ISEF 2019 

With our 2020 competition being postponed due to Covid-19, our last event was the final of the Irish Student Entrepreneurship Forum 2019. This was held in the Helix in Dublin on the 27th of March. Three finalists presented their start-ups to a panel of Ireland’s business leaders. The finalists were selected following a workshop series and a preceding semi-final. The app, myStudyPal emerged as the winner on the night and won a prize of €6000, the runners up, Drop Devices won a prize of €2000.

Start ups

myStudyPal

myStudyPal is a mobile app which allows students to create personalized and fully flexible study timetables. The app enables students to plan their study and social time in minutes, giving them the reassurance that they are organised and are covering all the work they need to, while also ensuring they take some essential time away from the books. The app covers all popular subjects students study for the Junior Certificate, Leaving Certificate, GCSE and A-Level examinations. The app was used by over 4,500 Irish students in 2019 representing 4% of the student population. myStudyPal was created by Mark Nealon who is studying at UCD.

Aries, Fashion with Function

Aries provides a range of masks with hidden filters designed to protect the user from the harmful effects of air pollution. Aries is a fashionable alternative to other cycling masks. It is a scarf with a replaceable N95 carbon filter which filters out pollutants. This allows the wearer to breathe comfortably, escaping exhaust fumes when cycling behind buses and other cars. It is lighter, more comfortable, and more attractive than the current filter masks, thus offering fashion with function.

Drop Devices

Drop Devices has applications in pharmacies, scientific labs, hospitals and veterinary hospitals. A large margin or error comes with using a graduated cylinder to measure quantities of liquids.  This product allows a faster, quicker and cheaper way to add water to powdered antibiotics without error.

Business leaders

The following business leaders were heavily involved in the forum in 2019, drawing on their extensive business knowledge and acumen to provide immeasurable value to our student startups. Following the pitches, each leader posed a series of questions to the startups about their products. They judged the startup pitches and their responses to purposefully trying questions, selecting the winners on the night based on these criteria. The business leaders were also involved in a panel discussion at the event, offering advice and helpful words to the aspiring student entrepreneurs. They helped cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit among all those attending the event, leaving both the audience and students startups feeling both positive and proactive, as they were now armed with an artillery of knowledge and experience to pursue their passion. We know the success of ISEF is largely dependent on these generous leaders for sharing their time, knowledge and experience and so for this, we thank them greatly.

Sean Gallagher

Noel Moran

Noel Moran is Founder and CEO of Prepaid Financial Services. He was awarded European Entrepreneur of the year in 2018. PFS employs 130 people at it’s headquarters in Trim, Co. Meath and 70 people in London, Manchester and Malta. The firm provides online payment and banking-as-a-service software to clients in more than two dozen countries. Aside from PFS, Noel and his partner Valerie also run Ecomm Merchant Solutions – a company offering payment solutions to businesses.

John Murphy

John Murphy is a Partner in PwC, specialising in tax and has contributed immensely to the firm for over 20 years. He works with Irish-based businesses to provide them with tax-efficient solutions in order to expand and develop their business here and overseas. He also has a particular interest in technology, namely Fintech companies, working with them to establish business models that maximize potential returns, assist founders and shareholders with personal tax structuring matters and contributes heavily to the successful conclusion of fundraising or M&A transactions.

Deirdre O’Neill

Deirdre O’Neill is a Senior Regional Development Executive at Enterprise Ireland. She is currently responsible for the development and implementation of Enterprise Ireland’s regional strategy for indigenous industry in the Dublin/Mid East Region with a particular emphasis on increasing the level of entrepreneurship and start-up business in the region.

Startup Workshops

Broadlake VC

Broadlake Capital is a unique, innovative private equity firm which invests time, energy, expertise and capital into brave and ambitious companies in order to help them achieve their vision. The company has invested in and successfully helped to grow numerous SMEs, focused on partnering with and complementing the skills and experience of the best entrepreneurs in their field. Broadlake have been a supporter of ISEF since 2014, providing insightful workshops on business and strategic planning to the startups.

ACT Venture Capital

ACT Venture Capital’s focuses on finding and supporting the best startups to scale into large, category-defining companies by investing in them early. They span technology sectors and range investments from seed to growth. ACT pride themselves on being friendly and informal people, but driven to win and deliver consistently strong returns.

Conor Mills from ACT VC delivered an insightful workshop on pitching for startups. He focused on effective presentation and communication skills whilst also touching off topics such as business and sales psychology.

Dublin Business Innovation Centre

Dublin Business Innovation Centre (Dublin BIC) empowers entrepreneurs by providing a comprehensive range of programmes specifically designed to advance the ambitions of early-stage companies. The programmes they provide focus on four core areas of expertise: Investor-Ready Preparation, Access to Finance, Community & Collaboration. Dublin BIC held a day long workshop for the ISEF Startups.