National success for Drogheda students in Croke Park
Students from Sacred Heart Secondary School in Drogheda have won an award at the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals in Croke Park last week, organised by the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) for secondary schools.
The students won the Best Commercial Potential Award in the Intermediate Category and were presented with their award on stage by the Minister for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen T.D. and Sheelagh Daly of the Local Enterprise Offices.
The winning students were: Leah Keogh, Eva Barnett and Luisa Woods who worked under the guidance of their teacher, Catherine Horan. Their student enterprise was called: ‘Makes Cents’, which developed a pre-paid, cashless payment card aimed at teenagers.
This project has been previously selected as a winner of the PFS Junior FinTech Awards 2018. This has resulted in a €40,000 investment from the PFS’ €1million Innovation Fund for further development of this student enterprise.
The programme, funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the LEOs, had a total of 230 teenage entrepreneurs, aged between 13 and 18, from 77 different enterprises, competing at today’s National Final, with every local authority area represented.
This year’s Student Enterprise Programme attracted 23,600 student participants from 480 secondary schools around the country. Starting every September, the enterprise education initiative helps students gain the skills and practical knowledge of running a real-life business.
Congratulating this year’s winners and their schools, Minister Breen said: “Whether it’s generating business ideas, developing markets or selling to customers, students taking part in the Student Enterprise Programme throughout Ireland have consistently shown a passion and flair for business and enterprise.
“Entrepreneurship is the backbone of the Irish economy and initiatives such as the Student Enterprise Programme are key to developing Ireland’s future enterprising culture. I’d like to congratulate this year’s winning students and schools. I hope their success will inspire more schools to sign-up for the next programme in September through their Local Enterprise Office.”
Thomas McEvoy with Local Enterprise Office Louth said: “Congratulations to the students of Sacred Heart Secondary School on winning this prestigious national award in Croke Park last week, which recognises all their hard work. We have seen over 150,000 students learn how to successfully run a business in the 16 years of the Student Enterprise Programme, thanks to a long-term partnership between local schools and Local Enterprise Offices. Judging by this year’s finalists and winners, the future is bright for entrepreneurs here in Louth.”
Further details about the next Student Enterprise Programme, which begins in September, are available at www.studententerprise.ie
Photo Credit: Dogheda Life