Jack O’Connor.
Jack O’Connor, son of Dympna and Donie O’Connor, is a current UL undergraduate from Kilcolman in West Limerick and has been shortlisted for the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) Award by Junior Chamber International – which includes John F. Kennedy as one of its past winners.
Having attended Desmond College, Newcastlewest, Jack is the current United Nations Youth Delegate for Ireland, and the founder of social enterprise start-up Moyo Nua; which has won international business awards and featured on Forbes magazine.
At the age of thirteen, Jack O’Connor volunteered with his father through fundraising to support Milford Hospice, a palliative care centre, and became actively involved in voluntary projects of all kinds in secondary school. He led four projects on different subjects to the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. The last project, entered in 2017, was a handheld seed planter that farmers in developing countries could use to make the planting process faster, with less physical strain.
It was selected as the winner of the Science for Development Award, and Mr. O’Connor and his partner Diarmuid Curtin travelled to Malawi to conduct field testing and research with their invention. It was dubbed Moyo Nua – a dual language term between Irish and Nyanja meaning “New Life.” The invention won various pitching competitions, including the World Trade Centre’s Association Peace Through Trade Competition, garnering the interest of Forbes Magazine.
As the United Nations Youth Delegate for Ireland he attended the UN General Assembly in 2019 and gave a speech on mental health and suicide prevention with the Hungarian Ambassador, World Health Organisation and UNICEF after suffering stress-induced burnout the previous summer. He aims to destigmatise mental illness, especially among young people.
Now at 21 years old, Mr. O’Connor knows that his place in the world lies in helping others in whatever way he can. He has a human-centric approach to problem-solving and varied experience with different projects and industries. Mr. O’Connor lives by the idea of kaizen, the Japanese art of continuous improvement, and has a desire to create a world of equitable oppor-tunity through upskilling, advocacy, and positive mental health work.
The JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World (JCI TOYP) program honours ten outstanding young people under the age of 40 each year. These individuals exemplify the spirit of the JCI Mission and provide extraordinary service to their communities. Whether through service, innovation, determination or revolutionary thinking, these young active citizens create positive impacts on a local and global level.
It is a remarkable achieve-ment to have been nom-inated, but how wonderful it would be if he goes all the way! Jack is a lovely young man and deserves support. The final round of the TOYP Award involves a public online vote, along with a global judging panel. Voting closes on Monday, June 22nd, and if you want to support Jack you simply go to https://toyp.jci.cc, click on his tile, and click the ‘like’ button under his name.
The future is looking good for Jack and we wish him the best of luck.