Beyondbmi and Manna Air Delivery CEOs Named Among 2026 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland Finalists

Dr Harriet Treacy, CEO and Co-founder, (opens in a new window)Beyondbmi and Bobby Healy, CEO and Founder, (opens in a new window)Manna Air Delivery, are among 31 entrepreneurs in 24 companies from across Ireland, named today as finalists of the 2026 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland programme.

Beyondbmi is a medically supervised weight management programme led by Irish-registered doctors providing continuous support, before, during and beyond appointments.

Beyondbmi, co-founded by Dr Harriet Treacy, is a University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out company which is supported by NovaUCD. She founded the company with Peter Lumley and the support of senior team members including, world-leading obesity scientists and clinicians, Professor Carel Le Roux and Dr Werd Al-Najim, UCD School of Medicine and UCD Conway Institute, and Professor Alex Miras, Ulster University.

Manna Air Delivery, a global leader in consumer drone delivery, only yesterday announced plans to create 400 new jobs across Ireland and the US as it accelerates operations following a $50 million (€43 million) Series B funding round.

Manna, founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur Bobby Healy was headquartered initially at NovaUCD and subsequently at NexusUCD for several years at the start of its entrepreneurial journey.

Overall, the 2026 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland finalists represent a diverse range of sectors, including consumer, technology, health and construction, as well as varied growth stages and entrepreneurial stories that reflect the continued strength and resilience of Ireland’s entrepreneurship landscape. Collectively they employ more than 3,000 people, generate revenues of close to €1 billion.

The finalists have been shortlisted across three categories, Emerging, Established and International, with each category featuring eight companies which have demonstrated exceptional vision, leadership and impact within their industries and communities.

Dr Harriet Treacy and Bobby Healy have both been shortlisted in the Emerging Award category.

Roger Wallace, Head of Assurance & EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland, said, “Entrepreneurship in 2026 looks very different to even a few years ago. We are operating in a world shaped by geopolitical instability, rapid advances in AI and a level of economic uncertainty that demands creativity as much as resilience. Our finalists this year have not only adapted to this environment, but are shaping it.

The 2026 cohort brings together entrepreneurs who are rethinking the possibilities of technology, from building standout consumer brands and advancing health and life‑sciences innovation, to delivering smarter construction and infrastructure solutions and creating entirely new business models from the ground up. They are creating jobs, solving complex challenges and opening doors to opportunities that did not exist before.

The ingenuity and ambition we see across these 24 finalists reminds us why backing entrepreneurs matters now more than ever. They push boundaries, they take risks and they create the conditions for Ireland to thrive in a volatile world. I am genuinely excited to welcome them into the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year community and to support their journeys in the months ahead.”

Over the coming months, the 24 finalists will participate in the CEO Retreat, which this year takes place in Canada, designed to support strategic thinking and shared learning opportunities. They will engage in executive education, mentoring and networking with the EOY alumni community.

The 2026 programme marks the 29th year of EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ in Ireland. Since its inception, the programme has recognised and supported more than 680 entrepreneurs, creating a powerful all island community known for its collaboration and peer to peer learning.

This year’s finalists have been shortlisted by an independent judging panel of previous winners, chaired by Harry Hughes, CEO of Portwest and Chairperson of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Judging™ Panel.

The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland programme is supported by Premium Corporate Partner Julius Baer, and Government partners Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland.

The other finalists in the Emerging Award Category in addition to Dr Harriet Treacy and Bobby Healy are

• Aoife Matthews, Jennifer O’Connell & Louise O’Riordan of Sisterly
• Brian Shields of Neurent Medical
• Danny Buckley of ADHDNow
• Jennifer Rock of skingredients Ltd
• Laura McCarthy of Drink Botanicals Ireland
• Liam Kearney of The Revive Group.

Further information on all of this year’s finalists is available via: (opens in a new window)https://www.ey.com/en_ie/newsroom/2026/04/ey-entrepreneur-of-the-year-ireland-2026-finalists-announced

ENDS

2 April 2026

For more information contact Micéal Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, NovaUCD, UCD Research and Innovation, e: (opens in a new window)miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.