Padraig goes top in Google rankings!

 Colin Goulding, Head of SMB Publishers, EMEA, Online Partnerships Group, Google Padraig O'Scanaill, Fund Recs, winner of Best Online Promotion of a Business Award and Valerie Legrand, Ads Quality Operations Vendor Manager, EMEA, Google (Keogh Photography)

Padraig O’ Scanaill, a young Waterford entrepreneur and finalist in Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition, picked up the award for the ‘Best Online Promotion of Business’ and won €1,000 worth of Google Adwords for his company, Fund Recs.

Of the 24 finalists from 17 counties competing in the inaugural national competition, the special award was presented to Padraig and was judged by Google to be the best at promoting business online.

Paddy Flynn, Director of Product Quality Operations at Google Ireland said: “The Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition is a natural fit with the existing ‘Google for Entrepreneurs’ programme, which aims to foster entrepreneurship and empower the next generation of innovators to be successful. The ‘Best Online Promotion of a Business’ Award is an extension of that, offering one young entrepreneur the opportunity to find their audience, extend their reach, and grow their business both locally and internationally.”

Padraig was delighted to receive the award for his company, Fund Recs, which provides cloud based software to the Investment Funds Industry.

He said, “From start to finish the IBYE journey has been a rewarding experience for me and for Fund Recs.  We participated in invaluable business boot camps, received great mentoring from established practitioners, won best Waterford and Munster start-up titles and to top it all off were singled out by Google as having a national award winning online strategy.”

“The #TeamWaterford campaign was instrumental in driving visitors to our website. The content was engaging and interactive and it certainly increased our company’s profile.”

Padraig added, “Despite the much heralded economic difficulties, there has never been a better time to start a new business.  There are plenty of support services available to start-ups, particularly through organisations such as the Local Enterprise Offices to enable new companies to grow and become successful.”

Ciaran Cullen of Waterford Local Enterprise Office said, “Padraig was a deserving winner of the best online promotion award.  The Fund Recs online campaign has allowed them to grow their business and put them on an equal footing with some of the world’s more established software providers to the global funds industry.”

“Waterford LEO engaged the services of Waterford marketing company, B2B Communications, to implement and manage the highly effective #TeamWaterford social media campaign, which not only built links to support Fund Recs SEO efforts, it gave a wider audience access to the whole IBYE process and particularly, Padraig’s journey.”

Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition is an integral part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 and is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through the 31 Local Enterprise Offices around the country. 

For further information about the Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition, visit www.ibye.ie, www.localenterprise.ie or search #TeamWaterford or #IBYE on social media.