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
TV & RADIO STAR LOUISE CANTILLON LAUNCHES IRELAND’S LARGEST STUDENT ENTERPRISE PROGRAMME FOR 2023/2024
Louise Cantillon, former teacher turned TV and Radio Star, has today launched the 2024 Student Enterprise Programme, Ireland’s largest enterprise competition for second level students.
An initiative of the Local Enterprise Office, the Student Enterprise Programme was created to promote entrepreneurship in second level schools, equipping students with the skills to set up and successfully run their own business. Now in its 22nd year, the programme has proved to be a huge success, with over 350,000 secondary school students taking part since it first began. This year alone, a further 25,000 students are expected to participate.
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. Following county finals later this year, student enterprises from across the country will take part in the national final in Mullingar on Thursday 9th May 2024.
The Student Enterprise Programme is open to students of all ages at senior level, with three separate categories – Junior (1st year), Intermediate (2nd and 3rd year) and Senior (4th, 5th and 6th year, LVA, LCA and Youth Outreach). 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” competitions from previous years.
This year also marks the re-launch of the student workbooks ‘as Gaeilge’, further encouraging participation amongst Gaelscoil students while supporting the promotion of the Irish language.
Last year’s winner of the Student Enterprise Programme were Josh McCormack and Evan McNeil from Roscommon Community College, the founders and designers of “MC Compactors”, a stainless-steel device which enables users to easily compact rubbish in standard wheelie bins. The device works with all standard household wheelie bins, allows users to compress their waste, facilitating greater capacity within the household bin.
Michael Nevin, chair of the Education Enterprise Committee of the Local Enterprise Offices, said; “I am delighted to launch the 2023/2024 Student Enterprise Programme which marks the 22nd year of the hugely successful programme. Each year we are blown away by the creativity and the ingenuity of second level students across the country, and I have no doubt that this year will be no different. The programme is expanding each year, and this year I’m particularly delighted to announce our updated Irish language workbook, which I hope will encourage even more Gaelscoileanna to get involved.”
This year, Gaelgeoir and broadcaster Louise Cantillon will be the programme ambassador. Announcing her role, Louise said:
“I am honoured to have been asked to represent the Student Enterprise Programme as an Ambassador this year, particularly with the new Irish element to the programme! I know first hand how transformative this programme can be for students taking part. I was involved in teaching mini-company when I worked as a teacher earlier in my career and the life skills that students learn on top of the business skills is a real game changer. They come out the other end of this programme with a skillset that will stand to them for life!”
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. Last year’s competition saw over 25,000 students from approximately 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2022/2023.
Ends
For further information:
Declan Lee – Enterprise Ireland – 087 695 7451 / Declan.Lee@enterprise-ireland.com
Deirdre Sheahan – Drury – 085 744 2242 / Deirdre/Sheahan@drury.ie
Rachel Kilbane – Drury – 083 339 8587 / Rachel.Kilbane@drury.ie
PREVIOUS STUDENT ENTERPRISE PROGRAMME WINNERS
2023
- Junior – Grasper, Drumshanbo Vocational School
- Intermediate – Clip Clop Designs, Moyne Community School
- Senior – MC Compactors, Roscommon Community College
2022
- Junior – Sew Stylish – Brigid’s College, Callan
- Intermediate – Earrings by Aoibheann- Loreto College, Dalkey
- Senior – Barrelda – St. Patrick’s Classical School, Navan
2021
- Junior – Go Green Now – Salerno Secondary School, Galway
- Intermediate – T-Snappi – Summerhill College, Sligo
- Senior – Coppercase – St. Macartan’s College, Monaghan
2020
- Junior – Sofatop – Ballybay Community School, Monaghan
- Intermediate – Aim It Board – Loreto College, Dublin City
- Senior – Handy Hose – CBS Thurles, Tipperary
2019
- Junior – Specrest – Educate Together, Portmarnock
- Intermediate – Crios Mhadra – Presentation Secondary, Castleisland, Kerry
- Senior – Smooth Remove – Boherbue Comprehensive, North Cork
2018
- Junior – Complete Caman – Presentation Secondary School, CastleIsland, Kerry
- Intermediate – Lift Arm Assist – CBS Kilkenny
- Senior – Abbey Bread – Cistercian College, Roscrea, Offaly
2017
- Junior – Daisy’s Pawesome Bowties – Our Lady’s Secondary School, Drogheda
- Intermediate – Scott Engine Tables – Colaiste Chill Mhantain, Rathnew, Wicklow
- Senior – ROC Protection – Clonkeen College, Blackrock, Dublin
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)
