A Creative production company from Ballinakill is set to compete with the country’s best small businesses as one of the finalists for the National Enterprise Award taking place this week.
Make & Share Ltd will represent Local Enterprise Office Laois at the prestigious awards that take place on Thursday May 22 in the Round Room at the Mansion House in Dublin.
Founded in 2015, Make & Share Ltd is an innovative creative production agency that specialises in crafting immersive live experiences for corporate events, exhibitions, and brand activations.
They provide comprehensive services, including immersive experience design, creative concept development, production design, fabrication, installation, and project management.
Pauric Hackett is the Creative Director and they currently employ 9 staff.
Make & Share are an excellent example of a local business who availed of LEO supports such as LEAN and Digital supports which helps to improve efficiencies, processes and digitilisation.
They have completed LEAN and Digital Support packages. Local Enterprise Office Laois has supported their incremental growth in the form of both financial grant assistance and soft supports.
The company has been approved business expansion grants which have helped to grow the team.
The company has also availed of a Trading Online Voucher to further develop their online presence and are currently working on an export plan to further expand their export markets.
Speaking about the Awards, Evelyn Reddin, Head of Enterprise said “I would like to congratulate Pauric and his team on their achievements to-date and wish them all the best in the next stage of the competition.
Picture: Alf Harvey.
“The National Enterprise Awards is an opportunity to highlight the contribution small businesses make to the local economy and Laois is proud to be represented by Make and Share Ltd. at these Awards.”
This is the 25th year of the Local Enterprise Office initiative, which was won last year by DreamDev Technologies, supported by Local Enterprise Office Kildare.
Set up in 2019 by Eoin Barry and Douglas Augiar, the AI augmented platform helps companies to significantly increase their product’s time to market
Evelyn Reddin, Head of Enterprise added: “The National Enterprise Awards serve to highlight the very best businesses that the Local Enterprise Offices are working with across the country.
“The diversity of sectors and innovation shown again this year is outstanding and the winners will no doubt produce businesses destined for international success.
“These businesses have excelled in their areas and have the potential to follow in the footsteps of previous winners to become successful global companies”.
Local Enterprise Office Laois have had recent success. In 2022, Laois company, Salutem Insights won the Mid-East Regional award at the National Enterprise Awards.
The Finalists compete for a prize fund of €50,000 and along with an overall National Enterprise of the Year winner there are categories for Best Start-Up, Best Export Business, an Innovation Award, a One-to-Watch Award, and a Sustainability Award.
There is also an Outstanding Achievement award for a business that started with their Local Enterprise Office and has gone on to achieve international growth with the assistance of Enterprise Ireland.
The National Enterprise Awards are one of a number of initiatives that the Local Enterprise Offices run, to foster entrepreneurship across the country.
Others include Local Enterprise Week, the Student Enterprise Programme, National Women’s Enterprise Day, and Local Enterprise Showcase.
The Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities are funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland.
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