Westmeath students flying the flag in national final of Student Enterprise Programme
The stage is set for an exciting showdown at the national final of the Student Enterprise Programme in Croke Park this Friday, where Westmeath will have two entries representing the county.
The senior finalist is Paper4Nature, from Mercy Secondary School Kilbeggan, who recycle wastepaper by turning it into beautiful new products like cards and bookmarks. The junior finalist is You Rock from Moate Community School, who make handmade frames using rocks for gifts and home décor.
These two outstanding businesses have proved their mettle by winning their respective categories at the Westmeath County final last month. Now they are gearing up to compete at national level.
The Student Enterprise Programme has been a fantastic platform for young entrepreneurs to showcase their innovative ideas, and the Westmeath representatives are excited to showcase their businesses at the Final.
An initiative of the Local Enterprise Offices to encourage entrepreneurship in secondary schools, the Student Enterprise Programme has seen over 350,000 secondary school students take part in the programme since it first began.
Participating students compete across three categories, Junior (1st year), Intermediate (2nd and 3rd year) and Senior (4th, 5th and 6th year, LVA, LCA and Youth Outreach).
Each student enterprise is challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, which must show viable sales of their service or product. Following the conclusion of county and regional finals, Student Enterprises from across the country will now take part in the Final at Croke Park next month.
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. The Student Enterprise Programme also has new range of online resources for 2021 / 2022 at www.StudentEnterprise.ie, which will feature regular blogs and houses a full range of Student Enterprise resources for students and teachers.