NATIONAL AWARD FOR KILKENNY STUDENTS AT ENTERPRISE FINALS

IRELAND’S FINEST YOUNG STUDENT ENTREPRENEURS CELEBRATED AT NATIONAL FINALS

Students from Kilkenny have taken Intermediate Level Competition Winner in the My Entrepreneurial Journey Category and Intermediate Level – Best Sales & Marketing Award Winner prize in Main Student Enterprise Programme Competition at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals. The Finals of the Local Enterprise Office initiative took place last Thursday in Mullingar.

Supported by Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny, the students from Coláiste Abhainn Rí won Intermediate Level Competition Winner in the My Entrepreneurial Journey category. The winning student was Jamie Power who worked under the guidance of their teacher, Emer Hickey. Their student enterprise was called Pollin8, which is an imaginary business producing seed bombs used to support pollination and attract bees.

Students from Coláiste Abhainn Rí also won Intermediate Level – Best Sales & Marketing Award Winner in the Main Student Enterprise Programme Competition. The winning students were Muireann Bibby & Tom Carey who worked under the guidance of their teacher, Lorna Cody. Their student enterprise was called Gloine Mara, which manufactured beautiful handcrafted canvas art gifts from the sea.

There were 81 student businesses in contention across three main categories for the Final in what is Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme for second level students.  The 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 28,000 students from almost 500 secondary schools across the country take part.

Peter Burke, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, who took part in the ceremony, congratulated the students today; “Congratulations to everyone who made it to today’s National Finals. With over 28,000 students taking part in this year’s programme, it is a huge achievement to make it to the Finals and shows a real flair for entrepreneurship. Some amazing businesses and entrepreneurs have come from this programme – the majority did not win any prizes but are still running successful businesses today. So, to those of you who won something today, a huge congratulations, but most importantly, to you all, this is the first step on the path, you are the entrepreneurs and business leaders of the future and everyone here today is excited to see what you do next.”    

Aileen McGrath, Head of Enterprise (Acting), LEO Kilkenny said; “Year on year the Student Enterprise Programme continues to showcase the very best of Irish ingenuity and entrepreneurship amongst our secondary school students. This year produced a varied selection of businesses, from agricultural products and homemade gifts to pet apps and seaweed harvesting and some amazing winners across the board We see every year that the National Finals are not an end point for our student entrepreneurs, but a stepping stone on the next stage of their entrepreneurial journey. From our class of 23/24 we hope to see some of our next great wave of Irish business leaders and global entrepreneurs emerge.”

The National Final students, who competed across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, were all attendance on the day exhibiting their businesses which were judged by a team of national businesses experts and mentors.  Each student enterprise was challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, which must show sales of their service or product.  The judging panel included business owners and representatives from enterprise agencies and associated bodies. 

The Student Enterprise Programme is open to students of all ages at secondary level, with three separate categories - Junior (1^st year), Intermediate (2^nd and 3^rd year) and Senior (4^th, 5^th and 6^th year, LVA, LCA and Youth Outreach).

The Student Enterprise Programme is funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country.  Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, over 400,000 students have taken part, learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business.

For further information:

LEO Kilkenny - info@leo.kilkennycoco.ie / (056) 7752662