Mayo Students Set For National Entrenpreneurship Final
Date: 24-03-2021
Local Enterprise Office Mayo have announced that winning teenager entrepreneurs from Ballinrobe Community School, Gortnor Abbey, Crossmolina and Mount St. Michael Secondary School in Claremorris will represent Mayo at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Final on Friday 14th May. As with last year’s event the Final will take place virtually with approximately 80 finalist teams logging in all over the country.
The students all took part in the virtual County Final on 11th March, which was held at online. An estimated 962 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 29,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2019 / 2020. The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Final.
In the Junior Category, the students representing Mayo at the National Final are: Emily Foy, Kellyann Walsh and Aoife Heaney from Reflecto Tags at Mount St. Michael Secondary School, Claremorris.
In the Intermediate Category, Kate Earley, Cara Donnelly, Amy Golden and Tara Anderson, Stick It! from Gortnor Abbey, Crossmolina will be representing the county at the Final.
In the Senior Category of the competition, Mayo will be represented on May 14th by Diarmuid Duffy and Ryan Corcoran from Bootfresh at Ballinrobe Community School.
In the “My Entrepreneurial Journey” category open to junior and intermediate students, Emily Foy of Mount Saint Michael Secondary School, Claremorris and Michael Moloney of Gortnor Abbey will represent Mayo in the National Final.
Special guests at the County Final included former Footballer of the Year and business owner Andy Moran, Mary Corrigan of Noo Chocolates and Elaine Kennedy of Hawthorn Handmade Skincare who were also joined by student enterprise programme mentors Peter Hopkins and James Gaughan on the day.
Speaking at the county final, Elaine Moyles, A/Head of Enterprise with Local Enterprise Office Mayo congratulated the students, saying “We have a very successful student enterprise programme here in Mayo, with over 960 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 on Friday 14th, we’ll all be logged on to support them. In what has been a particularly challenging year 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 Final, taking place virtually on the 14th May.
Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, over 220,000 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 2020 / 2021 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.