Talent Tank crowned Galway winner of Elevate Award
Tom Hayes from Talent Tank accepts his €60,000 award from Lucy Meehan, managing director, Impact Media at the Impact Media Elevate Awards on Thursday night last. Also pictured are sponsors: Jerry Flannery and Niall McGarry, Impact Media directors, JP Gilmartin RDJ GLynn Solictors, Darach O'Flaherty and Caroline Gannon, Castle Print, Tom Lavin, i102-104 radio, and Declan Varley, group eEditor of The Galway Advertiser.
A Kinvara-based entrepreneur with a fresh approach to the Recession has been unveiled as the Galway winner of this year’s Impact Media Elevate Award.
Tom Hayes of Talent Tank took the prize worth €60,000 at a glittering awards event at the Carlton Castletroy Park Hotel in Limerick.
His unique on-line service – TalentTank.ie - links people who are looking for job opportunities with employers who need fresh talent. This novel answer to the country’s financial woes made a big impression on Elevate judges Pat McDonagh of Supermacs, Tom Murphy of Total Shaving Solution and Niall McGarry of Impact Media, who chose Talent Tank over strong competition from Grab Radio and iBuyVouchers.com.
Talent Tank will now benefit from a fund designed to elevate emerging entrepreneurs to a whole new level. The prize includes a generous advertising package from the Galway Advertiser and i102-104; full marketing, design and PR services from Impact Media; print services from Castle Print; legal advice from RDJ Solicitors and a photographic session with Viewmaker.
Talented individuals register with TalentTank.ie to offer their talents and skills for free, for a couple of hours or days a week for a specified period, so as to demonstrate their skill sets. Employers in turn register with TalentTank.ie to avail of this free pool of resources in turn driving productivity without any additional cost over-head.
Thereafter, having demonstrated their net worth to their employer and colleagues, individuals then have the opportunity to onward and directly network with potential employers, in effect bypassing costly recruitment agencies and enabling a quicker and more cost effective route to employment for both parties.
This initiative will allow employers become more competitive in terms of reducing labour costs and driving skills-base, which if adopted to cross sectors and industries, will contribute significantly towards establishing a foundation for recovery. And of course, as an employer’s business grows, so too will the need for new employees.
The first-ever Limerick winner of the Impact Media Elevate Award was Shane McAllister of MobaNode, a high tech company specialising in the supply of content to mobile phone users.
Said Niall McGarry of Impact Media: “There is no shortage of entrepreneurial drive and that’s what the Elevate Award is all about. Talent Tank and MobaNode are very deserving winners. The standard of entries was phenomenal.
All of the finalists including Grab Radio, iBuyVouchers.com, Travelace and Sports Academy International (SAI) show very promising entrepreneurial talent.
We are delighted to be able to acknowledge Tom and Shane and we wish them, and everyone who entered the competition, every success in the future.”
Tom Hayes was delighted with his win: “Talent Tank has really taken off since it launched last April. I’m delighted with this prize which will take the business to a much bigger stage.”
For more information on Talent Tank and the Impact Media Elevate Award, please contact Fiona McGarry on 091 383200 or 087 3286272.