Congratulations to John Rocha the winner of the special award for his achievements in the Irish and International fashion industry. Well done to all winners, nominee’s and Enda’s great team at Ernst & Young EOY awards programme. The awards were on RTE1 last night at Citywest in Dublin.
Click Here to view the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards TV website
For the past ten years, The Entrepreneur of the Year Awards has been acclaiming the best of Ireland’s business achievers. This week it climaxes at a prestigious ceremony in Citywest. This year, there are three nominations for the Special Award; explorer and mountaineer Pat Falvey, designer John Rocha, and Munster Rugby.
Born in Hong Kong, John Rocha found his way into fashion in London and then relocated permanently to Dublin in 1978. In 1994 he was named British Fashion Designer of the Year and received a CBE in 2002. John has managed to diversify his creative brand without diluting it, taking on prestigious interior design projects, creating a line of Waterford Crystal and bringing beautiful jewellery to the market. Like a true entrepreneur John continually looks to the future, using his unique creative core to continually shape his brand to fit changing consumer trends. John Rocha is both high fashion and high street and has remained uniquely relevant in International Fashion over the past three decades.
Pat Falvey left school at 15 and by the age of 21 he had businesses worth approximately €70 million. By 29, he was broke. In true entrepreneurial style he looked at the challenges and saw only opportunity. He turned to mountaineering and adventuring and became the only person in the world to have completed the Seven Summits challenge twice, including climbing Mount Everest. Pat also trained and led the first Irish team to complete the 1140km trek to the South Pole. Showing the courage and bravery needed by all entrepreneurs, Pat is a worthy nominee of the Special Award.
Munster Rugby has transformed itself as an organisation both on and off the field since the arrival of professional rugby in Ireland in the mid 1990’s. Now one of the most recognisable brands in Irish and European sport, Munster Rugby saw the opportunities that came with professionalism, and completely remodelled itself as both a successful business and a winning rugby team. Despite winning two Heineken European Cups, Munster’s successes are not confined to the field. By building strong links with the wider Munster public, developing a brand new stadium and growing its fan base beyond recognition, Munster Rugby has shown an ability to adapt and apply itself in new market conditions that would be the envy of many entrepreneurs.
