Our 2024 National Finalists!!!
Well done to the Top 81 student enterprises in the country for making it all the way to the National Final in Mullingar on Thursday 9th May 2024.
Full details on our finalists below:
SEP Alumni Trailblazing in The World of Dementia Care
We love bringing you updates on the many successes and achievements of our community of SEP Alumni! This month we are proud to follow up with former 2015 3rd place National Winner, Niamh Murray from Westmeath, who is co-founder of a ground breaking new business called Forget Me Not which is changing the lives of people with dementia.
Niamh was the Westmeath entry from Moate Community School back in 2015 with her business Once Upon A Rhyme – a creative idea that brought nursery rhymes into the 21st century by featuring them on a range of products such as t-shirts and jumpers alongside eye catching artwork.
Following her win Niamh was one of 15 lucky students who attended the Student Enterprise Summer Business Bootcamp at University College Cork to develop her business idea further.
Her stint at the Bootcamp resulted in Niamh heading to UCC for her undergrad degree and subsequently she entered the IGNITE Incubation Centre where her entrepreneurial passion really flourished.
At IGNITE, Niamh and her business partner Amy Boyden developed a ground breaking new business idea called Forget Me Not that is aimed at helping improve communication skills for dementia patients. Based on Reminiscence Therapy, Forget Me Not is an app that uses music, video and voice recordings to help patients remember people, events and places from their past. More about Niamh’s entrepreneurial journey …
Find out more about Forget Me Not App Meet Niamh Murray
It’s almost County Final time already!!!
From next month all our fantastic student entrepreneurs will start showcasing all their hard work at their County Finals and battle it out for a place at the National Final on 9th May. Below is a guide to what’s happening across the country:
| LEO Region | Date | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Longford | 29th February | Longford Arms Hotel |
| 2 | Meath | 5th March | Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim |
| 3 | Monaghan | 29th February | Glencairn Hotel, Castleblayney |
| 4 | North Cork | 27th February | Springfort Hall Hotel, Mallow |
| 5 | Dun Laoghaire Rathdown | 28th February | Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire |
| 6 | Kildare | 29th February | Kilashee Hotel Naas |
| 7 | Offaly | 5th March | Tullamore Court Hotel |
| 8 | Mayo | 7th March | Great National Hotel, Ballina |
| 9 | Roscommon | 12th March | Athlone Springs Hotel |
| 10 | Galway | 13th March | Clayton Hotel |
| 11 | Limerick | 14th March | Castletroy Park Hotel |
| 12 | Fingal | 14th March | Crown Plaza Blanchardstown |
| 13 | Waterford | 5th March | Tower Hotel |
| 14 | Laois | 5th March | Midlands Park Hotel |
| 15 | Wicklow | 27th February | Wicklow County Campus |
| 16 | Tipperary | 23rd February | TUS Thurles Campus |
| 17 | Dublin City | 28th February | Mansion House, Dublni |
| 18 | Westmeath | 5th March | Golden Island Shopping Centre, Athlone |
| 19 | South Dublin | 12th March | The Maldron, Tallaght |
| 20 | South Cork | 27th February | County Hall, Cork |
| 21 | Leitrim | 5th March | The Bush Hotel |
| 22 | Sligo | 13th March | Sligo Park Hotel |
| 23 | Kilkenny | 29th February | Lyrath Estate Hotel |
| 24 | Clare | 27th Feb | West County Hotel, Ennis |
| 25 | Cork City | March 12th | UCC |
| 26 | West Cork | 27th February | Celtic Ross Hotel, Roscarberry |
| 27 | Donegal | 1st March | Radisson Hotel |
| 28 | Wexford | 7th March | Wexford County Council |
| 29 | Cavan | 6th March | Kilmore, Cavan |
| 30 | Carlow | 7th March | Woodford Dolman Hotel |
| 31 | Louth | 27th February | The Fairways Hotel, Dundalk |
| 32 | Kerry | 15th March | MTU Tralee |
CPA Ireland Finance Award
We are delighted to be collaborating this year with The Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland (CPA Ireland) to award one student enterprise at the National Final 2024 with the CPA Ireland Finance Award.
Over the coming weeks, SEP in collaboration with CPA Ireland will be rolling out a range of teaching and learning resources to help our student entrepreneurs with the financial side of running their student enterprises.
From pricing strategies and cashflow, to profit & loss accounts, and writing your financial report – we will cover all the key areas to ensure students’ financials are in tip top shape!!
As Christmas Markets are drawing closer, the resources on pricing strategies will be particularly helpful for students, as in most cases, this will be their first opportunity to make sales of their product/service.
Speaking about the launch of the new CPA Ireland Finance Award, Judith Condell of CPA Ireland said “The financial management skills student entrepreneurs learn while taking part in SEP will stand to them in many ways, both now and into the future. Whether they decide to set up their own business or work in a finance role in industry or practice, the financial & management skills they will learn this year will give them a real competitive edge going forward. We are really looking forward to working with the students and their teachers over the coming months and are very excited to see all this years amazing business ideas!.”
Early in the new year, in the lead up to the County Finals, CPA Ireland will host a live webinar to help students prepare their financials for their Business Report/Enterprise Poster.
Keep an eye on our homepage for further details of when this is taking place!
More information on CPA Ireland available at:
www.cpaireland.ie
CPA Ireland (@cpaireland) • Instagram photos and videos
CPA Ireland (@CPANews) / X (twitter.com)
CPA Ireland | Dublin | Facebook
@cpaireland
New Student Workbook ‘as Gaeilge’ Now Available Online
An all-new interactive student workbook as Gaeilge is now available online at www.studententerprise.ie under our ‘Resources’ section. The new resource for gaeilscoileanna has been kindly translated by An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta & Gaelscolaiochta (COGG).
The new Irish resource is a mirror version of our hugely popular English workbook, covering everything from idea generation and team work to production, marketing and preparing your financials.
Taifead Foghlama an Scoláire Taifead Foghlama an Scoláire
(Sinsearach) (Sóisearach)
It’s never too late to go green!
With County Finals fastly approaching, approximately 24,000 students from around the country are well into their student enterprise journey at this stage. Hopefully many of you will have either come up with a product or service with a sustainability element or have built sustainability into the day-to-day running of your business.
If not, don’t worry … remember it’s never too late to Go Green!
Here are our Top 10 Tips for ensuring your student enterprise is embracing sustainability (both in product and processes) and that you are doing your bit to drive innovation while respecting the natural resources of the future:
Top 10 tips:
- Recycle boxes, bags, wrapping paper and jars etc. for packaging your products
- Reduce your use of artificial light and use daylight when possible
- Go plastic free where possible
- Avoid printing. If you do need to print, print on the reverse side of used paper
- Recycle or re-purpose waste materials from your production process. Could another student enterprise use your waste materials in their business?
- Try to buy eco goods when purchasing raw materials
- Boycott products that endanger wildlife
- Does your business tie in with one or more of the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs)?
- Ensure you make your customers aware of the various ways that your products/services/processes are eco-friendly. This will make them feel good about their purchasing choice whilst also being confident in the knowledge that you are doing your bit for the planet? And with the added benefit of making a profit? Win/Win!
- Offer reduced price refills to customers so that they re-use their original container
Judges will be looking at how your business is sustainable and will award marks for this in the sustainability/global world category and also in the innovation category. Plus … this year we are awarding a new ‘Green Go Getter’ Award kindly sponsored by the EPA
Whoever coined the phrase “every little helps” was spot on. Together, we can all make a difference. Individually, your student enterprise can make a world of difference. Don’t underestimate your power to help make a change.
Check out some of our former SEP winners who championed sustainability with their student enterprises:
Barrelda (2022 Senior Winners) Go Green Now (2021 Junior Winners)
