Solas Business Community Final
/The tension was mounting as our Solas Business young entrepreneurs took to the stage last Friday morning to pitch their ideas to our 'dragons'.
Solas Business has been running in 5 of our corporate partners over the past couple of months, teaming up 5th class students from local schools with mentors to come up with a solution to a problem the young people face in life today.
Each school is paired with one of our corporate partners, the programme runs for 4 weeks in each school, with the 5th week seeing the students travel to the boardroom of their corporate partner to present their ideas. A winner is selected who goes on to compete at the Community Final.
The standard was exceptionally high, each pitch was polished, confidently delivered and the groups handled tricky questions from our 'dragons' exceptionally well.
Honourable runner up was Francis St School with 'The Penculator' a very handy pen with a holographic calculator. Their mentors from Bank of America Merrill Lynch were extremely impressed with the lads and very much enjoyed their first time involvement with the programme.
Runners up from Francis St CBS with their mentors from Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Alas, there can be only one winner, and after much deliberation, Synge St school were the winners with their very innovative idea 'The Saviour Watch'. A multi purpose watch which has a whole host of features including the ability to report bullying. Synge St were partnered with Mainstream Renewable Energy, one of our longterm supporters. I'm not sure who was more excited about the win, the kids or their mentors! The winning school win a €400 voucher to spend at their school. There were already some tough negotiations on what it will be spent on!
Winning Group from Synge St School with their mentors from Mainstream Renewable Energy and the 'Dragons'
A huge thank you to our wonderful 'Dragons' who had a very tough decision. Thanks to Sabina Cotter from Irish Youth Foundation, Bill Hutchinson from Ebay, Grainne Madden from GMJ Associates and Derek Tynan a long time supporter of our work. They were wonderfully supportive and encouraging to all.
'Dragons' - Sabina Cotter, Bill Hutchinson, Grainne Madden, Derek Tynan
We know it can be tough not coming out as the winning team, however each presenter went away with a goody bag kindly provided by Ebay so there were smiles all round.
Goody bags sponsored by Ebay
Solas Business is part of our Solas@School initiative working to increase the self-worth, character and motivation of each young person and provide exposure to a working environment.
A huge thank you to our corporate partners who took part; Mainstream Renewable Energy, Marin Software, McCann Fitzgerald, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BlackRock Financial Services.
If your company is interested in taking part in Solas Business or any of our employee engagement programmes, please contact Clodagh O'Reilly (Clodagh@solasproject.ie)
Scoil Treasa Naofa and their mentors from Marin Software
St Endas and their mentors from McCann Fitzgerald
Stanhope St and their mentors from BlackRock Financial Services
Synge St and their mentors from Mainstream Renewable Energy
