Mayo County Enterprise Award for 2023
Date: 08-03-2023
A cosmetics development and manufacturing business from Ballina is this year’s winner of the Mayo County Enterprise Award for 2023, Mayo Local Enterprise Office has announced.
Noreen Hackett, Founder and Director of Advanced Cosmetics, took the top prize of €2500 and will now represent Mayo Local Enterprise Office at the 23rd National Enterprise Awards at the Round Room in Dublin on the 1st June.
Noreen identified a gap in the market for providing more choice to small scale cosmetic companies requiring the development of one-off products and established Advanced Cosmetics HQ Ltd in 2018 to cater to this need.
Advanced Cosmetics HQ Ltd works with Irish and International brands to research, develop, create and rapidly innovate cosmetic products such as skincare, self-tanning and body care.
Noreen has grown her business steadily over the past number of years and has a loyal customer base. She has also received feedback from her customers about the challenges of procuring small batch production runs for their products, with some going to overseas suppliers to manufacture their products.
Noreen saw another opportunity to further service this sector and has established her own contract manufacturing facility specialising in cosmetics called Advanced Cosmetic Manufacturing Ltd.
Advanced Cosmetics will now be competing against 30 other finalists from every local authority area for a share of the €35,000 winners prize fund as national judging gets underway in May.
Categories this year include ‘Best Export Business,’ ‘Best Start-Up’ and ‘Innovation,’ along with “One to Watch” and a “Sustainability / Green” award in addition to eight regional awards.
Last year saw David McIntyre, Cubbie competing at the National Enterprise Awards, on behalf of Mayo Local Enterprise Office and took home the Innovation Award.
The installation, which is in over 200 schools across Ireland, enables students with neurodiversity or sensory challenges to regulate their senses with a bespoke programme to ensure their learning and academic experience is not adversely affected.
The Mayo Enterprise Awards took place as part of a very successful Local Enterprise Week programme of events. There were over 300 physical events took place across the country, run by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices from March 6th to 10th.
Speaking during Local Enterprise Week Speaking during Local Enterprise Week John Magee, Head of Enterprise with Local Enterprise Office Mayo said: “Advanced Cosmetics is a very deserving winner of this year’s Mayo Enterprise Award and the team in Local Enterprise Office Mayo are very proud of their achievements. We wish them every success as they continue to grow their world class business from County Mayo.”
Other high-profile events that took place during the week included online workshops like Introductory Start Your Own Business, Lean / Green: What’s in it for My Business, as well as Smartphone Product Photography.
In celebration of International Women’s Day, March 6th, 2023, LEO Mayo, in conjunction with Network Ireland Mayo celebrated ‘EmbraceEquity’ in Breaffy House, Castlebar, with a huge turn out from all women across the business community in Mayo.
Local Enterprise Week is organised every year by the Local Enterprise Offices and supported by Enterprise Ireland, local authorities and the Government of Ireland with over 300 events taking place nationwide this year.