Schools Enterprise Programme
Young Meath Business Whizzkids Take National Enterprise Title!!!
A team from Co. Meath emerged with a national title at the 2010 final of the Student Enterprise Awards (SEA) which was held on Tuesday, 27th April inCrokePark.
The SEA is sponsored nationally by the County & City Enterprise Boards and aims to give second level students the experience of setting and running a real business.
Last Tuesday, hundreds of students from all over the country displayed the results of months of hard work and vied to impress the panel of judges with their service or manufacturing business.
Third prize in the Intermediate Category was scooped by Daniel Duffy and Barry Cassidy, 2nd year students from O’Carolan College, Nobber with their business “Lunches4less”. These two young entrepreneurs, under the guidance of their teacher, Cathal Rogers, came up with the idea of providing students with a way to save money in this time of recession by offering a canteen service where students with a loyalty card can get a free lunch for every nine lunches purchased in the group’s canteen. The lunches were offered in conjunction with Centra. This hugely energetic duo had many marketing strategies, one of them being inviting well know personalities e.g. Barry Geraghty, jockey, to their school for a “Meet and Greet” lunch where they spoke of the importance of healthy eating and exercise. The one piece of advice that sticks in these young entrepreneurs’ minds is “running a business is a marathon, not a sprint”!!
Barry and Daniel obviously impressed the judges very much with their idea and how they managed and continue to manage a thriving business.
Co. Meath was also represented in the Junior category by “Night Zone Ltd”, c/o Dylan Keating & Kieran Cleaver, St. Fintina’s Post Primary, Longwood, Co. Meath under the guidance of Shirley Mc Donagh. This duo produced unique flickering tea-light holders made from teak and red deal and carved into shapes. The tea light is battery powered and so is a safer option than a normal candle.
In the Senior Category, Daniel Flynn, Dunshaughlin Community College presented his business “DanwantsTech”. DanWantsTech.com is the place to go for tech news, downloads, reviews, tips and software. It is the perfect place to find out how to solve problems on your computer, (mostly via You-Tube tutorials,) see a review of a new gadget and find out how to operate new software. Daniel’s teacher is James Cumiskey.
M.C. for the afternoon was 2fm D.J., Rick O’Shea. “Dragons” Bobby Kerr and Gavin Duffy came along to meet with the student entrepreneurs which added greatly to the occasion. Bill Cullen also gave an inspirational keynote speech outlining how his career in enterprise started out – i.e. selling apples at the matches in Croke Park!
STUDENT ENTERPRISE AWARDS ENTERPRISE DAY
TRIM CASTLE HOTEL, TRIM, CO. MEATH.
TUESDAY, 28TH September, 2010.
The Meath County Enterprise Board will host a special Enterprise Day for students to launch the Student Enterprise Awards competition on Tuesday, 28th September in the Trim Castle Hotel, Trim. The Student Enterprise Awards (see www.studententerprise.ie) is a competition run by the County & City Enterprise Boards where second-level students set up and run their own business.
Students and their teachers attended the event which will run from 10 am to 2 pm.
The aim of the day is to introduce students to the Student Enterprise Awards competition and to help them generate a viable business idea in a fun and interactive way using brain-storming and meta planning.
Three groups of students who have enjoyed tremendous success with their businesses set up last year as part of the Student Enterprise Awards will also made presentations on what their enterprise entailed and how they progressed it successfully.
As a follow up, schools will be offered a series of free workshops on Idea Generation, Sales, Marketing and the “Elevator Pitch”, Communications and Report Writing. These will run from September 2010 to February, 2011. In addition, students and teachers can avail of the Board’s free on-line mentoring facility via it’s website www.meath.com. Anyone can ask a business related question and will receive an answer within 24 hours.
The County and CityEnterprise Boards are funded by the Irish Government and part-financed by the European Union under the National Development Plan 2007-2013.
