Press Release
Kildare Students Set for Croke Park Entrepreneurship Final
Local Enterprise Office, Kildare have announced that Caoimhe Lynch, Grace Donoghue, Lalita Geoghegan, Laura McLoughlin and Sienna Field from Slates & Co. at St. Wolstan’s Community School, Celbridge will represent Kildare in the Senior Category at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals on Friday 5th May, Croke Park.
In the “My Entrepreneurial Journey” category open to junior and intermediate students, Heidi Beary of Le Petit Hibou at Newbridge College will represent Kildare in the National Finals.
The students all took part in the Kildare Final on Thursday 23rd March 2023, which was held at the Killashee Hotel, Naas. An estimated 1280 students from participating secondary schools across Kildare took part in the annual programme locally.
The enterprise education initiative, funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country, saw over 25,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2021 / 2022.
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, all with the hope of reaching the National Finals.
Special guests at the Kildare County Final included Gavin Lawler, CEO & Founder Innov8 Creative Academy and Co-Founder of The Irish Fairy Door Company, Deputy Martin Heydon TD, Leas Cathaoirleach of the County of Kildare Joe Neville along with Kildare County Council Elected Representatives Anne Breen and Anne Connolly.
Speaking at the county final, Jacqui McNabb, Head of Enterprise of Kildare County Council’s Enterprise Office congratulated the students, saying “We have a very successful student enterprise programme here in County Kildare, with over 1200 students from 16 local schools taking part this year. Our national finalists are excellent ambassadors for the programme and we wish them the very best of luck on Friday 5th, and we will all hope to be there to support them. In what has been a particularly challenging couple of years for students the programme has offered them an outlet outside of the usual school demands. What our students are learning from the programme is that with the right supports and encouragement, they can take an idea from the classroom and develop it into a real-life business. The skills they learn along the way, such as business planning, market research, selling and team-work, will help them become more entrepreneurial throughout their future careers”.
Further information around the Student Enterprise Programme and to view the new range of online resources for 2022/2023, which will feature regular blogs and houses a full range of Student Enterprise resources for students and teachers, is available from www.studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise on social media.
