Student Enterprise Programme

ROSCOMMON STUDENTS SET FOR NATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP FINAL

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Local Enterprise Office Roscommon have announced that teenage entrepreneurs from Roscommon Community College will represent Roscommon at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Final on Thursday 9^th May.

The students all took part in the Roscommon Final on 12^th March, which was held at the Athlone Springs Hotel, Monksland. An estimated 500 students from 9 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 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 Senior Category of the competition, Roscommon will be represented on May 9^th by Gavin Moran and Michael Hanley from GM Engineering at Roscommon Community College.

Special guests at the Roscommon Final included Cathaoirleach of Roscommon County Council Cllr. John Keogh, Chief Executive of Roscommon County Council Shane Tiernan, elected representatives and LEO Roscommon staff.

The County has a successful track record in the student enterprise competition. In 2022/2023, Roscommon finalists MC Compactors were crowned overall winners at the National Finals in Croke Park, and were also successful in the Social Media and Intellectual Property categories of the senior competition.

Speaking at the county final, Louise Ward, Head of Enterprise of Local Enterprise Office Roscommon congratulated the students, saying “We have a very successful student enterprise programme here in Roscommon, with over 500 students from nine local schools taking part this year. Our national finalists are excellent ambassadors for the programme and we wish them the very best of luck on the 9^th 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 9^th 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.

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