Archipelago wins enterprise award

Archipelago, a “community” company established to reduce unemployment and emigration among business innovators in Ireland, has won the 2013 David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Award.

Archipelago was established in 2010 after its co-founders, John Egan and Steven Menton, came to the realisation that Ireland was not always conducive to the entrepreneurial spirit.

“We want to ensure that enterprise isn’t solely the privilege of the privileged,” explained Mr Egan.

In order to do that, Archipelago was conceived as a community of like-minded business creators which, through a process of “discussion, facilitation and orchestration”, promotes innovation as a viable alternative to emigration.

The prize of €10,000 and €100,000 in mentoring and consultancy services will go a long way to fuel the company’s 2013 expansion strategy around the country.

Laura Dovn and Ben Readman, who established Block T in 2010, collected the award for the emerging arts entrepreneur. Their not-for-profit “cultural movement” provides a platform for visual and performing arts with 70 Dublin-based studios housing over 100 members.

The prize for emerging business entrepreneur went to Ronan Clarke of Creative Wall Paint which produces a non-toxic paint applicable to a multitude of surfaces and which are then transformed into a type of “whiteboard”.

The media award was presented to Chinedu Onyejelem, the publisher of Ireland’s multicultural newspaper Metro Éireann.

Established in 2003, the David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards aim to nurture the enterprising spirit.