OFFALY’S STUDENT ENTREPRENEURS PREPARE FOR VIRTUAL FINAL
Record number of Student Enterprise Finalists Announced for 2020
For the first time since the Student Enterprise programme began in 2003, the National Finals will take place online and the region will have five student enterprises involved on behalf of Local Enterprise Office Offaly.
The live stream of the 2020 SEP National Final goes out tomorrow at 3pm sharp on Facebook and YouTube.
The YouTube Link is – https://youtu.be/u5rn7HcZW7Y
On Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/StudentEnterpriseProgramme/live/
In the Senior Category of the competition, Offaly will be represented by Cathal Flannery from Clononey Crafts, Banagher College. Cathal produces a range of crafted wooden items including lamps, pens and bowls.
In the Intermediate Category, Anthony’s Wooden Crafts’ from Tullamore College will represent the county. The business is run by 3rd year student Anthony Gorman who makes handcrafted wooden reindeers.
In the Junior Category, the students representing Offaly at the National Finals in Croke Park are: Oisin Kennedy, Ryan Keenaghan, Iris Samonte and Rachel Doorley from Cluny Sustainable Crafts in Gallen Community School. They produce flower arrangements using upcycled jars.
In the new “My Entrepreneurial Journey” competition, Daniel Scally from Tullamore College won the Junior category while the Intermediate category, Sophie Moore of Oaklands Community College came out on top.
Having originally been scheduled to take place in Croke Park on the 1st May, the Local Enterprise Office run awards, will be announced virtually tomorrow via live stream on the Student Enterprise Programmes Facebook and YouTube channels.
Offaly has a very successful track record in the Student Enterprise competition. Recent awards won at the National Final include Overall Winner in 2018 with Manus Heenan’s “Abbey Bread” from Cistercian College. Offaly also won the Junior Runner Up prize in 2018 with Joanne Cushen’s “Gnó-Jó!” from Colaiste Naomh Cormac.
The students and teachers from across the country will watch along online to the event hosted by RTE’s Rick O’Shea and will be joined during the ceremony by previous winners and Student Entrepreneur Programme Ambassador, Josh Van Der Flier. The rugby star previously took part in the initiative when he was a student at Wesley College in Dublin.
The Finalists have been announced this year with a record number of 85 student enterprises competing in Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme for second level students. The initiative, funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country, close to 26,000 students from almost 500 secondary schools across the country take part.
The National Final students are competing across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior and judging is ongoing virtually with the finalists nationwide via electronic submissions. Each student enterprise is challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, which must show sales of their service or product. The judging panel includes business owners and representatives from enterprise agencies and associated bodies.
This year’s Programme also saw two new pilot competitions across the Junior, Intermediate and Senior categories. The first, the “My Entrepreneurial Journey” pilot was run in the Junior and Intermediate cycle and open to any students involved in wider competition. It required them to map out the life of a successful entrepreneur and how that could be achieved.
Full details of all this year’s 85 national finalists are available on the Student Enterprise Programme website at www.StudentEnterprise.ie
Best of luck to all our Offaly entries!