{"id":461655,"date":"2026-05-22T11:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/461655\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T11:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:40:09","slug":"ireland-represented-by-louths-edward-mccloskey-at-ey-world-entrepreneur-of-the-year-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/461655\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland represented by Louth\u2019s Edward McCloskey at EY World Entrepreneur of the Year\u2122 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"meta text-muted\">  Posted on: 22 May 2026<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"featured-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitleddesign-2026-05-22T115309.619.png\" alt=\"Ireland represented by Louth\u2019s Edward McCloskey at EY World Entrepreneur of the Year\u2122 2026\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Edward McCloskey, Founder and Executive Chairman of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.waterwipes.com\/ie\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WaterWipes<\/a>, and owner of Boyne Valley Group, will represent Ireland at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ey.com\/en_gl\/weoy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year<\/a>\u2122 2026, taking place in Monaco from 26\u201329 May.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Edward was named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year\u2122 Ireland 2025, securing both the overall and international titles, and now joins an elite group of entrepreneurs from 47 countries and regions competing on a global stage.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year\u2122 programme brings together the world\u2019s leading entrepreneurs behind high-growth, high-impact businesses, and recognises those who have demonstrated exceptional entrepreneurial spirit, purpose\u2011driven leadership, innovation and long\u2011term value creation. The overall world winner will be announced at a black\u2011tie awards ceremony in Monaco during the four\u2011day programme.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Edward McCloskey, said: \u201cIt is a great honour to represent Ireland at the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year\u2122 awards. The programme brings together an extraordinary group of entrepreneurs from across the globe, and the opportunity to connect with peers who are building, scaling and transforming businesses internationally is incredibly valuable. Entrepreneurship is about long\u2011term thinking, resilience and continuous innovation, and I\u2019m proud to be representing Ireland and Irish enterprise on this global stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 2009, WaterWipes has grown from an Irish start\u2011up into a global FMCG brand, now sold in more than 50 countries and manufacturing approximately three million packs per week from two state\u2011of\u2011the\u2011art cleanroom facilities in Drogheda. The brand has transformed the baby wipes category internationally through its proposition centred on its 99.9% water formulation.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>In parallel, Edward leads <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boynevalley.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Boyne Valley Group<\/a>, a portfolio of well\u2011known household brands including McDonnell\u2019s, Chivers, Erin Soups, Don Carlos and Kinetica Sports Nutrition, with significant manufacturing, logistics and commercial operations based in Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Roger Wallace, Head of Assurance &amp; EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Ireland, said: \u201cThe EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year\u2122 programme showcases the very best of global entrepreneurship, and over many years Irish entrepreneurs have competed at the very highest level on this stage. Edward has built two outstanding Irish businesses with global reach, rooted in innovation, quality and long\u2011term value creation. On behalf of EY Ireland and the entire Entrepreneur Of The Year community, we wish Edward every success in Monaco and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>A wide variety of industries and sectors are represented among the 2026 finalists at this year\u2019s awards including healthcare, education, retail, construction and technology. Other companies competing include:<a href=\"https:\/\/neura-robotics.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> NEURA Robotics<\/a> (Germany), <a href=\"https:\/\/openfarm.ie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Open Farm<\/a> (Canada), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilf.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ILF Consulting Engineers<\/a> (Austria), <a href=\"https:\/\/tkgroupbd.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TK Group<\/a> (Hong Kong) and <a href=\"https:\/\/kurasushi.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kura Sushi<\/a> (Japan).<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>For further information on the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year\u2122 programme, visit: www.ey.com\/en_gl\/weoy<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; Posted on: 22 May 2026 &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; Edward McCloskey, Founder and Executive Chairman of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-461655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}