Three Tipperary students finalists at the Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2023

Karen Egan, Croíagh Ryan and Katie Fitzsimmons from Loreto Secondary School, Clonmel were finalists in the ‘Best Business’ category at the Foróige NFTE ‘Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2023’ at a ceremony held at Richmond Barracks, Dublin yesterday. 

The innovative idea ‘Home Sketch’ is the answer to anybody looking to decorate their home. While the cost of interior decorating might seem very expensive, Home Sketch offers quality handmade designs for homeowners who want to decorate their space at a low cost. These creative hand made designs are also customisable to the home owners own taste. 

Karen, Croíagh and Katie competed against over 6,000 young entrepreneurs from all over Ireland through a series of local, county, regional and semi-finals, with a total of 186 local competitions taking place, leading to 30 regional finals and the overall final. 

‘Simply Soap’ was announced as the overall winner of the awards, with Aimee Hegarty, Abbie Boyle and Aoife Smith from St Catherine’s Vocational School, Killybegs winning the award in the ‘Best Business’ category for their innovative idea which involves beautiful authentic hand made soap. The young entrepreneurs use a goat’s milk base which is rich in Vitamin E and highly moisturising to create these fabulous soaps in lavender, lemongrass vanilla and peppermint. 

All 27 businesses taking part in the final had the opportunity to pitch their business to an expert panel of judges from some of Ireland's leading companies. Other awards on the day included ‘Best Innovation’ won by Sarah Hegarty, from Grange School, Co. Sligo for her business ‘Girls in the Game’ and ‘Best Social Enterprise’, which was won by Patricia Poprawa, Marta Pazlinska and Tia Cooper from Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana Co. Donegal for their business ‘Lil Phil’s’ . A ‘Special Recognition’ award was won by ‘Jolly Socks’, created by Jack Lafferty from Donegal.

Each young person participating in the final proceeded through the ‘Foróige Network for

Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Programme’, which involves approximately 40 hours of learning and includes the facilitation of a number of interactive sessions that enable young people to come up with a business idea, develop their product/service, design a business plan and trade in the real world.  

‘Simply Soap’ will now go on to represent Ireland at the ‘European Youth Entrepreneur Awards’ in Austria later this year.  

Speaking about their win, the students said; ‘We are absolutely delighted to win this award and want to thank the judges and everyone who supported us along the way. We would highly recommend the ‘Foróige Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Programme’ which teaches you the essential skills of developing a business from initial idea to creating a business plan. The whole experience has been brilliant and we are now looking forward to representing our county and Ireland at the ‘European Youth Entrepreneur Awards’ in Austria later this year.’

Speaking at the event Barbara Dooley, Chairperson of Foróige, said; “Foróige’s NFTE programme is committed to changing the lives of young people in disadvantaged communities by enabling them to develop core skills in business and enterprise, and in doing so help them to unlock their individual talents and potential. Foróige NFTE operates in-school and out-of-school programmes, both of which have been shown to be successful in increasing school completion and college attendance rates. I would like to congratulate all the wonderful finalists here today and a special well done to each of the winners for some fantastic business ideas. I wish all the finalists the very best of luck in the future, which is looking especially bright in their hands.”