Mayo business awarded €10k through Three Grants competition
Founder of Eco Powered Cabinets, Darren Forde with his family.
A Mayo-based business has been awarded €10,000 through the Enterprise Ireland Three Grants for Small Businesses competition.
Eco Powered Cabinets was one of ten companies to be chosen to share the €100,000 prize fund.
Founder Darren Forde set up the company last year while climbing Croagh Patrick with his family after he realised there was no defibrillator on the mountain itself.
As a design engineer, emergency medical technician and passionate community first responder, the Hollymount native combined his 24 years of skills to design, patented and manufacture the first solar Eco Powered Cabinet to hold life saving devices, such as Aspirin or Epi-Pens without the requirement of a main power supply.
This multifunctional Solar Eco Powered Cabinet with 18 unique features is fitted with temperature-controlled settings, interior secured individual sections. The cabinet can be installed in locations where there are no structures present such as beaches, greenways, and mountains.
"If a person has a cardiac chest pain or an allergic reaction, they could only have minutes to take this lifesaving medicine. It could take hours to receive the medication in a remote location, and with this invention it could be administrated in minutes – it’s the same medication used for cardiac chest pain or allergic reactions worldwide," Mr Forde said. "We are delighted to be chosen as one of the lucky winners today."
