National Awards For Mayo Students At Enterprise Finals
Date: 10-05-2023
Students from county Mayo have been awarded prizes at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals. The Finals of the Local Enterprise Office initiative took place on Friday last, in Croke Park.
Supported by Local Enterprise Office Mayo, the students won Best Stand and Best IP Awareness in both the Senior and Junior categories respectively.
The winning students from Scoil Muire agus Brid, Swinford, in the Best Stand were, Shauna Walsh, Riona Foote, Maeve Murtagh, Ewan Murphy and Eve Groarke, who worked under the guidance of their teacher, Edel Casserly. Their student enterprise was called ‘Tyred Dogs’ which saw the team create dog beds from upcycled tyres.
The winning students from St Louis Secondary School, Kiltimagh in the Best IP Awareness award were, Odhran Freeman, Kiefer Walsh and Owen Monaghan, who worked under the guidance of their teacher Gavan Gallagher. Their student enterprise was called ‘Odhrans Hen Houses’ where the team created handmade and bespoke hen and bird houses.
There were 82 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 25,000 students from almost 500 secondary schools across the country take part.
John Magee, Head of Enterprise, LEO Mayo 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 products that were built on our unique ability to tell compelling stories. We see every year that the National Finals are not an end point for our student entrepreneurs, but a steppingstone on the next stage of their entrepreneurial journey. From our class of 22/23 we will see some business leaders and global entrepreneurs of the future emerge.”
The National Final students, who competed across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, were all in 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 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 350,000 students have taken part, learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business.