Brenda Hegarty, Head of Enterprise, Grace Korbel, Assist Head of Enterprise, Donal 'Mandy' Kelly, Mayor of Letterkenny, and Evan Gorrell. Errigal College Business teacher, with Local Lino Art, Matthias Uhlich, from Errigal College, the winner of the Senior Category of the competition, at the Student Enterprise Programme and the Donegal County final event in the Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
Local Enterprise Office Donegal has announced that students from Errigal College, Letterkenny and Carndonagh Community College will represent Donegal at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals on Friday 5th May. The finals make a return to Croke Park for the first time since 2019.
Students from schools across Donegal took part in the County Final which was held during Local Enterprise Week at the Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny. A total of 897 students from 15 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 25,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2021 / 2022. The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Finals.
Mayor of Letterkenny Donal 'Mandy' Kelly and Brenda Hegarty, Head of Enterprise, present Local Lino Art, Matthias Uhlich, from Errigal College, the winner of the Senior Category of the competition, at the Student Enterprise Programme and the Donegal County final event in the Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
The winner of the Senior Category of the competition was Matthias Uhlich of Errigal College, Letterkenny with his business, Local Lino Art. Matthias will now go on to represent Donegal in the National Finals in Croke Park on Friday 5th May.
In the Junior Category, the winning students were Jessica McLaughlin, Aoife McDermott and Emily O’Boyle from Carndonagh Community School with their business Aoife’s Rings and Things.
Carndonagh Community School students (from left) Aoife McDermott, Emily O'Boyle and Jessica McLaughlin at their Aoife's Rings and Things stand at the Student Enterprise Programme and the Donegal County final event in the Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
The winners of the Intermediate Category were St. Columba’s College students Indira Tinney and Ryan McDermott with their business Resin & Co.
In the “My Entrepreneurial Journey” category – which is open to junior and intermediate students – the winner was Aiden Carragher of Rosses Community School with his business Green Airways.
Mayor of Letterkenny Donal 'Mandy' Kelly and Brenda Hegarty, Head of Enterprise, present winners of the Intermediate Category, are Resin & Co from St. Columbas College students Indira Tinney and Ryan McDermott at the Student Enterprise Programme and the Donegal County final event in the Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. They will be representing the county at the Finals.
Special guests at the Donegal County Final included Cathaoirleach of Letterkenny/Milford MD, Cllr. Donal Mandy Kelly and judges Nicola McLaughlin of Sequin Cinderella, Shannon Porter of The Milk Bar and Martin O’Reilly of O’Reilly Sports.
Donegal has had a successful track record in the Student Enterprise Competition. Recent awards won by local secondary schools have included Cathal Cannon, St. Columba’s College Stranorlar, who was one of the five finalists at last year’s final of the Student Enterprise Programme in the Helix. Cathal pitched his enterprise ‘Sports Injury Response’, an app that guides coaches and managers on how to treat an injury on the side-line while waiting on professional medical assistance.
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Donal 'Mandy' Kelly, Mayor of Letterkenny, and Evan Gorrell. Errigal College Business teacher, with students from Errigal College, at the Student Enterprise Programme and the Donegal County final event in the Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
Speaking at the county final, Brenda Hegarty, Head of Enterprise at Local Enterprise Office Donegal congratulated the students, saying: “We have a very successful student enterprise programme here in Donegal, with close to 900 students from 15 local schools taking part this year. Our national finalists are excellent ambassadors for the programme and we wish them the very best of luck for the 5th May. 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 Croke Park in Dublin on the 5th May.
Rosses Community School students (from left) Jamie Gillespie, Aiden Carragher and Niamh O'Donnell with their My Entrepreneurial Journey at the Student Enterprise Programme and the Donegal County final event in the Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
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.
Further information around the Student Enterprise Programme is available from www.studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise on social media.
Mayor of Letterkenny Donal 'Mandy' Kelly and Brenda Hegarty, Head of Enterprise, present winners of the Junior Category, and the students representing Donegal at the National Finals is Aoife's Rings and Things Carndonagh Community School students (from left) Aoife McDermott, Emily O'Boyle and Jessica McLaughlin at the Student Enterprise Programme and the Donegal County final event in the Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
