Local Young Entrepreneurs Shortlisted To 16 Finalists

Following the launch of the seventh annual BEST Competition in November, 16 lucky finalists have been chosen to go forward to the next stage of the annual Entrepreneurial Skills Tournament. This year's judges Mr John Power, Mr Gerry Kelly and Mr Pat Ward had the difficult task of choosing the 16 finalists from the three participating schools, Ard Scoil Mhuire, Garbally College and Holy Rosary College to go through to the next round of the competition. "Although entries were down from 102 last year to 85 this year, we received high quality projects and had to work hard to whittle this down to just a selected few", said Mr John Power. Finalists will now go forward to the Dragon's Den stage of the competition on March 3, where they will pitch their projects to the judges and battle it out with the hope of claiming the top prize of €1,000. Prizes totalling €1,500 will be rewarded to the runners-up. All participants will attend an awards ceremony on March 31 at the Shearwater Hotel, where the winners will be announced. There will be a guest appearance on the day from a prominent entrepreneur who will give a speech to the students and parents. The public are invited to attend the awards night to witness the amazing entrepreneurial skills that the local youth have to offer. The following students are shortlisted for the final stage: Sally Anne Parsons 3rd Yr Ard Scoil Mhuire, Elaine Brady TY Ard Scoil Mhuire, Hilary Bleahen TY Ard Scoil Mhuire, Leo White and Tony Finn 2nd Yr Garbally College, Joshua Naughton & Cathal Whyte 1st Yr Garbally College, Rowan Harley 1st Yr Garbally College, Lonan Broderick, Cathal Riddel & Fintan Parsons 5 Yr Garbally College, Ailbhe Coyle - TY Holy Rosary College, Micheal Lyons TY Holy Rosary College, Katie O'Sullivan TY Holy Rosary College, Darragh French TY Holy Rosary College Shauna CarrTY Holy Rosary College. The competition is sponsored by The Ballinasloe Enterprise Centre (BEC) and the Credit Union. For full details of the competition and Awards ceremony, log on to www. ballinasloeenterprisecentre.ie or contact Lyn Donnelly at the Ballinasloe Enterprise Centre: (090) 9646516.