Winner Oliver Bausor Day with John Roe from First Ireland and Gerry Muldowney of DBS
A smartphone application technology project has landed Greystones student Oliver (Olllie) Bausor Day the Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2011, organised by First Ireland, one of the country’s leading independent insurance brokers, and Dublin Business School (DBS).
The winner, 21-year old Ollie Bausor Day, is currently an Accounting and Finance Student in DBS, having completed his leaving cert in St. Andrews College in Booterstown, Co.Dublin.
Ollie won the judges’ votes based on its innovative idea for smartphones applications and his business project is currently being kept under wraps until it is ready to go live.
The award was open to students from all disciplines within the DBS campus and Oliver was among the five selected finalists, along with Stephen Dee, from Glasnevin; Liam Shannon, from Rathfarnham; Sean Daniel Kinane, from Howth; and John Geraghty, from Swords.
Applicants submitted a detailed business plan setting out a business idea for a product or service. A judging panel submitted the five finalists to a ‘Dragons Den’ style interview with a judging panel. Oliver will be assigned a mentor this week from John Roe Ltd, a firm of consultants and will begin to draw down the €25,000 worth of business services, office space and utilities.
“We were all very impressed with the enthusiasm shown by Oliver, as well as with the clarity and potential of his idea. This is certainly something that could be developed into a major opportunity,” said John Roe, chairman of First Ireland and business angel. “We are very excited with the project and we are getting to work with Ollie straight away.”
Gerry Muldowney, CEO of Dublin Business School, added: “The First Ireland DBS Student Entrepreneur of the Year Competition provides our students with a great opportunity to showcase their talent in a range of areas. I would like to congratulate all of our students who made it to this year’s final and especially Oliver Bausor Day, the inaugural winner.”