Athlone woman shortlisted for top EY business award
An Athlone woman is in the running for a top gong at the 2023 EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
Ger Killian, who is Managing Director of The Lunch Bag, which supplies nutritious lunches to hundreds of schools around the country, has been shortlisted with her CEO, Ray Nangle, in the 'emerging' category of the world renowned business awards scheme.
“We are so honoured and humbled to have been shortlisted” said Ray Nangle, who began the business in 2019.
“Not only is the Ernst & Young award as prestigious as you can get, to even be shortlisted exposes us to alumni across the country and indeed the world, which is an opportunity the majority of business owners can only ever dream of,” he commented this week.
The school lunch company opened its production doors in Nenagh, Co Tipperary in September 2020, with a support office in Athlone, and now employs over 250 staff.
The duo oversee production of almost 40,000 school lunches every day for 600 schools nationwide.
The service was also boosted immeasurably last week with the Government’s announcement that they intend to provide a free school meal to every primary school child in Ireland by 2030.
Ger Killian believes the news, which brings Ireland in line with other EU countries in terms of free school meals, will create a wave of new jobs and opportunities for the company, who have already begun a major expansion of their Tipperary premises.
“We have always passionately believed that every school child in Ireland should have access to a free hot meal during the school day, regardless of their economic status” stated Managing Director Ger Killian.
“We have worked tirelessly to get The Lunch Bag positioned to be the largest and most successful school meal company in the country and the recognition of EoY for this achievement is a recognition of our drive and passion for what we do. We can’t wait to showcase that to the world.”
The pair will join eight other finalists in an intense judging programme which kicks off in Singapore in May.
The other finalists in the emerging category are: Denis Collins of ActionZero; Chris Kelly of EasyGo; Rosie Connolly and Paul Quinn of 4TH ARQ; Deirdre O’Neill and Helen O’Neill of Hertility; Sam Moffett of Moffett Automated Storage; Lauren Duggan, Fiona Parfrey and Aine Kilkenny of Riley and Declan Wynne of Skanstec.
The Lunch Bag, which supplies lunches to 5,500 Westmeath students in 33 schools, will be advertising new positions in the coming months and are advising interested parties to keep an eye on local media.