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A Students Experience of YEOTY

My Experience of the World of Business …Niamh Dineen

The Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (YEOTY) took place on the 17th of January. Fourth year students had the opportunity to come up with their dream product or service,or upgrade an existing product, to pitch to a panel of judges. 

When I heard about the concept of YEOTY, I was honestly dreading the dooming deadline in January. I just had no idea what to do, I found it difficult to think outside of the box. Our group then opted for upgrading an existing product on the market as we thought it would be easier. However this also proved to be a challenge. Our minds went to a hundred different places, but nothing seemed to work. Everything we thought of already was available! 

However, eventually our lightbulb moment came about two weeks before we had to pitch our ideas. We were thinking about the environment around us, what's important to us,and how we can make an impact. I took a look at myself, at my own home. Farming is a big part of my home life,and one would often hear the dangers associated with farming. Falls from height, electrocution, machinery, are just naming a few causes that result in death for many farmers. 

Emma Hayes, a member in our group, also has relatives working on farms and so we worked from there. We both felt passionate about making farms safe. Inken Bruenger and Elina Dovhan are the other two students that make up our group. Inken is from Germany, and Elina is from Ukraine. Neither were from farming backgrounds, but yet they began to understand and see that farm safety is a major issue in Ireland and needs to be spoken about more. It was vital that as a group we all stood on the same page regarding this matter. 

Once we were all happy with the topic, now we were faced with the challenge of narrowing down our research to just one cause of death-related farming incidents. We decided to choose slurry,mainly because so many people die of slurry gassing every year. Many don't realise that just one breath of slurry gas can kill you. The good news is, it is preventable. This is where 'Gas Alert' was born. 

Our idea was to upgrade an existing product on the market, a hydrogen sulphide monitor. We designed a monitor, an app and a pendant that helps farmers to farm safely when slurry is being agitated. So, there are of course hydrogen sulphide monitors on the market at the moment. But none of them have two added features: an app and a pendant. 

he monitor is easy to use, with just two buttons on the front. One state activates, the other is to turn off the alarm when it rings. This can be done on the app too! When  Hydrogen sulphide levels rise, the monitor sends out a shrill alarm sound that can be heard within a 5 mile radius. The monitor comes with an app you can download that connects to your monitor to display constant digital readout of gas levels. It also has a replaceable battery-so you don't have to waste your money buying a new monitor every two years.  

The app does everything the monitor does and it also comes with a feature where you can connect your contacts to the app, and choose which contacts the app would contact in case of emergency, if you are not around to remove your livestock from sheds in time. 

What I was most excited for while completing this project is the idea of the pendant. It was brought about after I thought of people like my parents, who are not so good at technology if they don't mind me saying. The pendant does the job farmers want. The pendant will start beeping when the monitor detects harmful gases and it will also show how much gas is in the air. That way, you will never have to worry about your livestock again. No matter where you are, the pendant will take care of everything. 

We were unable to make a prototype, however we had plenty of diagrams to help our idea come to life. We also spent a lot of time deciding what materials the monitor and pendant would be made out of. This was the most difficult aspect of the project for me. We wanted something hardy, but that would be reasonably cheap as well. We also had to think of the inner workings of the monitor and pendant, adding things such as PCB Circuit boards, LCD Screens and buzzers. It was important here to keep in mind the cost of these materials. 

We had an idea. We had designs. We had a budget and marketing plan sorted. There's only one thing left to do: sell the idea with all your might to a panel of judges. We had to convince them well why they should invest in our idea. There are around 137,000 farms in Ireland. They have to be safe for the health of farmers and their families. 'Gas Alert' is also very sustainable as we believe in reducing, reusing and recycling. We designed our pendant chain to be made out of recycled can tabs in fact! We also have an advantage over competitors. Competitors cost around €90 on 'Amazon' and €200 on 'Front Line safety'. 'Gas Alert' would be cheaper with €70 for the monitor and €20 for the pendant. Two in one! 

I think a big selling point for us was our passion for the idea. Our group wants to be a part of the next generation that recognises the importance of farm safety.'Gas Alert' is a step forward to raising awareness. So much more can be done to prevent these incidents from happening. 

YEOTY was an incredible experience for myself and my classmates. I learned about how much work actually goes into creating a business plan, and what dedication and commitment it would take to pull it off.