Forvis Mazars has partnered with AxisBIC to support the 2026 Entrepreneur Experience, an established mentoring programme pairing emerging entrepreneurs with experienced business leaders. The deal gives founders across Ireland's South and Mid-West access to professional-services expertise at a stage when many are navigating funding, scaling and governance challenges for the first time.

Details of the partnership, confirmed by Forvis Mazars, show the programme will bring 24 emerging entrepreneurs together with 30 experienced business leaders for 36 hours of mentoring and peer learning at Ballymaloe House, Co. Cork, on 16 and 17 October.

Forvis Mazars, formed through the 2024 merger of Forvis and Mazars, is a global audit, tax and advisory network with headquarters split between Paris and Springfield, Missouri; the group reported combined global revenue of $5.7 billion for the year to August 2025, up 11% year on year. AxisBIC, based in Cork and formerly known as CorkBIC, is an Enterprise Ireland co-funded Business Innovation Centre supporting startups across Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Clare.

The structural driver behind the partnership is the growing reliance of Irish professional-services firms on regional entrepreneurship programmes as a client-acquisition channel, giving firms like Forvis Mazars early visibility of scaling businesses before they require full advisory or audit services.

David Swinburne, partner at Forvis Mazars in Cork, said entrepreneurs and owner-managed businesses are "fundamental to the strength of Ireland's SME sector" and that the firm was "very pleased to play a part in supporting that next generation of entrepreneurs."

Larry O'Donoghue, chief executive of AxisBIC, said the strength of the programme "has always been the people and organisations who believe in supporting ambitious entrepreneurs" and that Forvis Mazars "shares that commitment."

For the sector, the partnership confirms that structured mentoring programmes are becoming a standard route through which professional-services firms build long-term relationships with Ireland's next generation of scaling businesses.

Source: forvismazars.com / axisbic.com / accountingtoday.com