Louise Grubb, founder of Q1 Scientific, has been announced Entrepreneur of the Year at the Waterford Business Awards, organised by Waterford Chamber and supported by Dungarvan & West Waterford Chamber, WLR FM and Waterford City & County Council.
The Entrepreneur of the Year award was presented to Louise by sponsors Faithlegg for her tremendous contribution to the economic climate of Waterford and for inspiring others with her exceptional commitment, motivation and vision. Q1 Scientific was also awarded a Business of the Year award.
Winning Entrepreneur of the Year
Founder of Q1 Scientific
Louise has over 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. A Nutrition and Dietetics Trinity graduate who also holds an MBS in International Marketing from DCU, Louise has described herself as a “science head”, who did not originally plan to go into business. Now a serial entrepreneur Louise has a successful track record in delivering innovative, life science products and services, holding several publications and patents.
Previously Louise was founder and Managing Director of NutriScience, developing and manufacturing nutraceuticals for veterinary healthcare. When an opportunity arose in 2009, NutriScience was sold and continues to manufacture and employ people in Waterford as part of the SwedenCare group.
In 2012, Louise founded Q1 Scientific, an outsourced stability storage service for the life science industry. Based in her native Waterford, Q1 Scientific was the first Irish company to specialise in the provision of a stability storage service. The last number of years has seen Q1 Scientific go from strength to strength with the company being part of the supply chain process for a large portion of the 20 biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world. It is a huge testament to Louise and the team behind Q1 Scientific that the facility has grown by 900% over the last 8 years.
Driven by innovation Louise is currently working on TriviumVet – her third successful start-up. The Co. Waterford animal healthcare company works with veterinarians globally to develop and commercialise medicines and diagnostics for use in companion animals.
Along the way, these businesses have been shortlisted for and have won many prestigious industry awards including the AIB / Business & Finance Irish Emerging Company of the Year, David Manley Start Up Business of the Year, Irish Industrial Products Exporter of Year, Pharma Start-up of the Year and Contract Services Company of the Year, to name but a few. Louise herself was a finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards in 2016.
Speaking about being awarded Entrepreneur of the Year, Louise says:
“I am extremely honoured to be receiving such an important award and am very grateful for this recognition. I am proud of the businesses I have started here in Waterford and the wonderful teams that have worked with me. I sincerely thank the Chamber for this award and for their constant championing of business development in Waterford.”
Inspiring others to become Entrepreneur of the Year
To help inspire and educate others, Louise launched the Science of Business podcast series in 2020. This podcast series shares the insights, career journeys, the start-up phase and behind the scenes stories from some of the key people behind Ireland’s global success in pharma, life sciences and biomedical sectors.
In 2021, Louise became Chair at Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace. In this new position, Louise champions Tangent’s growth plans, notably educating 11,000 learners in entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation to help establish 500 start-ups by 2026.
About the Waterford Chamber Business Awards
Thirty-three of Waterford’s top businesses were honoured on March 4th, during the eighth annual Waterford Business Awards. The event this year was live streamed on Waterford Chamber’s Facebook and YouTube pages, as well as on wlrfm.com.
Q1 Scientific, founded by Louise was awarded ‘Business of the Year’ at the Waterford Chamber Business Awards 2021 after being shortlisted for the same award last year. Speaking of winning Business of the Year, CEO at Q1 Scientific Stephen Delaney says,
“Being awarded Business of the Year is a great achievement. It’s a great boost to the team at Q1 Scientific who work incredibly hard to ensure we are world leaders in the provision of stability storage. It also reinforces the importance of the work we do each day for our clients.”
Speaking about the awards, Waterford Chamber President John McSweeney said,
“The Waterford Business Awards is one of the most important events on our calendar as it is a showcase for the outstanding achievements by our business community. It is a fantastic opportunity for people to celebrate their successes throughout the year and acknowledge the hard work of their teams. All shortlisted businesses should be exceptionally proud of what they have achieved.”
WLR work in partnership with Waterford Chamber and Dungarvan & West Waterford Chamber, on the awards. Managing Director of WLR Des Whelan said:
“It is very important that we recognise enterprise and hard work in business across all of Waterford City and County. There is an excellent cross section of enterprising people and companies represented in the shortlist, which only highlights the fact that Waterford the fact that not alone is Waterford a great place to live but it’s a great place to do business too.”
To view the full award shortlist, visit the Waterford Chamber website.