IN PICTURES: Carlow students all set for Croke Park entrepreneurship final

Local Enterprise Office Carlow has announced that teenage entrepreneurs from Tullow Community School and Presentation De la Salle, Bagenalstown who will represent County Carlow at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals on Friday 5th May. 

The Finals make a return to Croke Park for the first time since 2019.The students all took part in the County Carlow Final on Tuesday the 7th March, which was held at the Woodford Dolmen Hotel Carlow. An estimated 728 students from 10 schools took part in the annual programme locally.

In the Senior Category of the competition, Carlow will be represented on May 5th by Jamie Noctor, Paul Barrett, Oisin Nolan and Andi Dascalescu of “Monarch Gymwear” from Tullow Community Scheel.

In the “My Entrepreneurial Journey” category open to junior and intermediate students, A.J Dooley of “ENT-GAME” from Presentation De la Salle, Bagenalstown will represent Carlow in the National Finals.    

SEE MORE DETAILS BELOW

Special guests at the County Carlow Final included Deputy Jennifer Murnane-O’Connor TD , Deputy John Mc Guinness TD, Leas Cathaoirleach Michael Doran, Councillor Andrea Dalton, Councillor John Pender and CEO of Carlow County Chamber Brian O’Farrell.  

Guest speaker for the event was Nathalie Lennon (Health & Fitness Expert) with Eimear Ní Bhraonáin of KCLR at the helm as MC.

The County has a successful track record in the student enterprise competition. Recent awards won by local secondary schools have included Cian Campion of “Campion Cutz” from St. Mary’s Knockbeg College who won a national award for “Best Endeavour” in last year’s event.

Speaking about the programme, Jim Woods of Local Enterprise Office Carlow congratulated the students, saying: “We have a very successful student enterprise programme here in Carlow, with over 700 students from10 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 Friday 5th, and we will all hope to be there to support them.  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”.

Awards were presented by Leas Cathaoirleach Cllr. Michael Doran who said “I am delighted to present the awards today and on behalf of the elected members of Carlow County Council thank all our teachers for supporting the Student Enterprise Programme and wish the teams from Bagenalstown & Tullow all the best in the National Finals in May”. The 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 the 5th May. 

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.  The Student Enterprise Programme also has new range of online resources for 2022 / 2023 at www.StudentEnterprise.ie, which will feature regular blogs and houses a full range of Student Enterprise resources for students and teachers.   

Full List of Winners:

MY ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY AWARD – INTERMEDIATE LEVEL WINNER

Business Name : ENT-GAME

Student: AJ Dooley

Presentation De La Salle, Bagenalstown

SCHOOL AWARDS

Presentation College - Cover Up

Lexie Doogue, Mia Byrne, Kayla Finn, Jan Castells

Coláiste Eoin - Mix It Up

Amanda Hermoso Murphy, Zara Garland

Tyndall College - Handmade Jewellery

Nina Hesselmann, Sophia Hislop, Amelia Szlawoska, Alicia Serrano Grau

St Leo’s College – St Leo’s Hats

Niamh Raftery, Laura Canning, Lauren Gilmore, Niamh Gilmore

Presentation De La Salle – Beadalicious

Manta Sladkeviciute

St. Mary’s Knockbeg – Lasevine

Sean Rainey, Cathal Ronan, Fionn O’Raw

Judges Choice Award – An award added because the quality of the entries was so high - €150 Love Carlow Voucher - MnM Signs & Design from Borris Vocational School

Ruairí Murphy, Cian Meaney

SECOND PLACE

Murphy’s Woodwork

Borris Vocational School

Mosie Murphy

WINNER  

Monarch Gymwear 

Tullow Community School

Jamie Noctor, Paul Barrett,  Oisin Nolan, Andi Dascalescu