Sarah McCarthy from Mallow, a 3rd Year Law Plus student at University of Limerick, has won the 2016 A&L Goodbody Bold Ideas Student Innovation Award, following her proposal to build on Ireland’s reputation and success on the international stage. With many legal, business and political challenges facing Ireland today, Sarah’s winning submission puts forward the idea of establishing the Irish Fintech Investor Market (IFIM) which would connect Irish technology start-up businesses with established foreign financial companies, looking to make a low risk investment in Ireland. This is the fifth year that A&L Goodbody has held the Bold Ideas competition, which saw over 1,200 members of the public cast their vote on Facebook for their favourite submission, following which the winner and runners up were selected by a panel of three expert judges. As first prize winner, Sarah receives €4,000 in cash and an internship in A&L Goodbody’s Head Office in Dublin. The firm will also make a donation to a charity of her choice.
Presenting her Bold Idea at a prizegiving event in A&L Goodbody’s Head Office in Dublin, winning student Sarah said, “I’m absolutely delighted to win this award from A&L Goodbody. My bold idea is that the IFIM would act as an online tool to connect Irish tech start-ups with potential foreign investors. The start-ups and the investors would both be vetted and authorised by the IFIM. The investors can make an informed decision based on profiles of the start-ups and can choose to invest with them either online via Bitcoins or via direct communication.”