Laois students celebrate 'outstanding' win at national enterprise awards
Paddy Lynch and Tom McDonald from St Mary's CBS in Portlaoise took home the top prize for their business
Two Laois students have taken home a major win at this year's Student Enterprise Programme National Finals.
Paddy Lynch and Tom McDonald from St Mary's CBS in Portlaoise won 1st prize and the Intellectual Property Awards in the Junior Category at the national finals which took place on Thursday, May 7 in Mullingar.
Supported by the Laois Local Enterprise Office and their teacher, Ms Deirdre Moore, the two students took home the win for their student enterprise 'I CAN' which offers a bottle and can collection and recycling service.
The event was hosted by broadcasters Rick O’Shea and Ruth Scott who were joined by Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail Alan Dillon who announced the winners across the three main categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior.
All of the students who competed in the national finals were in attendance and exhibited their businesses which were judged by a team of national business experts and mentors.
Each student enterprise was challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, as well as showing sales of their service or product.
Over 30,000 students from 500 secondary schools took part, with only 88 student businesses making it to the national finals.
Commenting on Paddy and Tom's huge win for Laois and their school, the Acting Head of LEO Laois, Dom Reddin, said: "The Annual Student Enterprise Awards continue to showcase the very best of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship among secondary school students nationwide.
"As Ireland’s largest enterprise competition for young people, the programme provides participants with invaluable real‑world experience in running a business, including teamwork, production and financial management, sales and marketing, and direct engagement with customers, judges, and the media.
"Winning the Junior Category at national level is an outstanding achievement for the students of CBS, Portlaoise, and is a powerful testament to the strength of entrepreneurial talent and ambition emerging within County Laois."
Speaking on the day of the awards, Minister Alan Dillon said: "This is one of the great days for Irish entrepreneurship in the country. We get a chance to see almost 90 businesses started by secondary school students from across the country who have all been shortlisted for the finals and that in itself is an amazing achievement from the 30,000 pupils who started last September.
"These are students who have come up with brilliant ideas and forged them into businesses, making sales and understanding and learning the skills it takes to become an entrepreneur. No matter what path they choose in life those skills will stand by them, but we hope that many of the students we see today will go on to become the start-up leaders and entrepreneurs of the future in this country."
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme