Teacher Sinead Grant from the Loreto guided students, Roise Flaherty, Sinead Bond, Emma Reilly, Erin LeBlanc and Brid Moynihan throughout the programme with their enterprise ‘Plug Pics’ – personalised stickers used to identify and decorate your plugs and chargers.
Ireland’s largest celebration of secondary school entrepreneurs took place in Croke Park at Student Enterprise National Final this week (May 3rd), co-ordinated by the Local Enterprise Offices
Students from The Presentation and Loreto Secondary Schools in Clonmel have won an award at the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals in Croke Park this week, organised by the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) for secondary schools.
The students from the Presentation won a Special Merit Prize for their business, ‘Me, Myself and I’ in the Junior Category. The Students from the Loreto were awarded a €250 voucher for their Business ‘Plug Pics’ which won ‘Most Creative Use of Social Media’ in the Senior Category. Both teams were presented with their awards on stage by the Minister for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen T.D., Oisin Geoghegan of the Local Enterprise Offices and Michael Nevin, Chair of the Enterprise Education Committee for the LEOs.
The winning students from the Presentation were: Ada Hennessy, Anniemae Walsh, Hazel Brennan and Molly O’Brien who worked under the guidance of their teacher, Donna O’Neill. Their student enterprise was called: ‘Me, Myself and I, which is a wellbeing book aimed at secondary school students and can be used as part of their school day, to help them feel better about themselves.
Boo Tooth: Students Anna Sheehan and Nemnie Lounis, with the support of their teacher Pat Cunnigham, from Coláiste Dún Íascaigh in Cahir, represented Tipperary with great distinction in the Intermediate Category at the National Final. Their 100% biodegradable tooth brush made from bamboo was well received by both the adjudicators and general product.
The programme, funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the LEOs, had a total of 222 teenage entrepreneurs, aged between 13 and 18, from 78 different enterprises, competing at today’s National Final, with every local authority area represented.
This year’s Student Enterprise Programme attracted over 26,000 participants from 480 secondary schools around the country. Starting every September, the enterprise education initiative helps students gain the skills and practical knowledge of running a real-life business.
Congratulating this year’s winners and their schools, Minister Breen said; “These student entrepreneurs are the future of Irish business and job creation across the country. The skills attained by these young students during the Student Enterprise Programme will be invaluable to these young entrepreneurs and provide them with a fantastic foundation for a future in business. Many congratulations to all the students here today. By making it to Croke Park you have shown you can create and run a business. And congratulations also to their teachers who play such a significant role in sparking and encouraging their entrepreneurial imagination. If these students decide that being an entrepreneur is the path they want to take in their future, I can assure them their Local Enterprise Office will be there to support them every step of the way.”
The Acting Head of Enterprise, Ita Horan from the Local Enterprise Office Tipperary said: “Congratulations to the students of the Presentation and Loreto on their achievements at the awards in Croke Park last week, which recognises all their hard work. We have seen over 200,000 students learn how to successfully run a business in the 17 years of the Student Enterprise Programme, thanks to a long-term partnership between local schools and Local Enterprise Offices. Judging by this year’s finalists and winners, the future is bright for entrepreneurs here in Tipperary.”
The three main category winners on the day were: ‘Smooth Remove’ from Boherbue Comprehensive School in Mallow, representing Local Enterprise Office Cork North and West (Senior Category Winner), ‘Críos Mhadra’ from Presentation Secondary School in Castleisland, representing Local Enterprise Office Kerry (Intermediate Category Winner), and ‘Specrest’ from Malahide-Portmarnock Educate Together School, representing Local Enterprise Office Fingal (Junior Category Winner).
Awards were presented for intellectual property awareness by the Irish Patents Office and for social media by Essential French. Twenty students in the Senior Category also win a place at the residential ‘Winners’ Business Bootcamp’ over the summer to help them further develop their business skills. Further details about the next Student Enterprise Programme, which begins in September through the Local Enterprise Offices, are available through www.studententerprise.ie
Event Information: Student Enterprise Programme National Final (May 3rd, 2019)
Co-ordinated by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities across the country, the Student Enterprise Programme is now in its 17th year. The official website address for the programme is www.studententerprise.ie.
As part of its remit, the Local Enterprise Offices aim to foster an enterprise culture among students in Ireland. Students qualify for the National Final via their School or County Final, organised by their Local Enterprise Office. Funding for the programme is provided by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland.
Judging Panels for Student Enterprise Programme National Final 2019
Junior Category:
Ciara Donlon (CEO & Founder of Theya Healthcare)
Fiona Donnelly (Management Consultant and Entrepreneur)
John Byrne (SAOL Mind Coaching)
Intermediate Category:
Caroline McHale (Education Consultant)
John Russell (Russell & Co)
Ciara Clancy (Beats Medical – Winner of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition in 2017)
Senior Category:
Peggy McGlynn (Former Business Adviser in Local Enterprise Office Louth)
Orla O’Carroll (Orla O’Carroll Ltd)
John O’Dea (CEO Tech Ireland)