National success for Westmeath students at enterprise finals

Eilís Ryan

Published: Wed 3 Jun 2020, 2:45 PM

Last updated: Wed 3 Jun 2020, 2:46 PM

Students from a Westmeath school have won an award at the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals in Croke Park this week, organised by the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) for secondary schools.

The National Finals ceremony took place online for the first time, broadcast through Facebook and YouTube and hosted by RTE’s Rick O’Shea.

Supported by Local Enterprise Office Westmeath, the students from Moate Community School won Best Commercial Potential Award in the Junior Category. The winning students were: Lauren Finan, Ellen Raleigh, Skyla Looney, Kacey Mulvihill and Aine Broderick, who worked under the guidance of their teacher, Lisa Doyle.

Their student enterprise was called: ‘Cosy Covers’ and featured a simple, eco-friendly, sewn aid that takes the hazard out of taking hot kitchenware out of a microwave.

There was 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, saw close to 26,000 students from almost 500 secondary schools across the country take part.

Heather Humphreys, T.D., Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, congratulated the students; “The ability to devise a business, set it up and run it, is something that will stand by you forever. Ireland has a history of great entrepreneurs and no doubt many of you today will go on to achieve greatness in business and we will ensure we are there to support you every step of the way.”

Christine Charlton with Local Enterprise Office Westmeath also congratulated the students, saying that the quality of this year’s Westmeath entries demonstrated that the future was bright for the county from an entrepreneurship perspective.

The National Final students, who competed across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, saw judging take place virtually via electronic submissions. The judging panel included business owners and representatives from enterprise agencies and associated bodies.