Calling all County Carlow students to sign up for the Student Enterprise Awards 2023-2024
The Student Enterprise Programme is one of LEO Carlows core offerings. The 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 25,000 students from over 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2022-23.
Launching the Student Enterprise Programme for 2023-2024 Carlow’s Cathaoirleach Andrea Dalton added: “The Student Enterprise Programme is one of the most beneficial activities that students can involve themselves in at secondary school. The business skills learned from business ideas and research into sales and marketing are skills students can use throughout their career and the ability to set up and run a business will always be an invaluable asset to have.”
Carlow has a significant track record at the National Finals of the Student Enterprise Awards having won same with HUDEBA from Borris Vocational School & Rapid from Presentation College Askea. Other previous national award winners include the “School of Sound” an event management company from Tullow Community School won the Social Media Award, Clodagh Brophy with her Enterprise “Junior Cert Science Dictionary from St. Leos College won the Most Effective Social Media Campaign Award at the National Finals in the senior category. Cian Campion of “Campion Cutz” received a best endeavour award.
At the most recent Awards, in the Senior Category, Teenage entrepreneurs, Jamie Noctor, Paul Barrett, Oisin Nolan and Andi Dascalescu from Tullow Community School went on to represent Carlow at the 2022-2023 Student Enterprise Programme national finals. The finals took place on Friday, 5 May at Croke Park. The Enterprise named “Monarch Gymwear” a business which creates its own Gym Brand Clothing with a vision to build an inclusive community through delivering premium quality Gymwear in distinctive styles to allow its members to transform their lives and wellbeing through fitness. The group impressed the judges with a real business acumen and a commitment to excellence. The Group were recognised for the most effective Social Media Campaign Award at the National Finals.
In the Intermediate Category, Carlow was also represented in the “My Entrepreneurial Journey Category by AJ Dooley of ENT-GAME” from Presentation De la Salle, Bagenalstown.
Speaking about the Student Enterprise Programme, Sarah Byrne, Acting Business Advisor of Carlow LEO said “The student Enterprise Programme, (SEP) is an exciting and rewarding programme that lets students become entrepreneurs and try their hand at running a business while still in school. This is a great initiative run by the Local Enterprise Office Carlow. It gives an opportunity for students to explore enterprise at an earlier age. In this vein, I would encourage more students to get involved in the junior category open to 1st year students to take advantage of this experiential learning opportunity and demystify the entrepreneurial process to understand how an idea can become a business.”
Rose Dunne, Carlow’s Student Enterprise Programme Co-Ordinator, spoke of the impact the programme. It allows students to develop their commercial awareness and have opportunity to develop their project from conceptual ideas to a fully functioning business with each member working as a team. Students who engage in Enterprise Education develop their commercial awareness and gain important skills such as teamwork, networking, problem solving, critical thinking, innovation and self-discipline.
The students, on their business journey engage in real world activities with other businesses and customers in their local communities to promote, raise funds and generate sales for their business. This engagement in activities during the programme are translatable to any employer and in secondary school, students are embarking on considering their career and therefore self-employment can become more attainable for these students by participating in the student Enterprise Process. The programme contributes to the development of new entrepreneurs for the future and therefore boosts our economy down the line.
The Student Enterprise Programme online resources for 2022/2023 are available at Student Enterprise. which will feature regular blogs and houses a full range of student enterprise resources for students and teachers.
Pre-registration for schools for 2023-24 is now open at Student Enterprise.
