Home News Business In Pictures: Laois students set for Croke Park appearance in entrepreneurship finals

In Pictures: Laois students set for Croke Park appearance in entrepreneurship finals

15th March 2023

Student Enterprise awards 2023 01 — Senior winners with their business Hurlr. Aidan Lynam, Daniel Aylward, Evan Farrell and Donil Mathew, (missing from picture Brian Carroll) from Heywood Community School pictured with Honor Deevy, LEO Laois; John Mulholland chief executive Laois County Council; Linda Meredith, LEO Laois; Leas-cathaoirleach of Laois County Council PJ Kelly MCC and Jenny Collier, Laois Partnership (judge). Front: Caroline Hofman, CEO Laois Chamber Alliancde (judge); Mark Clancy, LEO and Seamus Doran, LEO Carlow (judge) at the County Final of the Student Enterprise awards. Picture: Alf Harvey.

Local Enterprise Office Laois have announced that teenage entrepreneurs from Heywood Community School and Portlaoise College will represent Laois at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals on Friday, May 5.

The Finals make a return to Croke Park for the first time since 2019.

540 students from seven Laois schools took part in the annual programme locally and 84 students made it to the Laois County Final on March 14 in the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise.

This 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 25,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2021/2022.

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

In the Junior Category, Sarah-Kate Dunne from Portlaoise College will represent Laois at the National Finals with her business Golden Flame Wax Works.

In the Intermediate Category, Dan Bergin, Hannah Clancy, Róisín Bradley and Erin Costigan from Heywood Community School will represent the county at the National Finals with their business Bud to Bloom.

In the Senior Category of the competition, Laois will be represented on May 5 by Daniel Aylward, Aidan Lynam, Brian Caroll, Evan Farrell and Donil Mathew from Heywood Community School with their business Hurlr.

In the “My Entrepreneurial Journey” competition, two students from Portlaoise College, who won awards at the County Final, will have their projects put forward for judging at national level. They are Sean Cheah at Junior Level and Aoibheann O’Sullivan at Intermediate Level.

Special guests at the Laois County Final included PJ Kelly, Leas Cathaoirleach, Laois County Council, John Mulholland, Chief Executive of Laois County Council, as well as speaker and entrepreneur, Una Sinnott who told the story of how she set up a healthy snack food business called “Nutorious Nutrition”.

The county has a successful track record in the student enterprise competition. Last year, Oisin Grundy of Portlaoise College was the outright winner of the Creative Business Idea Video Competition at Junior Cycle Level and Mosa Hafeez, also from Portlaoise College took 2nd place at Intermediate Level in the My Entrepreneurial Journey Competition.

Speaking at the county final, Honor Deevy of Local Enterprise Office Laois congratulated the students, saying: “We have a very successful student enterprise programme here in Laois, with over 540 students from seven 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 May 5.

“In what has been a particularly challenging couple of years 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.”

Local students will be competing against hundreds of other student entrepreneurs from all over Ireland at the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals, taking place at Croke Park in Dublin on May 5.

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. Further information around the Student Enterprise Programme is available from www.studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise on social media.