Newbridge Student Wins County Final of Student Enterprise Programme

 Kildare Student Set for National Entrepreneurship Final 

Newbridge Student Wins County Final of Student Enterprise Programme

 

Kildare County Council’s Local Enterprise Office have announced that teenage entrepreneur, Roshanna Houlihan from Newbridge College will represent Kildare at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Final on Friday 14th May. As with last year’s event, the National Final will take place virtually with approximately 80 finalist teams logging in from across Ireland.

1,050 students from across 14 secondary schools in Kildare took part in the annual programme and attended the County Final on Thursday 25th March 2021 which was held virtually.

Roshanna Houlihan from Make Your Mark at Newbridge College took home the top prize at the County Final and will represent Kildare at the National Final in May 2021, in the Senior Category of the competition.

2nd Place County winners were Emma Halpin, Chloe Curran and Alex Carpenter of FoodUcate in Scoil Mhuire Community School Clane, and 3rd Place County Winners included students Hugh Hamilton, Rory Kenny, Adam Williamson, Michael Collins, Conor Manifold from Newbridge College with TY Sports Stands.

In the “Most Creative Business Idea” category which is open to senior students, Katie Coughlan of Celbridge Community School came out on top with ‘Covid-19 Essentials’ and will also progress to the National Final.  

Kildare has a successful track record in the student enterprise competition with students of St Marys College Naas awarded third place in the Senior Category at the National Final 2019  with their company The Struggle is Real, and students from Scoil Dara Kilcock winning an award at the National Finals the previous year with their business Éirlert.  

Special guests at the Kildare Final included; Mayor Mark Stafford, Chief Executive Kildare County Council Peter Carey, Head of Enterprise Kildare County Council, Jacqui McNabb together with judges Sean Ryan, Jane Manzor and Paul Murtagh and Elected Members, teachers, parents and students.

Speaking at the County Final, Head of Enterprise Kildare County Council, Jacqui McNabb said:

 

 “We have a very successful student enterprise programme here in Kildare, with over 1,000 students from 14 local schools taking part this year.

 

Our national finalists are excellent ambassadors for the programme and we wish them the very best of luck on Friday 14th, we’ll all be logged on to support them.”

 

Also speaking at the County Final, Chief Executive Kildare County Council Peter Carey congratulated the students, saying:

 

“In what has been a particularly challenging year for students the programme has offered them 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 team-work, 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 Final, taking place virtually on the 14th May. 

 

The Student Enterprise Programme is an 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 29,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2019 / 2020.  The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Final.

 

 

Further information around the Student Enterprise Programme is available from www.studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise on social media.


 

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