Mannok announced as one of Ireland’s Best Managed Companies 2021

Company receives prestigious award for first time 

Mannok has been named one of Ireland’s Best Managed Companies at a virtual awards ceremony on Wednesday, 8 September.  

The prestigious awards programme, led by Deloitte Ireland in association with Bank of Ireland, is renowned as the premier business management awards across the island of Ireland and part of the global Best Managed standard.  

Mannok was recognised for the first time at this year’s awards, having demonstrated superior business performance, strong leadership and resilience, organisational excellence, and an entrepreneurial approach. 

Ireland’s Best Managed Companies Awards programme promotes and recognises excellence in Irish/Northern Irish owned and managed companies and is the only awards scheme on the island of Ireland that considers a business’ performance from every perspective. Entrants to the programme compete for the designation in a rigorous process that evaluates the calibre of their management abilities and practices in addition to the strategy, capability, innovation, culture and financial performance of their companies. 

Commenting on the award, Liam McCaffrey, Mannok CEO said:  

“We are very proud to be recognised as one of Ireland’s Best Managed Companies, particularly given the unprecedented challenges of Covid and Brexit over the last eighteen months. Our agility in dealing with such trials has undoubtedly contributed to our awards success, and this is down to the excellence of our team of 830. With their resilience and innovative spirit, they continually demonstrate that our people are our greatest strength, and we are extremely thankful to each and every one of them. 

Despite the uncertainty, we have continued to progress with our strategic development plans, investment and innovation. In the midst of the pandemic, and with Brexit on the horizon, we undertook a rebrand, developed new sustainable food packaging solutions, and invested millions in industry leading technology to support our growth plans.  

We have further developed our digitisation and skills development programmes, extended our educational partnerships, and actively scaled up our environmental and biodiversity initiatives.  

It is this dedication to growing a sustainable business for the benefit of our local region and communities, and the entrepreneurial “can do” spirit ingrained in our very fibre, that has helped us achieve recognition among the very best.” 

Now in its 13th year, the programme saw record entries, with the list of winners representing 26 counties across the island of Ireland from a range of sectors. Mannok was one of 25 companies to qualify for the first time this year, bringing the total number of businesses recognised as Ireland’s Best Managed Companies to 139. This network of companies has a combined turnover of €8.5 billion and employs a total of 40,000 people. 

Anya Cummins, Lead Partner for Ireland’s Best Managed Companies Awards Programme at Deloitte Ireland said:  

“This year, a record number of applications to the Ireland’s Best Managed Companies Awards programme were received. The quality of the applicants demonstrated the extraordinarily high-quality businesses operating across the island of Ireland today. In a relentlessly challenging year, the winning companies displayed true bravery in how they adapted to change, with many innovating and some even accelerating their plans for their businesses.” 

The 25 newly-qualified companies are: Mannok (Fermanagh); Acacia Facilities Management Ltd (Dublin); BidX1 (Dublin); Camile Food Group (Dublin); Clonakilty Food Co (Cork); CR2 (Dublin); CWSI (Dublin); Digital Marketing Institute (Dublin); Dowds Group (Antrim); Errigal Contracts Ltd (Monaghan); Fortus (Dublin); H&MV Engineering Limited (Limerick); Keltech (Waterford); Marco Beverage Systems Ltd. (Dublin); Modubuild (Kilkenny); MPA Recruitment (Derry); PEI Surgical (Dublin); Sanbra Fyffe Ltd. (Dublin); Stafford Lynch (Dublin); The Brennan & Co Group (Dublin); Totalmobile Limited (Antrim); Triangle (Dublin); Village Vets (Meath); Welltel (Dublin); Windsor Motor Group (Dublin). 

17 companies achieved Gold Standard at this year’s awards, having requalified for their fourth consecutive year and 12 companies were awarded Platinum Standard, requalifying for their seventh consecutive year. 

Harry Goddard, CEO, Deloitte Ireland and judging panel member commented:  

“This year’s winning companies had robust strategies in place prior to the pandemic, which enabled them to respond comprehensively to the changing situations they found themselves in. With no sector untouched by the impact of Covid-19, many companies remained committed to ensuring that they did not fall into the trap of doing things like they had always been done, just because that had worked in the past; in fact, many companies took the extraordinary challenge as an opportunity to develop and improve processes. 

“The judges noted that, despite the risk of falling into crisis mode and focusing solely on the immediate challenges facing their businesses, the winning companies were adept at maintaining a long-term view of where their organisations were going and a strong clarity of purpose on what the business was trying to achieve, and why.” 

Nikki Canavan, Senior Director, Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking and judging panel member said: 

“Over the last number of years the companies in the Best Managed Companies network have shown huge strength in the face of disruption and uncertainty. This year in particular – a year that tested Irish businesses like never before – the judges noted the commitment, bravery, resilience and tenacity of the applicant companies.” 

The members of this year’s judging panel were Frank Ryan, Chair of the Judging Panel; Harry Goddard, CEO, Deloitte Ireland; Nikki Canavan, Senior Director, Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking; Kate Malone, Director of Human Resources, IMI; Feargal Mooney, Non-Executive Director, Meetings Booker and Colm O’Reilly, CEO, The Business Post.