Galway medical entrepreneur urges youngsters to dream big with Nissan
Galway medical entrepreneur Edel Browne (20 ) is encouraging the county’s next generation of leaders and champions to follow their dream and to achieve their ambitions with the backing and support of Nissan.
Ms Browne from Athenry has achieved enormous success since she joined the Nissan Generation Next ambassador programme, which helps young people to succeed and to realise their potential by supplying them with a new, taxed and insured Nissan to drive for a year.
Applications for this year’s Nissan Generation Next programme are now open and Ms Browne is calling on Galway’s entrepreneurs, innovators, sports stars, musicians, and anyone passionate about bringing their dreams to life, to apply now so they can follow in her footsteps.
Edel Browne is the founder of Free Feet Medical, which is developing a multi-award winning device designed to treat gait freezing for people with Parkinson’s disease. The Free Feet Medical technology has the potential to improve quality of life for up to 10 million people suffering from Parkinson’s disease globally.
Since joining the Nissan Generation Next programme last year, Ms Browne has conducted extensive research with Parkinson’s Association nationwide to establish proof of concept. She has also succeeded in raising €20,000 on crowd funding campaign Fund.it to help finance the development of a prototype product with CW Applied Technology in Shannon.
Her talent has also been recognised with a string of national awards. She won U Magazine’s ‘30 under 30’ in the field of applied Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM ). She was also named as one of the Sunday Business Post’s ‘30 under 30’and The Journal’s ‘Top 20 under 20’ for technology.
She says the Nissan Generation Next programme has made a "massive difference" in achieving her goals.
"My Nissan Juke gave me flexibility to travel to Parkinson Associations around the country and I would not have been able to choose CW Applied Technology to develop the prototype without the car because I rely on it to travel to meetings with them in Shannon.
“We did a lot of travelling to Parkinson’s Associations which helped us to build links and to broaden our reach within that community. There is a much greater understanding of what we are attempting to achieve and the support we have received from that community has really moved things on,” she added.
“Nissan Generation Next has been brilliant for us and I’d encourage anyone to apply. It’s a no-brainer. Meeting the other ambassadors and working with Nissan also helped to build my business network,” she says.
Applicants can apply online at www.nissangenerationnext.ie up to Wedne May 17. Family and friends can also make applications on behalf of individuals whom they consider to be an ideal Nissan Generation Next ambassador.
A shortlist of 20 candidates will be announced soon after and put forward to a public vote. The seven individuals generating the largest number of votes will win a place on the Nissan Generation Next ambassador programme. The judges at Nissan will select three of the remaining candidates to join them.
Michael Butler, sales manager at Windsor Galway Nissan, says Ms Browe is an exceptional business leader and a superb Nissan Generation Next ambassador.
"We are looking for like-minded individuals from all walks of life in Galway to follow in her footsteps. If you are ambitious, passionate and fearless about making your dreams a reality and could use a new Nissan to help you on your way then now is the time to apply to become one of our ambassadors.”
