Leitrim Students Set For National Entrepreneurship Final
Local Enterprise Office Leitrim has announced that winning teenager entrepreneurs from Drumshanbo Vocational School and Lough Allen College Drumkeeran will represent Leitrim at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals on Wednesday 18th May. The Finals return to a physical event this year at The Helix in Dublin having been held online in 2020 and 2021.
The students all took part in the Leitrim County Final on 8th March which was held online. An estimated 250 students from 5 schools 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 24,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2020 / 2021. The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Finals.
In the Junior Category, the students representing at the National Finals is Aoife Gillard from Country Crafts at Drumshanbo Vocational School.
In the Intermediate Category, Aoibhe Higgins, Roisin Grier and Amber Christie from Six Scents Candles at Drumshanbo Vocational School will be representing the county at the Finals.
In the Senior Category of the competition, Leitrim will be represented on May 18th by Ailbhe Rogers, Nicola Baginska and Rowan Brennan from The Crafters Corner at Drumshanbo Vocational School.
In the “My Entrepreneurial Journey” category open to junior and intermediate students, Jasmine Watt with Enviro Fabric and Katie McGovern with Starshuttle will represent Lough Allen College, Drumkeeran at Junior and Intermediate levels repsectively in the National Finals while in the “Most Creative Business Idea” section open to senior students, Amy Bohan from Lough Allen College, Drumkeeran came out on top. Their idea You Be goes forward to the Finals.
Special guests at the Leitrim Final included local entrepreneur, Stephen Keane from News Mag Media and Amy Bohan from Y2K Vintage.
Speaking at the county final, Joe Lowe of Local Enterprise Office Leitrim congratulated the students, saying “We have a very successful student enterprise programme here in Leitrim, with over 250students from fivelocal schools taking part this year. Our national finalists are excellent ambassadors for the programme and we wish them the very best of luck on Wednesday 18th May, and we will all hope to be there to support them. In what has been a particularly challenging couple of years for students the programme has offered them an outlet outside of the usual school demands. 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 Finals, taking place at the Helix in Dublin on the 18th May.
Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, over 300,000 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 2021 / 2022 at www.StudentEnterprise.ie, which will feature regular blogs and houses a full range of Student Enterprise resources for students and teachers.
Further information around the Student Enterprise Programme is available from www.studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise on social media.
For further information, please contact Local Enterprise Office Leitrim - 071 9650420 - ccoll@leitrimcoco.ie
Intermediate Winner - Katie McGovern - Lough Allen College
Intermediate Winner - Six Scents Candles - Drumshanbo VS
Junior Winner - Jasmine Watt - Lough Allen College
Junior Winner - Aoife Gillard - Drumshanbo VS
