ANTICIPATION IS HIGH FOR KILKENNY STUDENTS AS THEY PREPARE FOR THIS YEARS STUDENT ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMME KILKENNY COUNTY FINAL

Molly Burke, Colaiste Pobail Osrai and Rosie Dunne, SEP Coordinator. Photo by LEO Kilkenny. 

Preparations are in full swing for the first physical Student Enterprise Programme County Final in two years.

Kilkenny County Council, through its Local Enterprise Office have announced that the Student Enterprise Programme County Final will take place during Local Enterprise Week on Wednesday the 8^th March at the Lyrath Hotel, Kilkenny. An estimated 150 students from twelve participating schools will take 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 25,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2021 / 2022.  The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Finals.

Speaking to last year’s winner of the Best Commercial Potential Award, Molly Burke, Molly’s Jewel’s from Coláiste Pobail Osraí advises this year’s entries that she has “learned a lot from setting up and running my own business as part of the Student Enterprise Programme, so much so, that I have now set up another business. The Student Enterprise Programme gives you the knowledge of how to set up and run your own business. Once you have done it once, you’ll know how to do it again in the future, so give it a go, and see how you like it.”

Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Pat Fitzpatrick mentions, "I am very much looking forward to attending this year’s County Final to view our up and coming young entrepreneurs of the County. Kilkenny students are learning the right supports and encouragement from the programme that 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 career"

"The Student Enterprise County Final is always an enjoyable event in which we look forward to every year. It is great to get back to physical events and we look forward to viewing all of the student exhibitions on the day” according to Aileen McGrath, Head of Enterprise (Acting), Local Enterprise Office, Kilkenny County Council.

The County Final exhibition will be open to the public from 1pm with the Awards Ceremony taking place at 1.45pm with entertainment by Kilkenny’s own Robert Grace - most viewed Irish Artist on TikTok 2022 & over 2.3 million social media followers. Further information around the Kilkenny Student Enterprise Programme is available from www.localenterprise.ie/kilkenny or www.studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise on social media.