Mayo teenagers at launch of Teen-Turn innovators programme

TEENAGE girls from across Ireland, including Mayo, gathered at the Portershed, a modern co-working hub in Galway’s city centre, for the launch of Teen-Turn’s 2025 Innovators programme, which is backed in part by BNY.

The event marked the beginning of a year-long initiative designed to help participants turn promising afterschool projects into viable tech start-ups.

Each year, several Teen-Turn teams develop ideas with real commercial potential, projects that could be brought to market or at least developed into minimum viable products (MVPs). The Innovators programme supports these teams through incubator and accelerator phases. By offering expert mentorship and hands-on support, with guidance from industry and academic professionals, participants are taken through the early stages of the start-up process, from concept to MVP, and, in some cases, company formation.

“I’m really looking forward to this year’s Incubator and the opportunity to work with such a talented and driven group of young women,” said Iseult Mangan, regional manager for Teen-Turn. “It’s a privilege to be part of a programme that helps transform those ideas into real-world solutions with impact, empowering these girls to become founders, build sustainable companies, and contribute meaningfully to society.”

The projects in this year’s cohort are solving problems that are both personal and surprisingly universal and the kind of ideas that don’t always come from the tech industry, but should.

Some of the examples include: Caoimhe, Chloe and Biella are from Shannon and are building Focus Future, a platform to help families manage the day-to-day challenges of dementia care; Ema and Simona are from Claremorris and are developing Evolve Era, an AI-powered health journal that helps track, analyse and potentially flag skin conditions before they escalate; Michaela (Galway), Orlaith (Mayo) and Flourish (Limerick) are behind Own It, an app designed to help girls and young women navigate menstrual health alongside their sporting and academic lives; Laila (Longford) and Sofiia (Wicklow) are working on Sweet Health, a diabetes and sugar intake management app.

At the launch, the 2025 cohort had the chance to meet alumnae from previous years of Innovators and get a glimpse of where their own projects might be headed next. Companies from the 2024 year group, who have graduated from the Incubator to the Accelerator phase, are now introducing to the market their tested MVPs.

Donna Mae (Clare) and Dana (Mayo) created Gestura, a sign language learning and translation app. And Nora and Elizabeth, both from Galway, developed UNDump, an app encouraging the reuse and recycling of clothing and household items.

From the 2023 Innovators cohort, Mary Lillibeth, Katie and Aoibheann, all from Mayo, will now embark on the final programme phase of the Teen-Turn initiative, known as Vector. Vector groups benefit from PayPal supports.

Their app, HerdSync, is a farm management tool designed to digitise how Irish farms are run. What started a couple of years ago as a ‘Technovation’ project after school, is now being adopted by target users.

At Saturday’s launch, the girls had the chance to work with mentors Joe Smyth, SVP of R&D, AI, Digital and Journey Management at Genesys and Co-founder of Altocloud, and Alice Shaughnessy, Clinical R&D Engineer at Luminate Medical and Co-founder of Mirr. Both entrepreneurs shared their own journeys to startup exits and offered guidance throughout the day.

Providing young founders with the opportunity to meet people who have actually built something, those who have taken an idea and turned it into a real product, a real company, is a key part of the Innovators programme.

“It wasn’t a huge event, just a small, focused group of teen girls and mentors in a hub, but it felt like the right space to start something meaningful,” said Laila Faissal, one of this year’s participants.

For those girls entering into the incubator phase, in particular, the day marked their first step into the business world not just as learners, but as creators and early-stage founders. With mentorship, peer support, and the backing of industry professionals, they’re developing skills and products that could shape Ireland’s future.

The work ahead of them won’t be easy, however, the message is clear, they belong in the room and they’re just getting started.

Teen-Turn is an Irish non-profit organisation that provides teen girls the opportunity to gain hands-on STEM experience and the support to acquire qualifications and jobs. More information on their activities and the support they provide to girls is available at TeenTurn.