Ambitious Irish teenage entrepreneurs wowing business world

Patrick and John Collison, the billionaire brothers from Limerick behind mobile payments firm Stripe, were still in their teens when they sold their auction website Auctomatic for €4.5m in 2008.

Following in their footsteps, the following Irish teenage entrepreneurs have started their own businesses while still at school.

Fenu Health, an equine health company, came about when sisters Annie and Kate Madden achieved second place for their entry at the 2015 Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in Dublin’s RDS. The sisters from Co Meath grew up around horses, and their project was based on encouraging horses to eat by adding various flavours to their feed. A congratulatory phonecall from Michael Connolly of animal feed company Red Mills led to an invitation for the sisters to attend Equitana, the world’s biggest equestrian fair in Germany two weeks later.