Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton have unveiled a new competition to find Ireland's best young entrepreneur.

A total fund of €2 million has been made available to invest in winning businesses and entrepreneurs in every county in the country.

The competition will be run by the new Local Enterprise Offices, and the winners at county level will be eligible for an investment in their business of up to €25,000, while the winners at national level can receive an additional investment of up to €50,000.

“Two thirds of all new jobs are created by start-ups, so if we are to create the jobs we need we must support more entrepreneurs to start new businesses,” Mr Bruton said.

He said the aim of the initiative was to encourage and support a culture of entrepreneurship among young people in Ireland, to promote entrepreneurship as a career choice, and to encourage the establishment and development of new innovative businesses by Ireland’s young entrepreneurs.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the vast majority of the 1,200 jobs created each week last year were in small, local companies “so it is obvious there is real potential to grow further jobs by supporting local entrepreneurs”.

“This competition being run by the new network of Local Enterprise Offices can give a young individual or business a real injection of capital and expertise to take their ideas to the next level,” he added.

The competition is open to individuals aged 30 and under and will be judged under three distinct categories: best new idea, best start-up business and best established business with new add-on.

The first stage will be a county-based competition, run by the 31 local enterprise boards, leading to the naming of the best young entrepreneur in each county. This stage will include boot camps and mentoring programmes. This will be followed by regional finals and ultimately national finals with one business-person being crowned Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur before the end of the year.