New-Bridge nuPower enjoy trip to Latvia

Their company nuPower ‘felt privileged’ to be the only company from NI and indeed the UK attending this European event.

They were accompanied by their Lead Teacher Abigail Bittle and their Business Advisor Michael Young from The Vault.

Competition was high as they were up against 98 other mini companies from 17 different countries.

Five hundred secondary school students from across Europe used their skills to compete for customers at the Junior Achievement Young Enterprise European Trade Fair.

Domina, a contemporary shopping centre in Riga, hosted this one of a kind display of student ingenuity, creativity, entrepreneurship and business skills.

Students took just a few hours to turn the mall into an international marketplace.

Products ranged from services such as web design and personalised i-Phone covers to products such as ergonomic furniture and an array of food and drinks.

JA Latvia, head of the board Jānis Krievāns evaluating this year’s performance of Student Companies, said: “International SC festival is the chance for young entrepreneurs to widen their horizon, make contacts in foreign countries, evaluate and understand international competition.

“I want to praise all the students who had been preparing for this trade fair very seriously and have demonstrated excellent communication and language skills.”

Lead Teacher Abigail Bittle praised the children for their conduct on the trip.

She said: “This was a fantastic trip for our company. We met lots of interesting people in the world of business. I saw our pupils grow in confidence as they had to communicate with Latvian shoppers struggling with the language barrier.

“They got great satisfaction out of the sales they made. They were a pleasure to travel with and represented New-Bridge very well. Riga is a lovely city and this was a great event for our pupils to experience.”

Courtney Savage was one of the lucky four pupils to travel to Latvia.

“Even though we didn’t win, we loved our time in Riga,” she said.

“We learnt a lot about how to be a run a good business especially in marketing and selling techniques.”

nuPower would like to thank Cathy Morrison from Young Enterprise for her support and the sponsorship that came from YENI.

Other generous sponsors that they feel deserve special thanks are Dynamic Design, Crazy Dave Promotions, Hunter Sinton, Kieran Byrne, CMS Global and NI Chamber of Commerce & Industry.