Mullingar to host national final of student enterprise competition
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The St Finian’s team, Hatch it out. From left, council cathaoirleach, Liam McDaniel, John Glennon, Brian Gil’Dillon and Jamie Gaffney; teacher, Shauna Keenan; Westmeath County Council acting chief executive Barry Kehoe and Catriona Duffy, business advisor, LEO. William QuainImage 2 of 3
‘Silk and Ivory’ Handmade Soap, the entry of Odhran Claffey from Kilbeggan, who is here with, from left, council cathaoirleach, Liam McDaniel, acting chief executive of Westmeath County Council Barry Kehoe, and Catriona Duffy, business advisor, LEO. William QuainImage 3 of 3
From left, the council cathaoirleach, Liam McDaniel, with the Moate Community College Eco Estate team Will O’Brien, Conor Cunniffe, Aodhan Curren, Jack McGuinness and their teacher Clodagh Kelly with Westmeath County Council acting chief executive Barry Kehoe and Catriona Duffy, business advisor, LEO. William QuainFor the first time, the national final for Ireland’s largest student entrepreneurial programme will be held in the midlands, taking place in the Mullingar Park Hotel on May 9.
Eighty-one businesses have qualified for the finals of the programme, which is run by the Local Enterprise Offices. The adjudicators will be selecting winners in the senior, intermediate, and junior categories, and the overall Student Enterprise of the Year for 2024.
For the programme, each student enterprise is challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, and must show viable sales of their service or product.
The finalists cover all sectors of business from seaweed harvesting and medical identification to farm safety and portable cranes.
There are also a number of prizes that recognise achievements across specific categories – including the ‘Best Business Website’, ‘Sustainability Award’, the ‘Smart Business Idea’, the ‘My Entrepreneurial Journey’, ‘Finance Award’, ‘Technology Award’ and ‘Intellectual Property’.
Michael Nevin, chair of the Local Enterprise Offices Enterprise Education Committee, said; “Year on year, we see an amazing spread of businesses from across the country in our national finals, as the interest in entrepreneurship and the skills that come with it is increasing.
Last year we had one of our biggest participation figures for the programme at over 28,000.
“These students are hugely engaged with the challenges of creating and running a business and not only that, they want to create businesses that will make a difference in the world. And whatever the finals and the future hold for these students these skills will stand by them.”
Future success
Many of the students go on to make their mark on the business world, in Ireland and overseas across many sectors. One such former Westmeath student is Miriam Wade, who attended Loreto College Mullingar.
Miriam was awarded third prize in the senior category of the national final in 2004 with her student business ‘Silver Fusion’, a silver jewellery production business.
Twenty years on, Miriam has continued this idea into an award-winning successful reality, designing bespoke creations across Ireland.
Three local teams have qualified for the finals: St Finian’s College, Mullingar has a team in the senior category; Mercy Secondary School, Kilbeggan has a team in the intermediate category, while in the Junior category, there is a team from Moate Community School.
The St Finian’s team are John Glennon, Brian Gil’Dillon and Jamie Gaffney and their project is ‘Hatch it Out’, a hatch your own chickens pack with an educational aspect.
The Kilbeggan representative is Odhran Claffey, creator of the handmade soap enterprise Silk and Ivory.
‘Eco Estate’, a range of honey products, is the business created by Moate students Will O’Brien, Conor Cunniffe, Aodhan Curren and Jack McGuinness.
• Further information around the Student Enterprise Programme is available from studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise on social media.