Catriona Duffy, business advisor, LEO Westmeath, Cllr Liam McDaniel (cathaoirleach); Lillie Nolan, Emily Hannick, Mia Muldarry and Aisling Kilmurray of the Intermediate category winning team Glow and Grow Comics from St Finian’s College, and Barry Kehoe (chief executive, WCC).

Students from three local schools for national finals

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Teen entrepreneurs from St Finian’s College were selected by the Local Enterprise Office in Westmeath to represent the county at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Final on Thursday May 8. The national final is taking place in Mullingar, at the Park Hotel.

‘Glow and Grow Comics’ is the title of the enterprise operated by Aisling Kilmurray, Mia Muldarry, Emily Hannick and Lillie Nolan, and it was winner of the Intermediate category at the Westmeath final, held last week at TUS.

The other two teams selected to represent Westmeath were ‘Resinate’, operated by Rachel Pillion, Emma Kelly and Florence Casey of Moate Community School, and ‘Hoody Buddy’, run by Emma Fallon and Saoirse O’Driscoll of Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone.

The awards are funded by Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 LEOs, and more than 30,000 students from almost 500 secondary schools took part in 2024/25.

The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the national final.

More than 800 students from 11 secondary schools took part in the Westmeath competition. While not selected for the national final, a number of other teams enjoyed success at the event.

AthletiCase from Loreto College, Mullingar – Ellen Carthy, Shannon Breslin, Gráinne Cleary, Katie Kilmurray and Katie Tully – were runners-up in the senior category. They also won the Student Choice Award.

The Most Enterprising School award went to James Ryan, Jake Dempsey, Niall Brady and Josh Murtagh, Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar, for ‘Ryan Hurl and Repairs, Logo Customz’.

M&N Solutions, run by Matthew Molloy and Sean Newman of St Finian’s College, won the Innovation award.

Three awards went to Mercy Secondary School Kilbeggan: Finn Gannon, of Wooden It Be Nice, won the Best Display award; the One to Watch award went to Lily Farrell of Lily’s Christmas Trees; and named as runner-up in the intermediate category was Bella Fornaciai, who runs Bella Rosa.

The runner-up in the Junior category was L+R Creations, operated by Rebecca Concannon and Lillie Anders O’Brien of Moate Community School.

The sustainability award went to the Marist College entry Custom Coasters Inc, run by Jimmy Walshe, Diarmuid O’Higgins and Andrew Colton.

Guests at the Westmeath final included Cllr Liam McDaniel, cathaoirleach, and Barry Kehoe, chief executive, Westmeath County Council.

At the county final, Tracey Tallon, head of enterprise at LEO Westmeath, congratulated the students, and said the skills they had developed, the lessons they had learned and the experiences they had gained were invaluable: "Remember, this is just the beginning. Keep nurturing your ideas, take risks, and never stop learning, the world needs your creativity and resilience," she said.

See studententerprise.ie and search #studententerprise on social media for more.

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