Daniel Mackey and Peter Coppinger of Teamwork have been named winners of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year for 2018 at the twenty-first annual awards ceremony held in Dublin last night. More than 1,500 business leaders from across the Island of Ireland were in attendance at the awards gala, alongside guest of honour, Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, to celebrate the achievements of the 24 finalists. The 2018 finalists collectively employ more than 2,700 people and last year generated revenues in excess of €150.3 million.
Teamwork.com is a self-funded Software as a Service (SaaS) company headquartered in Cork City, which has been in business for 11 years. The company was founded by developers Peter Coppinger and Daniel Mackey. Today, it has 22,000 paying customers across 183 countries, employs 200 people and has a remote workforce in 15 countries, with office locations in five of those. The company lists some of the world’s most influential companies as their clients, including Disney, Spotify and Netflix. Dan and Peter will now go on to represent Ireland at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards in Monte Carlo in June, 2019, where they will compete with more than 60 leading entrepreneurs from around the world.
Anne Heraty, Chairperson of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Judging Panel, said: “The standard of competition between this year’s finalists was exceptional. From the days when they were competing against one another to build websites for pubs and restaurants in Cork, Peter and Daniel’s ingenuity and innovation really impressed the judging panel. Their ambition has shone through in what they have created at Teamwork. The company has huge global potential, and I am sure it will go on to be a world leader.”
In addition to being selected as the overall winners of EY Entrepreneur Of The Year for 2018, Peter and Daniel were also named winners of the EY International Entrepreneur Of The Year. Bill Wolsey, founder of The Beannchor Group, one of Ireland’s leading hospitality groups comprising of more than 35 hotels, pubs and restaurants, was named EY Industry Entrepreneur Of The Year. Elaine Sullivan from Carrick Therapeutics received the award for Emerging EY Entrepreneur Of The Year. Carrick Therapeutics is a biotechnology company taking an innovative approach to the research and development of transformative oncology medicines, focusing on the critical pathways that drive cancer progression and resistance.
Kevin McLoughlin, Partner Lead for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Ireland, added: “We are delighted to be celebrating the twenty-first year of the programme in Ireland. Over that time, we have seen a huge diversity in terms of the participants and the companies they are representing. Daniel Mackey and Peter Coppinger are shining examples for Ireland’s young people to follow. They have built an incredible company, founded on a genuine culture of excellence. I hope we see the company to go on to achieve the global potential that it has. All the finalists, their families and their employees can be proud of their achievement. The standard this year, as in previous years has been extremely high. On behalf of EY, I would like to congratulate all of our 24 finalists, and in particular Teamwork, Beannchor Group and Carrick Therapeutics.”
Chaired by the 2006 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Anne Heraty, the judging panel includes previous EY Entrepreneur Of The Year (overall and category) winners Michael Carey, Mark Roden, Evelyn O’Toole, Dr Edmond Harty, Joe Hogan, Jerry Kennelly, Brendan Mooney, Pat McDonagh and Denis O’Brien, as well as Joe Healy from Enterprise Ireland and Jeremy Fitch from Invest Northern Ireland. When determining the winners, the judges evaluate a number of criteria, including: innovation; value creation; strategic direction; financial performance; national and global impact; and the entrepreneur’s contribution to society and industry.
Speaking at the awards gala in Dublin, Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD said: “The EY Entrepreneur of the Year winners, and finalists, have shown great leadership, determination and ambition in striving to achieve success in their business. Tonight marks the twenty-first year of the programme in Ireland; a real signal of EY’s dedication to supporting entrepreneurs and rewarding the efforts of new business leaders.
“Small and medium sized enterprises are the lifeblood of our economy; and Government recognises this. The role SMEs play in job creation – accounting for almost 70% of the workforce – underlines the vital role they play in our general economic success. That is why measures were recently adopted in Budget 2019 to help support SMEs, as well as new start-ups. It is also why Government will launch a new Future Jobs programme in the New Year, to support businesses in improving productivity and to ensure future skills needs are met in this ever changing world.
“Tonight we celebrate achievement and accomplishments, of which all participants should be exceptionally proud. I am delighted to acknowledge the contribution entrepreneurs make to the economy and to our society and to wish all the very best of luck for the future.”
Each year EY presents a Special Award to individuals who have made a significant contribution to the Island of Ireland through their entrepreneurial vision, innovation and commitment to excellence. This year, the prestigious honour was awarded to Sean O’Sullivan of SOSV. Throughout his career, Sean has placed a premium on innovation that really makes a difference and looks to solve the complex problems our world faces; his support of innovation through entrepreneurship has inspired many. He is credited with co-creating the term ‘cloud computing’. As the founding Chairman of the Irish Entrepreneurship Forum and founder of Open Ireland, he has been a leader and influencer of Irish government policy in fuelling economic growth and recovery in the technology sector.
The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Ireland programme is supported by Premium Corporate Sponsor: Julius Baer International; Government sponsors: Enterprise Ireland and Invest NI; and Media Partners: Newstalk, The Irish Times and RTÉ. The Gala Awards ceremony is available on RTÉ Player. The 2019 programme will be open for nominations from January 2019. For further information, please visit eoy.ie.
The 2018 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year finalists
Emerging Category
- Darragh McCarthy, FinTrU, Antrim
- Paddy Finn, Electricity Exchange, Limerick
- Joe Wiley, Amryt Pharma plc, Dublin
- Patrick J. Rigney, The Shed Distillery of P.J. Rigney, Leitrim
- Elaine Sullivan, Carrick Therapeutics, Dublin
- David and Sandra Whelan, VR Education Holdings plc, Waterford
- Eoin Leonard, i3PT Certification, Dublin
- Noel O’Hanlon, Genesis Automation, Cork
Industry Category
- David Maxwell, Boojum, Antrim
- P.J. Flanagan, H&MV Engineering Limited, Limerick
- Dominic Fitzpatrick, The Irish News, Antrim
- Bill Wolsey, Beannchor Group, Antrim
- Vicki O’Toole, JJ O’Toole Ltd, Limerick
- Louise Kennedy, Louise Kennedy, Dublin
- Gareth Chambers, Around Noon, Down
- Rachel Doyle, Arboretum, Carlow
International Category
- Peter Keeling, Diaceutics, Louth
- Tony Richardson, Venn Life Sciences, Dublin
- Peter Coppinger & Daniel Mackey, Teamwork.com, Cork
- Ray Cole, Virginia International Logistics, Cavan
- Barry Napier, Cubic Telecom Limited, Dublin
- Mary McKenna, Tour America/Cruise Holidays, Dublin
- Damien McGovern & Pat Lynch, Compliance & Risks Limited, Cork
- Aine Lecky & Eibhlin Murphy, Major Equipment (Intl) Limited, Mayo