By Business & Finance 
Launch of 2020 Business & Finance Awards Programme
Business & Finance Media Group has launched the 2020 Business & Finance Awards Programme, in association with KPMG Ireland. The Business & Finance Awards Programme is open for nominations for a number of prestigious awards which honour and celebrate the very best in Irish and International business. The five categories across the programme include The 2020 Company of the Year; Business Person of the Year; Elevation Award in association with Enterprise Ireland; FDI of the Year and the Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Award. The DE&I Award is now in its second year, which was won by Bank of Ireland in its inaugural year.
Seamus Hand, Managing Partner, KPMG Ireland, spoke at the launch of the 2020 Business & Finance Awards Programme: “The Business & Finance Awards in association with KPMG, recognises great leaders, outstanding business people and high performing organisations. The past year has been incredibly challenging and the resilience of Irish business leaders has been remarkable and is to be commended. We’re very proud to be associated once again with these awards.”
Ian Hyland, publisher of Business & Finance, welcomed the launch of the Business & Finance Awards Programme, saying: “I’m delighted to continue the tradition of honouring the business leaders across the country and to celebrate the perseverance and innovation of the business community.”
Programme of Events
On 14th of January, the Business & Finance Awards programme of events continues with the New Horizons webinar, where a panel of speakers including Cian Ó Maidín, CEO of NearForm, Anne Heraty, CEO of CPL, Peter Hendrick, CEO of National Broadband Ireland and Kari Daniels, CEO of Tesco Ireland will reflect on a most extraordinary year. They will share their insights and lessons learnt, and look at the impact of the workforce evolution and new ways of doing business. This first webinar in the Business & Finance Awards programme will be hosted by Sarah Freeman, Managing Editor of Business & Finance Media Group. Click here to register.
Virtual Awards Ceremony February 2021
On 25th February 2021, we will honour the businesses leaders and Corporations that have persevered across an extraordinary 2020 at our Virtual Awards Ceremony which will include contributions from a range of Irish and International business, political and social leaders. In 2019, Dalata Plc was the recipient of the ‘Company of the Year’ award. Pat McCann, the company’s CEO, in an interview with Business & Finance, said winning ‘Company of the Year’ gave Dalata the “stamp of approval,” and helped them view their business objectively: “The problem is that when you’re in a business, you’re always looking at it from an inside view, but what do people on the outside think of your business? So of course when you get something like this, it does give you a little bit of a pep in your step to continue on and to actually improve what you’re doing.”
These awards have been recognising business leaders in Ireland for 45 years, so it is a great honour to be amongst so many inspirational leaders.
Anne O’Leary was the recipient of the coveted Business Person of the Year award in 2019, an achievement she called a “great honour.” In an interview, she said: “These awards have been recognising business leaders in Ireland for 45 years, so it is a great honour to be amongst so many inspirational leaders.
“It is so important to meet people who may be facing the same challenges as you, who may be able to help you or connect you to the right people who can help your business.
“The Business & Finance Awards does this by bringing business leaders together, allowing them to stay connected throughout the year. The strength of this network encourages cross collaboration between an array of industries in Ireland.”
Business & Finance Awards
Business & Finance was launched in 1964 as Ireland’s first business magazine with the Awards programme established a decade later. The Business & Finance Awards is Ireland’s premier business awards programme and includes among its previous honorees outstanding leaders of our time across business, politics and wider society. This includes former United States President Bill Clinton, former British Prime Minister Sir John Major, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, President Michael D. Higgins, former ECB President Mario Draghi, former Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Senator George Mitchell, and Sir Bob Geldof, among others.
Nominations
The shortlist is based on the Business & Finance monthly winners of Company of the Month, Business Person of the Month, FDI of the Month as well as nominations from our judging panel. If you wish to be included in the shortlist, you can contact Emer.oconnor@businessandfinance.com Nominations are also open through the website. Nominations close on Tuesday, 19th January.
For more information on the 46th annual Business & Finance Awards see www.businessandfinanceawards.com
