29 March 2019

T4Adventure, a company that creates and produces a range of lightweight, quick-cooking breakfasts, entrees and snacks that nourish and reward outdoor athletes, has been named Bank of Ireland/IGNITE Best Business.

Founded by New York native Jennifer Hurley, T4Adventure was established when Jennifer saw a gap in the market while backpacking around Ireland for high-quality food options for outdoor endurance athletes. A qualified Chef with 15 years of food, event and hospitality management experience, Jennifer decided to create a solution which led to the creation of T4 Adventure. Each nutritious product is freeze-dried and packed in a biodegradable pouch representing the ethos of the company to ‘Eat Well. Pack Light. Leave No Trace.’

T4Adventure was recognised at the annual IGNITE Awards & Showcase held in UCC’s Devere Hall on the evening of Thursday, September 28th.

Since 2011, IGNITE has been supporting entrepreneurs through the early stages of their start-up journey, and on Thursday evening IGNITE celebrated the achievements of the ninth cohort of Recent Graduate Entrepreneurs who participated in the 12 month, international award-winning business incubation programme. The IGNITE programme focuses on innovative business models to ensure competitiveness and scalability; validating the business model to ensure the business idea is robust enough to succeed; and developing soft personal skills needed to network, pitch, sell and survive in today’s competitive marketplace.

The programme also introduced a second annual cohort of participants in September, who are now six months into the programme. These young entrepreneurs showcased their business proposition at the event. A number of aspiring entrepreneurs, who are about to commence the programme, were also in attendance on the night.

Awards were presented in front of an invited audience including Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Mick Finn and Deputy Mayor of Cork County, Cllr. Joe Harris.

Two further awards were also presented on the night to recognise business planning and innovation. Taking home the award for Best Business Plan sponsored by KPMG was Jason Hamilton-Foott of Lovato Candles, a luxury collection of Irish made candles and scented products. Inspired by the beauty of West Cork and a lack of Irish candles on the market, Lovato Candles was born. Jason began working on Lovato Candles in 2017, and joined IGNITE as an associate when completing the work placement element of his BComm in 2018.

This year’s Innovation Award sponsored by Ronan Daly Jermyn was presented to John Cal Kelleher of SigniFence, an electric fence management system that allows farmers to monitor and control electric fences with a smartphone.

The awards judging panel consisted of Seán Byerley, Head of Bank of Ireland - Cork City; Kate Hyde, CEO of Glencove, Declan O’Mahoney, CEO of TracknStop, Helen Sleator, Director of KPMG and Eoghan Doolan, Associate Solicitor, Ronan Daly Jermyn.

Chair of the judging panel Seán Byerley, Head of Bank of Ireland - Cork City, had high praise for the young companies commenting, “It certainly wasn't an easy task choosing the winners, and as always, the quality of the business presentations was extremely high. It’s fantastic to see so many promising start-ups with a bright future ahead. Each of the start-ups that presented to the judging panel demonstrated a true entrepreneurial spirit, determination and a strong work ethic with strong potential to run a successful business. I look forward to following their successes.”

Notable past winners of the IGNITE Business of the Year Awards include Mike Sheehan of Milis Bio, Dr Fiona Edwards-Murphy of ApisProtect, Dr Sinead Bleiel (Doherty) of AnaBio Technologies Ltd, and Ross O’Dwyer and Richard Barrett of PunditArena.

Commenting on the succcess of the programme over the past 12 months and since inception, Eamon Curtin, IGNITE Director said “Since IGNITE was established in 2011, we have welcomed so many fantastic businesses and entrepreneurs with many who have gone on to reach international success. UCC’s backing of new start-ups and their continued support is without doubt a huge contributor to this success. I would like to congratulate and wish each of this year’s participants every success as they continue to innovate and develop their business. Cork has a growing reputation for innovation, entrepreneurship and start-ups and we’re proud of the contribution that IGNITE has made to date. We look forward to welcoming the next intake of IGNITE participants who are here tonight as they begin their entrepreneurial journey. I thank Bank of Ireland, Musgrave Group, the Local Enterprise Offices of Cork City and County, Cork City Council and Cork County Council who have supported the programme to date. I would also like to thank this year’s awards sponsors Bank of Ireland, KPMG and Ronan Daly Jermyn. We look forward to their continued support.”

Developed and hosted at University College Cork, IGNITE is open to all recent graduates from any discipline and from any 3rd level institution in Ireland.

More information is available at www.ucc.ie/en/ignite.