A portable crane lift designed for use in commercial vans has taken the top prize at today’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals. Finnegan Fabrication’s “High Lift” was the winner of the Student Enterprise of the Year winning the senior category at the awards that took place in Mullingar.
The business, set up by Séan Finnegan, a student of St. Patrick’s Classical School in Navan, creates portable cranes that can be fitted to the interior of commercial vans to help those in construction and similar industries to lift heavy materials in and out.
It’s the second time in three years that a business from St. Patrick’s in Navan has won the top prize. Barrelda, a company who create farm products from discarded poly drums took the Student Enterprise of the Year award in 2022.
That wasn’t the only prize awarded with wins for Kerry and Galway in the other main categories. The Intermediate Award went to Esker Timber Creations from Presentation College Athenry in Galway. The business, set up by student Cormac Monaghan, manufactures unique wooden products from repurposed pallet wood.
In the Junior category the award went to Carry Caman. The business, set up by Marguerite Herlihy, Seána Walsh, Clodagh Buckley and Lucy Matassa from Presentation Secondary School Castleisland in Kerry, is a high-visability hurley and sliotar holder. It enables users to easily carry their hurling equipment and is also highly visible for those who may walk or cycle to training and matches.
Senior Category Winner
Finnegan Fabrication’s “High Lift” was the winner of the Student Enterprise of the Year winning the senior category at the awards that took place in Mullingar.
Junior Category Winner
Junior Winner - Carry Caman. The business, set up by Marguerite Herlihy, Seána Walsh, Clodagh Buckley and Lucy Matassa from Presentation Secondary School Castleisland in Kerry, is a high-visability hurley and sliotar holder. It enables users to easily carry their hurling equipment and is also highly visible for those who may walk or cycle to training and matches
Intermediate Category Winner
Esker Timber Creations from Presentation College Athenry in Galway. The business, set up by student Cormac Monaghan, manufactures unique wooden products from repurposed pallet wood.
The 22nd Student Enterprise Programme National Finals saw 81 businesses from across the country shortlisted in three main categories. The Local Enterprise Office initiative, supported by Enterprise Ireland and local authorities, commenced last September in secondary schools nationwide with close to 28,000 students taking part.
The event was hosted by broadcasters Rick O’Shea and Louise Cantillon and they were joined during the ceremony by Peter Burke, T.D. Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment as he announced the winners across the three main categories on the day.
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, has seen over 400,000 take part in the programme since it began 22 years ago.
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.”
Michael Nevin, chair of the Local Enterprise Office’s Enterprise Education Committee, 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 Junior, Intermediate and Senior categories were 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 (1st year), Intermediate (2nd and 3rd year) and Senior (4th, 5th and 6th year, LVA, LCA and Youth Outreach).
This year also marks the re-launch of the student workbooks ‘as Gaeilge’, further encouraging participation amongst Gaelscoil students while supporting the promotion of the Irish language.
Last year’s winner of the Student Enterprise Programme were Josh McCormack and Evan McNeil from Roscommon Community College, the founders and designers of “MC Compactors”, a stainless-steel device which enables users to easily compact rubbish in standard wheelie bins. The device works with all standard household wheelie bins, allows users to compress their waste, facilitating greater capacity within the household bin.
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.
The Student Enterprise Programme is one of a number of initiatives that the Local Enterprise Offices run, to foster entrepreneurship across the country. Others include Local Enterprise Week, the National Enterprise Awards, National Women’s Enterprise Day and Local Enterprise Showcase. The Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities are funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland.
