Patrick Joy, founder and chairman of Enterprise Ireland client company Suretank has been crowned the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2013. Headquartered in Dunleer, Co. Louth, Suretank is the world’s largest manufacturer of cargo-carrying units for the offshore oil and gas industry. Holding a 62 per cent global market share, it is also the leader in the transport tank industry. It employs 600 people and has revenues of more than €68 million.
The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards is a global awards programme designed to recognise and support entrepreneurs. While the programme runs in more than 50 countries, the event in Ireland, now in its 16th year, has been identified as one of the strongest in the world.
There are three categories – emerging, industry and international. There is a winner from each category announced, from these three winners the overall Entrepreneur of the Year is chosen.
This year’s winners were selected from 24 finalists shortlisted by the judging panel. Ranging from financial services and technology to agriculture and manufacturing, the finalists span a diverse range of sectors, collectively employing over 6,000 people and generating revenues of over €1 billion.
The judges are business people who have achieved success in their own right. Criteria include growth in turnover and employee numbers, as well as vision, degree of innovation, creativity in production, marketing and selling and expansion in local and international markets.
Enterprise Ireland would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Patrick on his success and all of our other clients who were finalists in the competition including: Barracuda FX – Maurice Curran - Winner of the Emerging Category, Datahug – Connor Murphy, Merit Software – Kerril Burke & Paul Burke, Wisetek Solutions – Sean Sheehan, AMCS Group - Jimmy Martin & Austin Ryan, Jam Media - John Rice, Keelings - Caroline Keeling, Callan Bacon Company – John Walshe, Escher Group Holdings PLC – Liam Church & Fionnuala Higgins, Lifes2Good – James Murphy, Samco Agricultural Manufacturing – Samuel Shine and Sofrimar – Lorcan Barden & Leslie Bates.