Media Release
22nd March 2022
NORTH CORK STUDENTS SET FOR NATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP FINAL
Cork County Council’s Local Enterprise Office Cork North & West have announced that winning teenager entrepreneurs from St Mary’s Charleville and Boherbue CS will represent North Cork at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals on Wednesday 18th May. The Finals return to a physical event this year at The Helix in Dublin having been held online in 2020 and 2021.
The students all took part in the North Cork Final on 15th of March via a virtual final. An estimated 700 students from 13 schools took part in the annual programme locally.
The enterprise education initiative, funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country, saw over 24,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2020 / 2021. The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Finals.
In the Intermediate Category, Niamh Gammell, Lauren Ryan, Melanie Hayes, Chloe Hartigan from Cool Coinnle, St Mary’s College Charleville will be representing the county at the Finals.
In the Senior Category of the competition North Cork will be represented on May 18th by Daniel McHale, Darragh Moynihan, Darragh Murphy, Diarmuid Murphy, Elisha Daly, Gearoid O’Sullivan, Jessica o’Keeffe, Joshua Fleming, Noreen Doody, Padraigh Aherne and Thomas Dwyer from “Pole pals” at Boherbue Comprehensive School.
Special guests at the Final included Christine Duggan from DMPR and Garry Lowe from Whizzkids Training, who mentored the students through the programme.
North Cork has had success over the years with Smooth Remove from Boherbue CS going on to win 1st place in the national awards in 2019 in the highly competitive senior category and Wrap it Up from Presentation Secondary School, Mitchelstown, picking up the Best Display Award.
In congratulating the winners, the Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Gillian Coughlan said, “We have a very successful student enterprise programme in North Cork with over 700 students from 13 local schools taking part this year. Our national finalists are excellent ambassadors for the programme and I wish them the very best of luck on May 18th. In what has been a particularly challenging couple of years for students this programme has provided an outlet outside of the usual school demands. What our students are learning from the programme is that with the right supports and encouragement, they can take an idea from the classroom and develop it into a real-life business. The skills they learn along the way, such as business planning, market research, selling and teamwork, will help them become more entrepreneurial throughout their future careers.”
The local students will be competing against hundreds of other student entrepreneurs from all over Ireland at the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals, taking place at the Helix in Dublin on the 18th May.
Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, over 300,000 students have taken part, learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business. The Student Enterprise Programme also has new range of online resources for 2021 / 2022 at www.StudentEnterprise.ie, which will feature regular blogs and houses a full range of Student Enterprise resources for students and teachers.
Further information around the Student Enterprise Programme is available from www.studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise on social media.
For further information, please contact Local Enterprise Office
Joan Kelleher.
Cork County Council | Spa House |The Spa , Mallow, Co Cork . P51 FD83
T 022-43235|
