slieve Russell Hotel in Ballyconnell from 7:30pm this evening in what has been the biggest and most successful year for the awards to date.
In all 46 businesses from all over the Breffni county have been shortlisted across 12 categories – the largest to date. Scroll down to see all the nominees in the various categories.
Anglo-Celt editor, Linda O'Reilly, congratulated all of the nominees and wished them well ahead of this evening's ceremony.
"We especially want to thank the judges of this year’s awards - Marcella Rudden, Head of Enterprise, LEO Cavan; Eamonn Rice, business consultant; Tony Walker, General Manager, The Slieve Russell Hotel, Ballyconnell and Aisling Vaughan, Branch Manager, AIB Cavan. We don’t envy your task.
"We also want to express our gratitude to all our sponsors - Slieve Russell Hotel, LEO Cavan, This is Cavan, Kelly Rahill & Co, AIB Cavan and Margaret’s Eggs. They too are to be commended for their business acumen and the role they play in their respective communities," added Ms O'Reilly.
RTÉ's Damien O'Reilly is the MC for this evening's ceremony and the overall award is expected to be announced shortly after 11pm. Last year's overall winner was KORE and the company found the win helped to boost the team’s confidence and drove them forward to achieve major milestones over the past year.
Kilnaleck based KORE is an impressive insulation company manufacturing high quality, sustainable insulation solutions.
Delighted with their win, spokesperson for KORE, Ailish O’Reilly, says: “The whole team were on a high following our win. Everyone in the organisation felt the positive energy from winning the award.”
She believes that winning the award has allowed the firm to reach new heights, giving them the confidence to really test their abilities as a business.
“Once we recognised what we had achieved, we wanted to achieve even more and push the boundaries of our success.
“Winning the award leveraged our business to a new type of platform. We use the award across all our marketing schemes. It has really given us a heightened company profile.”
Not only did Kore receive more interest from customers as a result of their big win, they also were recognised by other businesses for their work and products.
“It raised our profile to larger organisations who would have a tendency to only work with other large organisations. So it has legitimised our position from the point of view of a different customer segment,” explained Ailish.
Expansion
From this time last year, KORE has expanded its business in many different ways. It has accessed an Intertrade Ireland grant to generate further contracts, and expanded the company’s product range. The management also found it much easier to apply for grants with the added bonus of winning the award.
“We’ve continued to grow, and have added a couple of new products to our range such as two new products for concrete flooring for the new-built market. We are also collaborating with sustainable energy communities to work on their energy master plans and help them deliver on those plans at a community level,” outlined Ailish.
“When we go for different grants for our organisation, it supports our application that we have been recognised here in Cavan for that particular achievement,” she added.
With the Brexit deadline looming, KORE is also well aware that its business could be impacted but the team is confident they will be able to push through it.
“Of course we will be impacted, we can already see it. Our business is impacted by the finance credit,” explained Ailish.
“If people can’t find credit, they can’t buy homes. If people can’t buy homes, then they won’t build them. If there is an impact on the overall economy, we will definitely feel it here but the construction industry won’t carry the recession like we did the last time,” she added.
KORE Insulations continues to flourished largely due to the consistent hard work of its team, spurred on by being named the Cavan Business of the Year for 2017-18.
Meanwhile, the 2018/2019 nominees are:
Best New Business
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Folkston Show Company Most Innovative Business
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Compliplus Ltd Best in Customer Service
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C-True Opticians Professional Services – Gold Award
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Empire Recruitment Gold Award – Cavan Food Producers
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The Good Crop Company Best in Style & Beauty
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Riverside Spa Best Online Content
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Donegan Garden & Leisure Best in Dining
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Shade's Grill Sales/Customer Service Person of the Year
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Dace Silova/Datse's Cafe & Cakes Tourism Gold Award
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Ireland Discovery Tours Community Spirit Award
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Cavan Arts Festival The overall winner will be announced from the category winners shortly after 11pm this evening. Stay tuned to the Celt's social media channels for updates and live videos:
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