The European YouthStart Awards were a huge success for all of our Foróige Young Entrepreneurs in Switzerland on June 3rd. The Foróige NFTE team participated in the awards in the city of Olten with four of our National winners in three of the European Categories
Tadhg O'Brien from Scoil Uí Mhuirí in Dunleer, Louth won Gold Award in his category "Real Market" with his business, Scriptorium Pens - handcrafted wooden pens crafted from Irish trees.
Fiona Karki from the Ursuline College in Sligo won Gold Award in her category "Best Idea" with her business idea, P.S.T.L.S - a company that designs a sensory traffic light system for pedestrians functioned by the BBC Micro:bit programme and PIR motion sensor.
Gerald O'Regan from Chanel College in Dublin won Silver Award in his category " We Grow Together" with his business, Gerald's Gem - a company that creates Christmas Craft Designs. Gerald also wanted to use his opportunity to advocate for other young people with Down Syndrome to be able to gain equal opportunities in education as he feels that NFTE has provided to him.
Jade Guiney, Shanice Pepper, Sommer Nolan and Shanice Browne from North Presentation Secondary School in Faranree in Cork won Gold Award in their category " We Grow together " with their Business , Know Your Buttons - a resource for teaching younger children the concept of consent, to raise awareness of child sexual abuse.
Foróige's own Caroline Cooke, Foróige's Entrepreneurship and Employability Manager lead the staff team in Olten and reports back from the Awards in Switzerland "What an amazing achievement at this year’s European Awards for our Foróige young entrepreneurs. This year we had the highest number of groups participating in the European Awards with four groups competing in three of the European Categories and for each of our groups to win golds and silver was quite simply outstanding and an incredible achievement for all. YouthStart is a network of thought leaders that inspires young people through Entrepreneurship Education from across the world. All the young people that participated in the awards were truly amazing and each and every one of them showed their resilience and determination to continue with their business and ideas during the difficult time of the pandemic. The businesses and ideas that the young people showcased in Olten were creative, inspiring and full of heart and hope for the future. This clearly demonstrated that we are together creating a community of inspirational future leaders across the globe where anything is possible for these young people. To watch Foróige young people lead out across the world in this is really heartening and inspirational.
All of our winners have received their winning prizes of an all expenses paid trip for them and their teachers to attend the “Peter Drucker Global Forum 2022” in Vienna in November worth four thousand euro each. An amazing opportunity for all the young people to continue developing and showcasing their business and ideas on a global platform.
