Students from Tipperary have taken four national prizes winning 1st place in the following categories:National Intellectual Property Award, Best Innovation National Award Intermediate and Senior and National LCVP Challenge Award at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals. The Finals of the Local Enterprise Office initiative took place on Thursday 9th May in Mullingar.
Supported by Local Enterprise Office Tipperary, students from Presentation Secondary School, Ballingarry won 1st Place in the inaugural LCVP Challenge category. The winning students were: Laura Butler and Jellyan Cantwell, who worked under the guidance of their teacher, Ms. Sheila O’Donnell.
Harry Butler, Padraic O’Halloran, H&P Engineering from Coláiste Mhuire Co-Ed Thurles took the Best Innovation National Award in the Intermediate Category who were supported by the teaching team of Ms. Miriam Bergin, Ms. Elaine Molumby and Ms. Aine O’Brien. Their product is a multi purpose slurry tool designed to work as an aid to help farmers manual handling tasks and as a cost saving device where a two-person job becomes one.
Seán Brett, from CBS Thurles excelled and took home two prizes National Intellectual Property Award presented by IPA and National Senior Innovation Award. His student enterprise is called: ‘Tankit™, which is a portable steel cover for slurry pit manholes. It consists of a steel frame, box iron insert and steel swivel pipe and also features a steel handle allowing it to be lifted into and out of position by a tractor/loader. Eliminating any manual lifting, Tankit is an innovative and unique design which is robust, long lasting and sustainable. Tankit™ is designed primarily to address multiple farm safety hazards. His teacher Fergus O’Brien is no stranger to success at national level having had winners last year and overall winner in 2020 with Handy Hose.
Peter Burke, Minister for Enterprise, Tr
ade and Employment, who took part in the ceremony, congratulated the students today; “Congratulations to everyone who made it to today’s National Finals. With over 28,000 students taking part in this year’s programme, it is a huge achievement to make it to the Finals and shows a real flair for entrepreneurship. Some amazing businesses and entrepreneurs have come from this programme – the majority did not win any prizes but are still running successful businesses today. So, to those of you who won something today, a huge congratulations, but most importantly, to you all, this is the first step on the path, you are the entrepreneurs and business leaders of the future and everyone here today is excited to see what you do next.”
Anthony Fitzgerald, Head of Enterprise, said; “A big thank you to our colleague Tina Mulhearne who co-ordinated and managed the Student Enterprise Programme 2023 – 2024, no other LEO received the same number of awards with some going home with no wins. This year saw over 28,000 students Nationally taking part in the programme with over 2,200 taking part from Tipperary and 27 out of the 29 secondary schools in the County involved. 81 Enterprises went forward to the National Final and Tipperary were on top for many of the awards. Our Senior finalist Sean Brett just got pipped by Meath for the overall prize with an Automated Lift Arm. From our class of 23/24 we hope to see some of our next great wave of not only Tipperary but Irish business leaders and global entrepreneurs emerge.”
The National Final students, who competed across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, were all attendance on the day exhibiting their businesses which were judged by a team of national businesses experts and mentors. Each student enterprise was challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, which must show sales of their service or product. The judging panel included business owners and representatives from enterprise agencies and associated bodies.
The Student Enterprise Programme is open to students of all ages at secondary 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).
The three main category winners on the day were: ‘Finnegan Fabrication High Lift’ from St. Patrick’s Classical School, Navan, representing Local Enterprise Office Meath (Senior Category Winner), ‘’Esker Timber Creations” from Presentation College Athenry representing Local Enterprise Office Galway (Intermediate Category Winner), and ‘Carry Camán’ from Presentation Secondary School Castleisland representing Local Enterprise Office Kerry (Junior Category Winner).
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.
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. Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, over 400,000 students have taken part, learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business.
The Student Enterprise Programme is one of a number of initiatives that the Local Enterprise Offices run, to foster entrepreneurship across the country. Others include Local Enterprise Week, the National Enterprise Awards, National Women’s Enterprise Day and Local Enterprise Showcase. The Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities are funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland.
Previous Student Enterprise Programme WIinners
2023
Junior - Grasper – Drumshanbo Vocational School, Leitrim
Intermediate - Clip Clop Designs – Moyne Community School, Longford
Senior - McCompactors – Roscommon Community College, Roscommon
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 College, 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 Camán – 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 Mhantáin, Rathnew, Wicklow
Senior – ROC Protection – Clonkeen College, Blackrock, Dublin
