Tipperary's young entrepreneurs compete in county Student Enterprise Final

The Tipperary County Final of the Student Enterprise Programme for secondary school entrepreneurs takes place at TUS, Thurles today, Friday, February 23. 

An initiative of the Local Enterprise Offices of Ireland, the Student Enterprise Programme is the country’s largest enterprise programme for second level students, with this year marking the 22nd year of the hugely successful programme. 

Over 25,000 students from approximately 500 second level schools across the country are expected to take part.  The Programme is run through the network of Local Enterprise Offices, supported by Enterprise Ireland and the local authorities, with local coordinators in every area to support teachers and students through the year of the programme, which helps foster entrepreneurship in students and gives them key skills they can bring with them into later life. 

School students and teachers across Tipperary have been very busy this year and are eagerly awaiting County Final day to see who the judges put forward to represent Tipperary at the National Final to be held in May at Mullingar Park Hotel.

Joe MacGrath, Chief Executive of Tipperary County Council, looks forward to meeting the young entrepreneurs on the day and believes the involvement of students in enterprise at this time of their lives sows the seeds for enterprise in Tipperary into the future.

Head of Enterprise Anthony Fitzgerald states:”LEO Tipperary works with start up and expanding businesses and hopes that student experiences in the programme will encourage them to explore the possibility of starting a business in their future and to knock on the open door of LEO Tipperary to look at the range of supports we have to offer Tipperary businesses”.

Tipperary has had much success over the years and last year saw students Kate McKenna, Orla Hayes, Sarah Brett, Issy Carr, Ellen O’Mara under the guidance of their teacher, Ms. Sharon Hynes from Ursuline Secondary School Thurles win Most Commercial Potential for their business Phone K.O.S.I.E in the very competitive Senior Category. 

Colaiste Dun Iascaigh’sRian O’Keeffe under the stewardship of his teacher Martina Harahill won 1st prize nationally in the ‘My Entrepreneurial Journey’ category.

CBS Thurles Premier Woodworking Padraic Callanan and Sean Bergin were awarded 2nd place nationally in the Intermediate Category.  Their teacher Fergus O’Brien is no stranger to success in the programme when his team Handy Hose won 1st place in 2020 in the Senior category.

Student Enterprise Coordinator Tina Mulhearne is delighted with the enthusiasm shown by Tipperary teachers and students and the figures support this as here in Tipperary we have over 2,200 students from 27 of the 29 schools taking part this year. Our county finalists are excellent ambassadors for the programme and we wish them the very best of luck today. 

Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, over 325,000 students have taken part, learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business.