Dreaming Big and Reaping the Rewards – Irish Teen wins YouthStart European Young Entrepreneur of the Year

The determination and creativity of our young people competing at the highest level within Europe is proof positive of the impact that basis.point Patrons and Supporters, are having for young people experiencing disadvantage or adversity from around the country.

For the past two years, basis.point has been supporting charity partner, Foróige, enabling them to broaden the reach of their Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) programme. And this year our young Foróige entrepreneurs rose to the top.

The NFTE programme, is a youth entrepreneurship programme that enables young people to become college, career and life ready. Young people are given the opportunity to benefit from one to one and group mentoring sessions, working towards showcasing their fledgling businesses at the annual exhibition and competing for the title of NFTE Entrepreneur of the year.

Clive Bellows and Geraldine Gleeson represented basis.point on the judging panels earlier this year. The Winners of the Overall and Best Idea categories were selected to compete in the European wide event held in Barcelona.

Flying the flag for Ireland were, Conor Stinchon from Sligo with his Gaelic Superstore and a girls team of Stephanie Harper, Ellie Barron and Saffron Porter from Donegal with their business Clean Guard, a holder designed to clean gum shields and retainers.

In a wonderful example of dreaming big, following your passion and reaping the rewards, Conor , took the title of YouthStart European Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2019, for his business Gaelic Superstore.

The business offers personalised GAA gloves which can be customised for clubs, schools and county teams. Conor’s passion for GAA is at the very core of his business, and his vision is to be the number one glove company in Ireland with a proven track record of quality at the highest level, and customer satisfaction which is unrivalled.

Speaking of his new found confidence, Conor said “I can’t quite believe that I’m leaving Barcelona as the European Young Entrepreneur of the Year. I‘m passionate about my business and I’m very proud that Gaelic Superstore gloves are worn throughout the country by children and also by some of the biggest names in both club and county GAA. Prior to taking part in the Foróige NFTE programme, I hid behind email and text messages when dealing with people, but now I really understand the importance of face to face communication when dealing with manufacturers, suppliers, and my customers and I don’t even bat an eyelid about it anymore.”

In addition to a cash prize of €1,000, Conor will take part in the prestigious Global Peter Drucker Forum 2020, a conference dedicated to the creation of social value and economic value in business organisations including developing managers, corporate models, the potential within organisations, business management and contribution to society.

Séan Campbell, CEO Foróige said “We are so proud of the success of Ireland’s young entrepreneurs in Barcelona. Creating a culture of entrepreneurship among young people is so important and participation in a programme like NFTE puts the career path of ‘entrepreneur’ firmly in the sights of young participants giving them an ‘I can and I will’ attitude that is quite remarkable.”

Involvement in the Foróige NFTE programme has been shown to improve the business, academic, life skills and aspirations of young people. Achieving such success on the European stage is a great example of how industry collaboration can help unlock talent and potential amongst young people facing disadvantage and adversity and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs!