Secondary school students selected to represent their individual school are busy preparing to wow the judges on county final day to be held at TUS Thurles Campus on Monday 6^th March 2023.  Three businesses and budding teenage entrepreneurs will be selected to go on to represent Tipperary at the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals showpiece in Croke Park on Friday 5^th May.

The county final kicks off National Enterprise Week for LEO Tipperary and what a wonderful way to showcase our future entrepreneurs.  Competition was stiff this year which is a credit to the work and effort of students and teachers.  Over 1,800 students from 24 Tipperary secondary schools participated in the 2022/23 programme and almost 200 of these students will display at county final day.

The Student Enterprise Programme in its 21^st year is an initiative of the Local Enterprise Offices and is the country’s largest enterprise programme for second level students that has over 25,000 students from 464 schools all across the country, competing in the Junior, Intermediate and Senior categories each year. 

Student Enterprise Coordinator Tina Mulhearne is looking forward to seeing how the finalists from each school have progressed their idea since their initial selection.  Tina goes on to say that this is an exceptional programme where students get to set up their own business and do everything a real life entrepreneur would from coming up with the business idea to marketing and writing a business plan.

Tipperary is delighted to welcome Student Enterprise Programme Ambassador Limerick All Ireland winner Sean Finn to Tipperary on the day.

Head of Enterprise Anthony Fitzgerald wishes all participating students the best of luck and looks forward to visiting their stands and hearing their business journey so far.  Tipperary students always do us proud at national level and this is down to the wonderful support of their school and teachers.

The public may visit the county final to see the wonderful ideas of the students from 11am to 1pm on the day.

Pictures:   Students from St. Mary's Secondary School Newport with teacher Stephen Goggin

               Students from Scoil Mhuire Greenhill with LEO Student Enterprise Coordinator Tina Mulhearne

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, sees over 25,000 students from almost 500 secondary schools across the country take part yearly. 

The students compete across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior and judging took place virtually via electronic submissions.  Each student enterprise is challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, which must show sales of their service or product.