Students from St. Colman’s College in Fermoy walked away with the top prize at the Regional Final of the North Cork Schools Enterprise Programme, which took place at the Cork Marts in Fermoy on Thursday 10th March.
The competition is part of the National Student Enterprise Awards, in which over 17,000 students from all over Ireland take part each year. The winning students will now proudly go on to represent North Cork at the National Final of the Student Enterprise Awards which take place in Croke Park on 20th April 2016.
In the Senior Category, the boys from St. Colman’s wowed the judges with their product which is a maths based board game. The boys are trading under the company name CC Designs.
The boys have worked very hard on their business over the past 6 months, taking their product right from idea stage through to production, sales and marketing as part of running their student enterprise over the academic year.
In the Intermediate Category, the students from 2nd year in Davis College Mallow took the top prize for their wedding favour company ‘Ready, Set, Wed’.
The Junior Category was won by an enterprising young lady from St. Mary’s School in Charleville with her denim upcycling company ‘Genie’.
Other prizes awarded on the day in the Senior category included:
Best Display Stands: Eyerish Eyes, St. Mary’s School, Charleville
Luscious Liopai, Loreto College, Fermoy
Best Business Reports: Casa, Colaiste Mhuire, Buttevant
Davis Code, Davis College, Mallow
Best Innovation: Chit Chat Ltd. CBS Charleville
Saol Slainte, St. Mary’s School, Charleville
Best Marketing: CC Designs, St. Colman’s College, Fermoy
CALF, CBS, Mitchelstown
Most Promising Entrepreneurs: Kieran Foley and Conall Sheehan, CBS Charleville
42 mini-companies in total took part in the event which is designed to give students who are running their own student enterprises a taste of what it’s really like to be entrepreneurs. At the event, students set up exhibition stands and gave a 10 minute interview to a panel of judges comprising of members of the local business community. The judges included:
- Sean Jeffries, Sean Jeffries Photography
- Cathy Fitzgibbon, Cork Independent
- Valerie Murphy, Avondhu Blackwater Partnership
- Tadhg Curtis, Former North Cork Enterprise Board Chairman
- Aidan Walsh, Bank of Ireland, Mallow
- Dan Murphy, Dan Murphy Life and Pensions
Acting Head of Enterprise at the Local Enterprise Office, North Cork, Kevin Curran, speaking after the event said "We are absolutely delighted with the turn-out at the event this year and it is very much a testament to the hard work and commitment of the teachers and students in the schools in the North Cork region".
Further information:
Yvonne O’Neill
Co-Ordinator, Cork Schools Enterprise Programme Tel: 021 – 4662982 / Mobile: 086 1537440
Email: info@corkschoolsenterprise.ie
