DCU Alumni Sam Pearson was awarded Best New Idea award in Tipperary’s Best Young Entrepreneur for his start-up Doodledale, last week.
Doodledale won a total investment of €10,000 through the Local Enterprise Office Tipperary, as part of the €2 million Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition (IBYE).
Aimed at children between the ages of five and eight, Doodledale is an interactive storybook app that allows the child to become part of the storytelling experience, through drawing the main character and other key elements in the story.
Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur is open to any person under the age of 30 with an idea for or an existing start-up business. The competition is part of the Action Plan for Jobs and is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, through a network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices.
The winners of the 2015 County Tipperary’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition and were announced at a ceremony in Thurles. Awards were given for best start-up, best new idea, best existing business and best young entrepreneur in the county were presented by the Cathaoirleach of Tipperary County Councilman Seamus Hanafin.
“It is incredibly exciting for Doodledale, and me personally, to have been awarded Tipperary’s Best Young Entrepreneur in the Best New Idea category. When you spend so long on a project, you can sometimes feel like you might be going down the wrong track and to have this kind of validation is really reassuring,” Pearson said.
Doodledale was also shortlisted for the 2015 European Youth Award (EYA) on September 3rd. The EYA has been awarded each year since 2012 in a bid to motivate young people, social entrepreneurs and start-ups to produce digital projects that could have a beneficial impact on society.
Hayley Halpin
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