NFTE Ireland International Competition
On Wednesday January 29th two of St. Marys N.F.T.E. Entrepreneur businesses had the privilege of reaching the last seven in Ireland and taking part in the N.F.T.E. International competition.The company’s which would be pitching to the dragons were, R&R Scrunchies and TY Hoody’s.R&R Scrunchies are a hair accessories business setup by Rachel McMahon and Rebecca Wall.
TY Hoody’s are a transition year hoody business run by Sally Ahern and Olwyn Galbraith.
The girls were pitching their business to a team of four dragons in Grant Thornton, City Quay. The prize on offer was a Fully paid all expense trip to Washington DC, to attend the N.F.T.E. Global Gala Entrepreneur Awards. The winning business would be representing N.F.T.E. Ireland on the Global stage. The girls were hoping to follow in the footsteps of past winners in St. Marys, Kelly Fitzgerald and Aoife McGrath (Fingertips). The girls represented N.F.T.E. Ireland in 2012 at the global event in New York City.R&R Scrunchies and TY Hoody’s were to pitch to the following four dragons:Pat Burke (Partner, Grant Thornton)Tara O’Shea (Community Affairs Manager, Microsoft Ireland)Joe Redmond (Group Executive, Fexco)Kieron Guilfoyle (CEO 3V)The girls performed wonderfully well on the day and presented their pitch with an extremely high level of professionalism. Unfortunately on the day they did not prevail. N.F.T.E. Ireland will be represented by Colaiste Dhulaigh. R&R Scrunchies were extremely unlucky and finished in second place and according to the judges it was extremely hard to separate the top two company’s. The girls have been given wonderful feedback from the dragon’s. All of which is extremely positive.On behalf of St. Mary’s, the four girls represented the school wonderfully and it was a pleasure to work closely with them on preparing their pitch. It was a wonderful day and the girls have a bright future ahead as entrepreneurs.A special thanks to Keelin O’Donnell and Bronagh Connolly of N.F.T.E. Ireland for all of their support and help.The whole N.F.T.E. class have the opportunity to enter into the National Competition which will take place in DCU during March 24th – 26th . The student will graduate from N.F.T.E. at the N.F.T.E. Youth Entrepreneurship Awards in The Helix, DCU on May 1st.Mr. William DonnellyNFTE Business Teacher
