Meet the 9 Irish finalists in this year’s small business competition The Pitch

Today is a the day! The nine finalists of of The Pitch 2019, powered by Samsung,  will face the judges this evening. In front of a live audience, they will pitch their business in City Hall, aiming to impress with their creativity, tenacity and game-changing ideas for 21st-century business.

Ahead of the big event, we want to tell you more about them.

Dead Centre Brewers

After years of homebrewing and working in the media/marketing landscape, I decided to take the leap and try to create something of my own. It’s taken years of contract brewing in order to build the brand, but earlier this year (Feb 28th) we opened the doors on our craft brewery, full bar, pizza kitchen and tourist attraction right on the banks of the River Shannon in Athlone. We brew and serve our own beer as well as distribute nationwide. Liam Tutty

Nobo

At Nobó, we create really delicious dairy free treats that are made from simple wholesome ingredients. We are driven by a desire to surprise and delight anybody that tries our products, and prove it is possible to create delicious treats like ice cream and chocolate, that are better for you and better for the environment. Rachel & Brian Nolan

MummyCooks

Mummy Cooks is an online resource for parents to help raise healthy happy eaters. We promote batch cooking and portioning food through our range of award winning innovative products and services. My first recipe book which I self-published last year and entitled ‘Baby & Family: cook for family, adapt for baby’ is already heralded as the weaning bible for Irish families.  Now in its second print run, I have just published my second recipe book ‘Lunchbox Made Easy’ to rave reviews and with a huge pre-order list to fulfil just in time for back-to-school. My award winning portion pots, weaning classes and expanding product range to help families develop healthy eaters is the focus of business.  However my growing social media presence and highly engaged online audience has prompted me to start to develop an online education strand to my offering and is one I think offers the greatest potential to bring the Mummy Cooks brand and ethos worldwide.  Siobhán Berry

Ambre Eyewear

We create glasses that protect your eyes from digital screens. The artificial blue light emitted from our digital devices (smartphones, computers, TVs etc) is actually quite bad for us, causing headaches, dry/tired eyes and sleeplessness. Our glasses are designed to relieve these symptoms, while also providing protection against potential long-term damage.  The glasses are available in non-prescription, prescription, or ready readers. We mainly sell online, through our website ambreyewear.com, but are also available in Brown Thomas Dublin.  Sacha Cahill & Dan Nugent

Spotlight Oral Healthcare

Spotlight Oral Care was created by us with the aim to create oral care products to educate and promote oral health. Our whitening range provides consumers with a safe, easy and effective way to whiten their teeth, and had rapidly grown across 5 European countries. Established in 2016, the company has gone from strength?to?strength and later this year has plans to revolutionise the oral care market by launching a range of oral care products that are made from clean ingredients, cruelty-free, vegan-friendly, ocean safe and 100% recyclable … a first of its kind!  Lisa and Vanessa Creaven

Optimise Home

Optimise Home is an architecture and interior design service created for homeowners. Our unique way of working lets clients pick and choose only the services they need – and our upfront pricing means they are much more in control of their budgets throughout the process, than they would be if they were working with a traditional practice where fees are typically charged as a percentage of the total construction cost. Denise O’Connor

Sculpted by Aimee Connolly Cosmetics

I am the owner of the Irish based cosmetics brand Sculpted by Aimee. We host 28 products in our portfolio from powders to primers to brushes all of which I am extremely proud of. We are stocked in 350+ locations in Ireland including pharmacies, Boots and Travel Beauty, we are online both in Ireland and in the UK and we are soon to enter 2 new markets. We also have a flagship store in Dundrum where my Sculpted Squad offer makeup services and a makeup academy and I have 5 amazing ladies working with me on my team! Aimee Connolly

Sweeneys D3

We are reinventing the traditional off-licence and making the most of the space we have. People who like good wine also like good food, good coffee and good beer. We source the best we can find as locally as possible: small wine producers; Irish craft breweries; artisan food producers and coffee roasted here in Fairview. We have created a space where people can not only shop for these products, but can also sit down, experience and taste them. Padraig and Orlaith Sweeney

GymPlus Coffee

Gym Plus Coffee is an Irish-designed thleisure clothing company. We are passionate about encouraging a healthy, balanced lifestyle and to encourage our community to Make Life Richer. That comes in three main parts – providing things to do, the people to do it with and the gear to do it in. We launched online in January 2017 and now we have two stores in Dublin and Cork, with a third launching in October. We are lucky enough to have a team of 24 people. Diarmuid McSweeney, Niall Horgan and Karl Swaine

The prize

The winner of The Pitch 2019 will take home an incredible prize worth up to €100,000 for their business. This includes the latest suite of Samsung mobile, business and boardroom technology. They also receive a multi-platform media package from IMAGE Media to promote their business. This package will be customised to the company’s needs and could include exposure in IMAGE, sister publications, on IMAGE.ie and across IMAGE social channels.

If that wasn’t enough, Irish digital and social agency Teneo PSG Digital will host a masterclass introducing upskilling them in the area of digital strategy and marketing aimed at maximise their online presence.

Good luck everyone!

Read more: Jennifer Rock on winning The Pitch 2018

Watch: Meet the judges of The Pitch 2019