Teen spirit: young entrepreneurs battle it out for national title

Fourteen of Ireland's best and brightest young entrepreneurs will gather at Dublin's Mansion House today.

Young entrepreneurs from secondary schools around the country will meet in the capital today, in the hopes of wowing the judges and being crowned Foróige's Youth Entrepreneur of the Year 2017. Fourteen finalists managing seven start-up businesses will pitch their products to a panel of expert judges from the business world. The teen entrepreneurs are all aged between 15 and 17 and have beaten off stiff competition at county and regional level to make the national final. The ultimate winner will be determined by a competitive twenty minute 'elevator pitch' (a persuasive sales speech to spark interest in their business) to the judging panel. The teens from Limerick, Offaly, Sligo, Donegal and Dublin made the final from 1,000 young entrepreneurs who set up start-up businesses as part of the Foróige Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) programme this year. The NFTE programme helps young people who need additional supports in their lives to develop core skills in business and enterprise to help them unlock their individual talents and potential. The cutting edge, world recognised programme has shown to be successful in increasing school completion and college attendance rates. Overall 320 businesses participated in the programme in 2017 from 32 sites in counties Dublin, Offaly, Sligo, Donegal, Westmeath, Tipperary and Limerick. Sean Campbell, Foróige's Chief Executive, says that entrepreneurship is a rare skill as it takes a special mix of creativity, determination, self-discipline and competitiveness to get a business off the ground,

"These young entrepreneurs have not only created high quality marketable products and thriving businesses, they have laid the foundation for their future careers and earned critical skills for the modern world. The level of leadership and passion the young people have shown throughout the process is phenomenal. For the last four years the winner of our competition has gone on to take the European title. This shows there is something really special about our programme and that the young people coming through it are simply world class. This year’s winners will go on to compete in Bulgaria to hopefully make it five in a row."

Products developed by the seven finalists include laser made keyring puzzles, gender neutral clothing, wheelie bin clips for windy weather, hand-made soaps for skin conditions, hand-crafted pencil holders, personalised dog collars, and cosmic tie-dyed t-shirts. Foróige NFTE Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards list of finalists 2017 1. Business Name: Puzzle Pals Product: Laser made keyring puzzles for friends and groups Entrepreneurs: Alice Duffy (16) & Amy O'Shea (15) from Desmond College, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick Business Slogan: “Connecting friends with shapes” 2. Business Name: Clip It Product: Wheelie bin clips for windy weather Entrepreneurs: Eimear Kearney (16), Elizabeth Fahy (15), Rachel Toal (16), Éadaoin Kinsella (15) from The Mercy College, Sligo Business Slogan: “Bin it, shut it, clip it” 3. Business Name: KT Clothing Product: Gender neutral clothing Entrepreneur: Katie McGloin (16), from Magh Ene College, Bundoran, Co. Donegal Business Slogan: “Achieve goals without gender roles” 4. Business Name: Wooden Wonders  Product: Hand-crafted pencil holders Entrepreneurs: Josh Pigot (16) & Brian Regan (16) from Chanel College, Coolock, Dublin. Business Slogan: “Handmade, Hand painted, for you!” 5. Business Name: Nifty Dog Collars Product: Personalised dog collars Entrepreneurs: Claire Hutchinson (17) & Gabrielle Mooney (15), The Acorn Project, Edenderry, Co. Offaly Business Slogan: “Pet Fashion” 6. Business Name: AZ Product: Cosmic tie-dyed t-shirts Entrepreneurs: Aoife Cashell (16) & Alannah Kelly (15) from St. Michael's, Finglas, Dublin Business Slogan: “Ideas so simple they’re AZ” 7. Business Name: Shivveys Soaps Product: Hand-made soaps for skin conditions Entrepreneurs: Siobhán Lennon (15) St. Dominics, Ballyfermot, Dublin Business Slogan: “Rub a dub dub Siobhan's soap is in the tub” Do you have a teen taking part today? Let us know in the Facebook comments or join the conversation on Twitter @HerFamilydotie