Mayo students win National Youth Enterprise Award for Social Impact

YOUNG entrepreneurs from Mayo brought home one of the top prizes at the Foróige NFTE Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2025, held at Croke Park.

The celebration featured 24 youth-led businesses and over 120 young people from across the country who took part in the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) programme.

Andrew Ardeleanu and Jason Heraty, from Foróige Connect, Castlebar, won the Best Social Enterprise Award for their business Sensory Nature Crafts - a thoughtful and wellbeing-focused enterprise that provides calming craft kits designed to support mental health and sensory development in young people.

“We wanted to create something that helps people feel calm and connected, especially younger kids,” said Andrew. “Winning this award means so much to us - it shows that business can be about care and community too.”

Mayo was also represented in the Best Business category by Alex Skeffington, Padraig Rowley and Luke Doherty from Scoil Muire agus Pádraig, Swinford, with their business Bróga Ferrous. Their project upcycles discarded horseshoes into beautiful, hand-decorated keepsakes that celebrate rural Irish heritage and promote sustainability.

“We wanted to honour something meaningful from our own backgrounds and do it in a way that’s good for the environment too,” said Padraig. “NFTE helped us take that idea seriously - and bring it all the way to Croke Park.”

Awards were presented in three categories: Best Business, Best Innovation, and Best Social Enterprise, with all finalists recognised for their courage, originality, and commitment to making a difference through entrepreneurship.