Katie McGloin – National Youth Entrepreneur of the Year
Over the last 3 years here at abm financial advisers, Katie McGloin (Eoin’s Niece) has been working with us during the summer to help improve the overall use of technology in the office. Amongst other accomplishments, Katie has improved our website, upgraded our computer system and compiled this newsletter. Katie, from Bundoran Co. Donegal, is a 16-year-old student in Magh Éne College Bundoran and has had a few notable achievements, in her own right, this year!
In December 2016, Katie launched her own business after a year of background work on it. K.T. Clothing Co. is the first completely gender-neutral clothing line in Ireland, it aims to remove the stigma associated with clothes as she firmly believes that clothes are just clothes and we add the labels ourselves. Katie utilised her own skills to get the product to market such as building her own website which included doing all the photography and design work herself.
Since the initial launch, life as an entrepreneur has begun to skyrocket! After catching the attention of her personal hero, Minister for Children & Youth Affairs Dr. Katherine Zappone, Katie was invited for a 3-day work placement with the Department of Children & Youth Affairs including an afternoon in The Dáil to watch Minister Zappone’s Leader’s Questions session and was then subsequently invited to her Ministerial office to meet her!
The day after she completed her work placement at the Department of Children & Youth Affairs, Katie competed in The Mansion House in Dublin for the title ‘NFTE: National Youth Entrepreneur of The Year 2017’ as she had won the Donegal round two weeks previously. The process involves showcasing your business and presenting to 4 judges for 20 minutes, Katie ended up talking to the judges for 45 minutes. That afternoon, on March 30th, Katie was announced as ‘National Youth Entrepreneur of The Year’ meaning she will now represent Ireland in the European Round of the competition in Sofia, Bulgaria later this year.
K.T. Clothing Co. has become more and more successful since her triumphant win and she has since received a number of honourable achievements such as making it to the final 5 at Norah Casey’s Planet Woman’s day after being shortlisted from over 100 applicants, winning 1st Place in the Innovation & Enterprise section at the annual Donegal ETB Awards, receiving an invite to showcase at Dublin Pride on behalf of Bank of Ireland, becoming a member of the National Women’s Council Of Ireland, being awarded ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ in her school from ‘Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur’ and past pupil of Magh Éne College Niall McGonigle and was nominated for the Pride Power List 2017 to name a few.
Katie spoke on national television on RTE 2 about her award. She was invited for interviews at Sunshine Radio FM & Northwest Radio. She has also been asked to voice her opinions on Youth Enterprise and has contributed to both the Irish Tatler and the Irish Examiner.
More recently, Katie has been shortlisted for an award at U Magazine’s 30 Under 30 Award Ceremony on July 25th. The ceremony honours the most influential young women in the country. Names from last year’s ceremony include: Vogue Williams, Roz Purcell and Aoibhinn McGinnity.
To keep up-to-date with Katie or to view the collection, visit www.ktclothingco.com
Below are more publications about Katie:
http://www.donegalwoman.ie/2017/03/31/katies-career-takes-off-whirlwind-week/
http://www.thejournal.ie/teenager-youth-entrepeneur-3316940-Mar2017/
https://www.donegalnow.com/news/donegal-teenager-wins-foroige-youth-entrepreneur-year-2017/153750
http://www.donegaldaily.com/…/donegal-student-wins-young-e…/