NATIONAL AWARD FOR CORK CITY STUDENTS AT ENTERPRISE FINALS
IRELAND’S FINEST YOUNG STUDENT ENTREPRENEURS CELEBRATED AT NATIONAL FINALS
Students from Cork City have taken “Green Go-Getter Award at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals. The Finals of the Local Enterprise Office initiative took place on Friday in Croke Park.
Supported by Local Enterprise Office Cork City, The students from Colaiste An Spioraid Naoimh won the “Green Go-Getter Award. The winning students who worked under the guidance of their teacher Anthony Malone, with their Enterprise “Good to Grow” which is a sustainable plant fertiliser, manufactured from waste ground coffee, mixed with essential minerals for plant nutrition. The students, who carried out extensive research with horticulturalists to create the special mixture of ground coffee and minerals, are delighted to have won at the National Finals.
There were 82 student businesses in contention across three main categories for the Final in what is Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme for second level students. 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 almost 500 secondary schools across the country take part.
Neale Richmond, T.D., Minister of State for Employment Affairs and Retail Business, who took part in the ceremony, congratulated the students; “Congratulations to everyone who made it to today’s National Finals. With over 25,000 students taking part in this year’s programme, it is a huge achievement to make it to the Finals and shows a real flair for entrepreneurship. Some amazing businesses and entrepreneurs have come from this programme – the majority did not win any prizes but are still running successful businesses today. So, to those of you who won something today, a huge congratulations, but most importantly, to you all, this is the first step on the path, you are the entrepreneurs and business leaders of the future and everyone here today is excited to see what you do next.”
Dr. Niall O' Keffee Head Of Enterprsie from Local Enterprise Office, Cork City said; “Year on year the Student Enterprise Programme continues to showcase the very best of Irish ingenuity and entrepreneurship amongst our secondary school students. This year produced a varied selection of businesses, from agricultural products and homemade gifts to products that were built on our unique ability to tell compelling stories. We see every year that the National Finals are not an end point for our student entrepreneurs, but a stepping stone on the next stage of their entrepreneurial journey. From our class of 22/23 we will see some business leaders and global entrepreneurs of the future emerge.”
The National Final students, who competed across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, were all attendance on the day exhibiting their businesses which were judged by a team of national businesses experts and mentors. Each student enterprise was challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, which must show sales of their service or product. The judging panel included business owners and representatives from enterprise agencies and associated bodies.
The three main category winners on the day were: ‘McCompactors’ from Roscommon Community College, representing Local Enterprise Office Roscommon (Senior Category Winner), ‘’Clip Clop Designs” from Moyne Community School representing Local Enterprise Office Longford (Intermediate Category Winner), and ‘Grasper’ from Drumshanbo Vocational School representing Local Enterprise Office Leitrim (Junior Category Winner).
The Student Enterprise Programme is funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country. Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, over 350,000 students have taken part, learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business.
Winners 2023
Senior Category
1st – McCompactors – Roscommon Community College, Roscommon
2nd – Colaiste Muire Student IDs – Colaiste Muire, Cobh, Cork
3rd – Hurlr – Heywood Community School, Laois
Intermediate Category
1st – Clip Clop Designs – Moyne Community School, Longford
2nd – Premier Woodworking – CBS Thurles, Tipperary
3rd – HD Horseshoe Design – St. Kieran’s College, Kilkenny
Junior Category
1st – Grasper – Drumshanbo Vocational School, Leitrim
2nd – Orlaith’s Derrybrien Honey – Gort Community School, Galway
3rd – Clochai Cneasta – Castleisland Community College, Kerry
