Ballinasloe Young Entrepreneurs to be awarded

The winners of Ballinasloe’s answer to Dragon’s Dens will be announced tomorrow, Thursday March 21 at a ceremony in the Carlton Shearwater Hotel.
The BEST competition, Ballinasloe Entrepreneurial Skills Tournament, was organised by The Ballinasloe Enterprise Centre and Ballinasloe Credit Union and is now in its fifth year.

The competition was open to five schools in the Ballinasloe area: Ardscoil Mhuire Ballinasloe, St Joseph’s College, Garbally Park, Ballinasloe, St Cuan’s Castleblakeney, Holy Rosary Mountbellew and Colaiste an Creggan, Mountbellew.
Following a work shop held on January 18 in Ardscoil Mhuire 13 finalists were whittled down from over 100 entries.
The judges for the competition are Gerry Kelly, Chris Armstrong and John Power (Chair).
The thirteen finalists are as follows: Sally Anne Parsons (Ard Scoil Mhuire), Laura Creaven  (Ard Scoil Mhuire), Martin Cunningham and Mark Naughton (Garbally College), Sean Kelly, Shane Hughes, Stephen Naughton (Colaiste an Creggan), Brian Burnell (Garbally College), David Hanrahan (Garbally College), Viktorija Maksimchika (Ard Scoil Mhuire), Ross Maloney and Jake Curley (Garbally College), Claire Keane (Ard Scoil Mhuire), Eoghan Donohue (Colaiste an Creggan), Ellen Gavin (Ard Scoil Mhuire), Nicola Kelly (Ard Scoil Mhuire), Rachel Greene and Shannon Dolan (Ard Scoil Mhuire).
The judges were very impressed this year with the calibre of ideas from the students which included projects from the technology industry, sports, agriculture, music and practical solutions to everyday problems.
The finalists presented their projects at the ‘Dragon’s Den’ stage where they pitched their projects to the judges on March 5.
Prizes totalling over €2,000 will be awarded at the ceremony on March 21 in the Carlton Shearwater Hotel. A prominent entrepreneur will give a speech to the students and their parents.
Finalists will have their projects on display in the hotel from 6:30pm. The results will be announced at 8:00pm.
All members of the public are welcome and are encouraged to attend the awards night to see for themselves the amazing entrepreneurial skills that the youth of Ballinasloe have to offer.