Local Enterprise Office Monaghan have announced that teenage entrepreneurs from Our Lady’s Secondary School Castleblayney, Largy College and St Macartan’s College will represent Monaghan at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Final on Thursday 9th May.

The students all took part in the Monaghan Final on Thursday 29th Feb which was held at the Glencarn Hotel Castleblayney. An estimated 311 students took 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 28,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2022 / 2023. The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Final.

In the Intermediate Category, Clodagh Carey, Kamile Virganaviciute and Emma McCaul, CKE Candles from Largy College will be representing the county at the Final.

In the Senior Category of the competition, Monaghan will be represented on May 9th by Alex McVicar from Drip Feed at St Macartans College.

In the “My Entrepreneurial Journey” category open to junior an  intermediate students, Aine Carragher and Bella O’Neill from Our Lady’s Secondary School Castleblayney will represent Monaghan in the National Final.

Special guests at the Monaghan Final included Cllr. David Maxwell Cathaoirleach Monaghan County Council, elected representatives, Brian Finnegan, Shabra Plastics & Recycling Limited and Seamus McDermott from The County Monaghan Fund. A special word of thanks to our judges Edel Treanor from Mullan Lighting, Brendan McAree of McAree Engineering who is also a member of The County Monaghan Fund, Steven Murphy from Old Carrick Mill Distillery and Sean Mulholland representing the Department of Education.

Speaking at the county final, Eilin Connolly A/Head of Enterprise of Local Enterprise Office Monaghan congratulated the students, saying “We have a very successful student enterprise programme here in Monaghan . Our national finalists are excellent ambassadors for the programme and we wish them the very best of luck on the 9th May, and we will all hope to be there to support them. 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 in the Mullingar Park Hotel on the 9th May.

Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, over 380,000 students have taken part, learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business. The Student Enterprise Programme also has new range of online resources for 2023 / 2024 at www.StudentEnterprise.ie, which will feature regular blogs and houses a full range of Student Enterprise resources for students and teachers.

Click here to see all the winners.

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