St Patrick’s Classical School, Navan, Coláiste Ríoga, Dunshaughlin and O’Carolan College, Nobber will represent Meath at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Final in the Mullingar Park Hotel on 9 May 2024.

An estimated fourteen hundered students from all over Meath and twenty-eight thousand nationwide took part in this year's programme.  The enterprise education initiative, funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the thirty-one 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.  The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Final.

The County Final took place on 5 March in the Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim.  The winners from each category and who will represent Meath at the National Final are:

• Senior Category - Seán Finnegan from (High Lift - Finnegan Fabrication), St. Patrick’s Classical School, Navan.
• Intermediate Category - Annable Kavanagh and Bláithín Doonan (MEND), Coláiste Ríoga Dunshaughlin.
• Junior Category - Cian Healy and Seán Hughes (CS Hurls), St Patrick’s Classical School Navan.
• My Entrepreneurial Journey Category (open to junior and intermediate students) - Maria McGowan, O’ Carolan College Nobber.   

Special guests at the Meath Final included Cathaoirleach Cllr Tommy Reilly and Meath County Council Chief Executive, Kieran Kehoe. 

Speaking at the County Final, Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council, Cllr. Tommy Reilly said: “It’s very exciting for us to see the fantastic, innovative ideas coming from the minds of the younger population of the county.  It reassures us that the future of enterprise in County Meath is as bright as our students are! To our first-place winners in each category who will be representing Meath at the national final, you have the whole county behind you.”

Joe English of Local Enterprise Office Meath congratulated the students saying: “We have a very successful Student Enterprise Programme here in Meath, with over 1,400 students from sixteen 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 9 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 teamwork, 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 9 May 2024.

Senior Category Winner Seán Finnegan (High Lift - Finnegan Fabrication), St Patrick's Classical School, Navan with Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council, Cllr Tommy Reilly and Meath County Council Chief Executive, Kieran Kehoe

Intermediate Category Winners Annable Kavanagh and Bláithín Doonan (MEND), Coláiste Ríoga, Dunshaughlin with Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council, Cllr Tommy Reilly and Meath County Council Chief Executive, Kieran Kehoe

Junior Category Winners Cian Healy and Seán Hughes (CS Hurls), St Patrick's Classical School, Navan with Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council, Cllr Tommy Reilly and Meath County Council Chief Executive, Kieran Kehoe