GAA-themed Laois student hurling business makes podium in national awards

Student from Laois have taken 3rd prize in the Senior category at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals. The Finals of the Local Enterprise Office initiative took place on Friday in  Croke Park. 

Supported by Local Enterprise Office Laois, the students won 3rd overall in the Senior Category.

The winning students from Heywood Community School were Daniel Aylward, Evan Farrell amd Donil Mathew who worked under the guidance of their teacher, Patricia Brennan.

Their student enterprise was called ‘Hurlr'.

It saw the students create a hurley holder for a bicycle to make travelling with a hurl easier and safer. The hurley holder is one of a kind. The students designed and produced it from scratch in their workshop. 

The Laois team flew the flag for Laois in the senior part of the competition after emerging from the county contest which saw 540 students from 7 schools enter that annual programme locally. A total of 84 students made it to the Laois County Final on March 14 in the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise.

Sarah-Kate Dunne from Portlaoise College represented Laois at the National Finals in the Junior Category with her business Golden Flame Wax Works. 

Hurlr was among 82 student businesses that contested the national final in what is  Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme for second-level students. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Pictured: Laois students at the launch of the national awards.

Mark Clancy is the Acting Head of Enterprise, Local Enterprise Office Laois.

“Year on year the Student  Enterprise Programme continues to showcase the very best of Irish ingenuity and entrepreneurship  amongst our secondary school students. This year produced a varied selection of businesses, from  agricultural products and homemade gifts to products that were built on our unique ability to tell compelling  stories.

"We see every year that the National Finals are not an end point for our student entrepreneurs, but a  stepping-stone on the next stage of their entrepreneurial journey. From our class of 22/23 we will see some  business leaders and global entrepreneurs of the future emerge,” he said.  

Pic: Golden Flame Waxworks by Sarah-Kate Dunne from Portlaoise College is presented with her award for Junior Category winner by Leas-Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council PJ Kelly MCC and Linda Meredith, LEO Laois at the County Final of the Student Enterprise awards.

Neale Richmond, Minister of State for Employment Affairs and Retail Business, congratulated the students.

"With over 25,000 students taking part in this year’s programme, it is a huge achievement to make it to the Finals and shows a real flair for entrepreneurship. Some amazing businesses and entrepreneurs have come from this programme – the majority did not win any prizes but are still running successful businesses today.

"So, to those of you who won something today, a huge congratulations, but most importantly, to you all, this is the first step on the path, you are the entrepreneurs and business leaders of the future and everyone here today is excited to see what you do next,” he said.  

The National Final students competed across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, were all in attendance on the day exhibiting 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 its own business, which must show sales of their service or product. The judging panel included business owners and representatives from enterprise agencies and associated bodies.  

The three main category winners on the day were: ‘McCompactors’ from Roscommon Community College, representing Local Enterprise Office Roscommon (Senior Category Winner), ‘’Clip Clop Designs” from  Moyne Community School representing Local Enterprise Office Longford (Intermediate Category Winner),  and ‘Grasper’ from Drumshanbo Vocational School representing Local Enterprise Office Leitrim (Junior  Category Winner). 

Laois school bangs the drum with Music Generation Laois

The Student Enterprise Programme is funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country. 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.