Finglas girls make national final

TWO students from St Michael’s Holy Faith did Finglas proud last month when they were finalists of the Foróige Youth Entrepreneur of the Year award 2017 with their business, AZ.

Aoife Cashell (16) and Alannah Kelly (15) took their place at the final held in the Mansion House Dublin, alongside 12 other finalists  who were managing seven start-up businesses.

The finalists pitched their products to a panel of expert judges from the business world including Stephen Vernon, MD of Green Properties; Laura Lunch, Head of Youth Banking, Bank of Ireland; Siobhan Daly; Senior Supply Chain Specialist, Jazz Pharmaceutical and Judging Panel Chair, John Cahill, Assistant Chief Executive, Foróige.

Aoife and Alannah produce tie-dye t-shirts, which they promote online, and sell locally. They set out to create locally produced clothing, which would offer an alternative to mass-produced products offered by large online retailers.

The girls 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.

Sean Campbell, Chief Executive, Foróige, said he was proud of Aoife, Alannah and all of the finalists.

“Entrepreneurship is a rare skill,” he added. “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 and I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate each and every finalist.

“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.”