The AIB Start Up Academy in association with The Irish Times begins the search for Ireland’s next brightest start up…
AIB has announced the opening for entries to the AIB start up Academy competition, which begins its search to find the country’s best and brightest start up this coming November.
Ten finalists chosen from the entries received will then embark on an 8-week training programme with some of Ireland’s best business minds.
If you have a start up business that you think is worthy of a bit of help from AIB, simply complete and submit the online application form for your change to be chosen as one of the lucky finalists. Head over here to submit your application…
The closing date for entries is midnight, Friday 24th October 2014. The 8-week training module will begin on the 26th of January 2015 in Dublin City Centre.
One winner from the 10 finalists will be selected by the judging panel of industry experts, at the end of the training to be awarded the ultimate start up package.
The overall prize that will be awarded to the winner will consist of:
- €90,000 advertising spend across JOE.ie & Her.ie
- €50,000 print and online advertising spend with The Irish Times
- Profiling on JOE.ie & Her.ie for 12 months
- Mentoring from an AIB Sector Specialist and finance meetings with AIB SME Specialist
- Digital & Social mentoring with AIB Head of Digital & Innovation
- Brand mentoring with AIB Brand Director
- Media workshop from The Irish Times’ Editorial team
- Office space in The Irish Times building for a year
- Mentorship from successful entrepreneur Niall McGarry, owner of Maximum Media (creator of JOE.ie/Her.ie)
- One-to-one coaching programme
- Full day PR crash course
- One Day Digital & Social Training programme
Speaking about the opening of the AIB Start Up Academy, Ken Burke, Head of Business Banking at AIB said “The AIB Start up Academy competition is a fantastic opportunity for Irish start ups to develop and promote their businesses and I would encourage start ups at any stage to apply.”
To be eligible to enter, you must be over the age of 18, resident in the Republic of Ireland and have a business with revenue (not profit) of less than €400,000 per annum that has been in operation for less than 36 months.
