ROSCOMMON STUDENTS WHEEL AWAY WITH TOP ENTERPRISE AWARD IRELAND’S FINEST YOUNG STUDENT ENTREPRENEURS CELEBRATED

A group of enterprising young students from Roscommon came away with the top prize at today’s Student Enterprise Programme awards in Croke Park. The business, McCompactors, is a device that enables users to easily compact rubbish in standard wheelie bins and they took first place in the Senior Category of the Local Enterprise Office run programme.

Joshua McCormack and Evan McNeil from Roscommon Community College were inspired from seeing people climbing into wheelie bins to try and compact their rubbish manually and created the McCompactor to solve the issue. The steel fabricated device will work on all standard household wheelie bins and they have sold over 100 to date through their social media channels.

The 21st Student Enterprise Programme National Finals took place today in Croke Park with 82 finalists on show ahead of the winner’s announcements. The Local Enterprise Office initiative, supported by Enterprise Ireland and local authorities, commenced last September in secondary schools across the country with close to 25,000 students taking part.NO FEE STUDENT ENTERPRISE AWARDS JB7.jpg

In the Intermediate Category Clip Clop Designs from Longford took first place. Caitlin Morris from Moyne Community School created the business repurposing horseshoes to make colourful decorations for the home.

In the Junior Category the winners were Grasper from Drumshanbo Vocational School in Leitrim. Created by students Freya Whitney, Alexandra O’Looney and Amy Keaveney, the hand-held farm safety tool assists farmers with the opening of slurry tank covers.

The event was hosted by RTÉ’s Rick O’Shea and he was joined during the ceremony by Neale Richmond, T.D. Minister of State for Employment Affairs and Retail Business as they announced the winners across the three main categories on the day.

In the Senior Category won by McCompactors, the second-place award went to Colaiste Muire Student IDs from Colaiste Muire in Cobh, County Cork and third spot went to Hurlr from Heywood Community School in Laois

In the Intermediate Category won by Clip Clop Designs, the second place prize went to Premier Woodworking from CBS Thurles in Tipperary and third place was HD Horseshoe Design from St. Kieran’s College in Kilkenny.

In the Junior Category which was won by Grasper, the second spot went to Orlaith’s Derrbrien Honey from Gort Community School in Galway and third was Clochai Cneasta from Castleisland Community College in Kerry.

The 82 student enterprises in Croke Park had made the cut from almost 25,000 who began last September, competing in what is Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme for second level students.NO FEE STUDENT ENTERPRISE AWARDS JB6.jpg

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, has seen over 350,000 take part in the programme since it began 21 years ago.

Neale Richmond, T.D., Minister of State for Employment Affairs and Retail Business, who took part in the ceremony, congratulated the students today; “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.”

Michael Nevin, chair of the Local Enterprise Office’s Enterprise Education Committee, 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 Junior, Intermediate and Senior categories were 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.

Last year’s winner of the Student Enterprise Programme were “Barrelda” - an eco-innovation created by two young farmers from Co. Meath. Barrelda specialise in revamping old, blue polythene drums and recycling them to create meal silos and teat feeders. The young entrepreneurs have won high praise from eco organisations and farming organisations nationwide for their sustainability focused project which also addresses the rising costs of farming equipment.

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.

The Student Enterprise Programme also has new range of online resources for 2022 / 2023 at www.StudentEnterprise.ie, which will feature regular blogs and houses a full range of Student Enterprise resources for students and teachers.

Winners

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