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Jennifer does the business at bootcamp

March 31st, 2019 11:50 AM

By Kieran O'Mahony

Michael Kirby, Danila Fedotov, Jennifer McCarthy, Roisin O'Connor and Jack O'Connor were named ‘Best Group' at the 10th annual BT Business Bootcamp at Innovations UCD.

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A KINSALE student, who won two awards at this year's BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE), has come up trumps again at the BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp in UCD.

A Kinsale student, who won two awards at this year’s BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE), has come up trumps again at the BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp in UCD.

Jennifer McCarthy, a sixth year student at Kinsale Community School, was part of a five-member team that won the ‘Best Group’ award at the 10th business bootcamp.

The winning project – ‘Helping Hemp Heal: The Design of a Nano Formulation to increase the absorption of Cannabidiol in the Gastro-Intestinal Tract’ – was developed by Jennifer, who had presented the idea at the BTYSTE earlier this year.

Taking place over four days at Innovations UCD, Jennifer and other students that exhibited at the BTYSTE were invited to take part in this camp. 

Jennifer along with her four other team members – Róisín O’Connor, Jack O’Connor, Danila Fedotov and Michael Kirby – worked together on her project.

During the Business Bootcamp, they got to experience first-hand the world of technology, commercialisation and entrepreneurship. It was a four-day programme where they worked in groups with one common goal. 

The group were set business challenges and were addressed by guest speakers throughout the four days and the week finished with the students pitching their companies to an expert panel of judges.

‘The BT Business Bootcamp has been an integral part of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition programme for 10 years, and in that time I am proud to say that many of our alumni have gone on to huge success in business,’ said Shay Walsh, managing director of BT Ireland. ‘What is even more significant is that some of these successful entrepreneurs returned this year to share their experiences with our new boot camp graduates, to offer guidance on how to take an idea and transform it into a business proposition.’

Jennifer picked up two prizes at the BTYSTE earlier this year, winning first prize in the chemical, physical and mathematical senior group and she also won the Eli Lilly Special Award, which includes a first year scholarship to UCC.

She was also been nominated for the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Cork 10 Outstanding Young Persons of the Year 2019 awards which took place recently in AIB, South Mall Cork. Three of these candidates will be selected to go on to represent Cork at the JCI Ireland Finals in Dublin in May.

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