STUDENTS from Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí were among the finalists at this year’s Foróige NFTE Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2025, held in Croke Park earlier this month.
Lisa O’Sullivan, Chloe Daly and Nadia Ustjanowska were among the entrepreneurs competing in the ‘Best Business’ category, with their company, Celtic Glassware, a zero-waste brand that transforms glass bottles into handmade coasters, glasses, and candle holders.
‘We wanted to create something beautiful and sustainable,’ said Lisa. ‘NFTE helped us realise that we could actually turn that idea into a real product and a real business. Presenting it in Croke Park was unbelievable.’ Another team from the school, Eamon Schultz, Javier Siquier, Dominik Placzek, and Joseph Murnane, were up for ‘Best Innovation’ with their company, Cab Craft. Their business innovation is a creative toy kit that inspires young children to build, design and think like engineers, one handcrafted piece at a time.
They were among over 120 young people and 24 youth-led businesses developed through the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) programme at the competition. Awards were presented for Best Business, Best Innovation, and Best Social Enterprise, recognising not only commercial potential but also purpose and creativity.
