Athlone business triumphs at Westmeath Enterprise Awards
A business from Athlone is this year’s winner of the Westmeath Enterprise Award.
John McHugh, Ivan Eustace and Mark Gibbons of MAIVJO Ltd T/a TAPiTAG from Athlone took the top prize of €5,000 and will now represent Local Enterprise Office Westmeath at the 2025 National Enterprise Awards at the Round Room at the Mansion House in Dublin on May 22
TAPiTAG designs, manufactures, and distributes innovative digital business cards, proximity marketing tags, charity donation tags platforms, and Google review management solutions to customers worldwide. By harnessing their advanced NFC-powered hardware alongside the robust TAPiTAG Cloud software platform, they enable businesses to shift their customer interactions from analogue to digital.
Other winners at the Westmeath Enterprise Awards held at The Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar, on March 5 included Eoin Tully of Aserve Investigators Ltd from Athlone, which scooped runner up place and a prize fund of €1,500.
TAPiTAG will now be competing against 30 other finalists from every local authority area for a share of the €35,000 winner’s 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.
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Barry Kehoe, Chief Executive of Westmeath County Council, Lily McHugh, TAPiTAG, Mark Gibbons of TAPiTAG, Cllr Liam McDaniel, Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council and John McHugh of TAPiTAG.Image 2 of 3
Aserve Investigators Ltd, runners up in the Westmeath Enterprise Awards. Back row, from left: Catriona Duffy Business Advisor Local Enterprise Office Westmeath (LEO), Padraic Tully of Aserve, Marie Tully of Aserve, Tracey Tallon, A/Head of Enterprise LEO Westmeath, Barry Kehoe Chief Executive of Westmeath County Council. (Front) Eoin Tully of Aserve Ltd, Cllr Liam McDaniel, Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council, Damien McGinn of Aserve Ltd.Image 3 of 3
Barry Kehoe, Chief Executive of Westmeath County Council, Maura Shortall and Michael Slevin of Structural Innov8 Ltd, a finalist, and Cllr Liam McDaniel, Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council.At the awards Pádraic Ó Máille, founder of SMÁCHT, gave an energetic and entertaining speech on the theme of “Success Equals Discipline”.
The Westmeath County 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 3 to 7.
Speaking at the Westmeath Enterprise Awards Ceremony, Tracey Tallon, Acting Head of Enterprise with Local Enterprise Office Westmeath said: “Micro businesses and entrepreneurs represented here today provide high value employment and their contribution to the economy needs to be highlighted, celebrated and rewarded every day but today is an opportunity for the Local Enterprise Office Westmeath to showcase Entrepreneurs in the County and to recognise their hard work to make their business a success”
Seven other local businesses were also shortlisted this year, including: Zeon Healthcare Ltd – Peadar Coyle; Hybrid Engineering Ltd – Robert Collentine & John Raleigh; Klaas Kickz Ltd– Mark Connaughton; The AI Institute Ltd– Maryrose Lyons; Structural Innov8 Ltd – Michael Slevin; Fore Distillery Ltd– Oliver Guirke; Padraic McCaul Images Ltd – Padraic McCaul
Among the special guests at the ceremony were An Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council Cllr. Liam McDaniel and Chief Executive of Westmeath County Council Barry Kehoe. Members of the judging panel included Gillian Shaw, Business Consultant and Rebecca Lyons of BEXL Ltd.