County Mayo young people advance to Followage Entrepreneurship finals

A group of young people from County Mayo have reached the final of Followage’s Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.

Forage members from across the country attended the awards ceremony at Richmond Barracks to present their businesses.

In a closely contested national final, the top eight young entrepreneurs in the ‘Best Business’ category were given the opportunity to pitch their businesses to a panel of expert judges from some of Ireland’s leading companies, to be crowned Followi NFTE. We fought for this. 2024 Youth Entrepreneur of the Year.

‘Rockenga’ by Felicia Beaver, 16, Ciara Wash, 16, and John Conway, 16, from Our Ladies Secondary School in Belmullet, was one of the businesses in this category.

Rockenga is a frame manufacturing company based on the Mayo coast. There, rocks and shells are collected from local beaches along the Wild Atlantic Way and used to create his ideas for designs wrapped in beautiful white wooden base frames.

Sustainable Sparks of Dylan Cummins (16), Charlotte Sherwin (16), Joshua Lally (16), Zac Stone (16) and Scoil Muir Agus Padraig (Swinford) won the Innovation category. advanced to the finals.

Sustainable Sparks is a business that makes fire pits from recycled washing machine drums. Made from 100% recycled materials, this product looks great in the garden, but is lightweight so you can take it to the beach, campsite, or fit in the trunk of your car.

Each young person who participated in the final completed the Foróige Network.

The Foróige Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship Program (NFTE) is a youth entrepreneurship, education and development program for young people experiencing disadvantage and adversity.

Speaking at the event, Foroige chairman Odran O’Mahony said history had shown that the experience participants gained by joining NFTE was “often life-changing”.

“This ignites a spark that changes the way young people think about themselves and their abilities, and that’s quite remarkable. It’s a spark that, once ignited, continues to burn throughout life; They can do more, be more and achieve more,” he concluded.