Former local in running for Entrepreneur of the Year

A PLUMBRIDGE woman who heads up one of Dublin’s leading pharmacy groups is in the running to be named Ireland’s Entrepreneur Of The Year.

Oonagh O’Hagan, owner and managing director of Meagher’s Pharmacy, which employs more than 100 staff, is one of the 24 finalists in this year’s EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Ireland programme.

The finalists in the competition have been shortlisted from more than 120 nominations by an independent judging panel.

A former pupil of Strabane Convent Grammar who went on to study at Trinity College in Dublin, Oonagh served her pre-reg year under the guidance of Pierce Meagher at his family’s pharmacy in Baggot Street, which first opened in 1921.

She then bought the store from the Meagher family in 2001, but felt it was important to retain the name based on its reputation as a community pharmacy.

Over the next 15 years, eight more Meagher’s pharmacies followed in the Dublin area.

The group has won numerous national and local pharmacy and retail awards.

The 24 finalists in the Entrepreneur of the Year competition span the retail, consumer, technology, health and leisure sectors among many more, and collectively generate annual revenues in excess of €1.325bn.

Rob Heron, Partner Lead for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year programme in the North, said, “In what has been a really tough period of trading for entrepreneurs, it has been uplifting to see so many of our entrants thriving, and able to successfully pivot and adapt their businesses to this new environment.

“We at EY are proud to play our part in supporting the island’s entrepreneurs and I am delighted to formally welcome this year’s finalists into the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year community.”

Now in its 24th year, the programme has established itself as a world-class development programme that supports, promotes, and connects an extraordinary community of entrepreneurs, championing entrepreneurship throughout the island of Ireland and around the world.

Since its inception, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year community has grown to a tight-knit network of more than 550 alumni who harness each other’s wealth of experience, with more than three quarters (77 per-cent) conducting business with one another.

Together, the EOY alumni community generates revenues of €21bn, and employs more than 200,000 people across the island of Ireland.