Enterprising students

OVER 50 new businesses have been produced by young people across the county as part of the Clare County Enterprise Board’s student enterprise awards.

The county final of the awards was held in the West County Hotel, Ennis on Wednesday. The winners in each category will go forward to the national final in Croke Park, Dublin on April 27.
“Times may be tough at the moment but clearly, the spirit of enterprise is alive and well as 16 of the 19 Clare second-level schools and two Youthreach groups produced 55 businesses for the event,” Lucy Reidy of Clare County Enterprise Board said.
She added that standards at the competition continue to rise from year to year and this year has seen a huge increase in the level of participation from the schools in Clare. The two mentor visits provided by the County Enterprise Board for each team to work with a business consultant to help with their mini-company has also proven very beneficial to students getting their business plans completed.
Lucy said how delighted she was to see so many innovative and good business ideas being showcased. “Clare County Enterprise Board aims to foster and develop enterprise awareness among secondary school students and to use the experience of setting up and running an enterprise as the primary means of learning about self-employment as a career option,” she commented.
She said that speaking to some of the young entrepreneurs, she was very impressed with the confidence, enthusiasm and business acumen displayed by the students.
Teacher, Dearbhla Hassett has been working on the Student Enterprise Programme with transition-year students at the Scariff Community College for many years and sees other benefits for the students as they learn vital life skills such as self-belief, decision-making and teamwork.
“No other subject will provide them with this kind of practical opportunity,” says Dearbhla.
“We start work in September and the initial set up takes about six weeks. We look at areas such as entrepreneurship, report writing and finance. Roles in each company have to be agreed on and the teams have to work together, taking on responsibilities and meeting deadlines. Often, students will work outside of school hours in order to get everything done. It’s a lot of responsibility for young students.”
Clare County Enterprise Board also sponsored prizes for The Small Business Game which is an online educational game where players run their own football retail store. They learn what it is like to manage a small business; what works in business and what doesn’t work while experimenting with different strategies and tactics to see the impact of their decisions.
Clare schools dominated the national leader board taking no less than six of the top 20 places for earning the most points. Scariff Community College received the prize of a set of GAA jerseys with Juan Condon being the individual overall winner in Clare. Juan was presented with his prize of a Nintendo WII.
The awards were adjudicated on by Harriet Cotter of Enterprise Ireland; Seamus O’Sullivan, Business Consultant and John Quinlivan, Shannon Development
Winners on the day were: Junior category: 1. Heaven on Earth from St Anne’s Community College, Killaloe; 2. An Phobal from St Anne’s Community College, Killaloe; 3. You Name it, I design it from St John Bosco, Kildysart. Intermediate category: 1.Slate Styles from St Anne’s Community College, Killaloe; 2. Intervest from St John Bosco, Kildysart; 3. Zesti from St Anne’s Community College, Killaloe. Senior category: 1. Watstat from St Caimin’s Community School, Shannon; 2. Flan & Co from St Flannan’s College, Ennis; 3. Hearts for Haiti from Scariff Community College.
The most innovative business award went to SchoolsConnectIreland.Web.Com from Ennis CBS. The best individual business award went to Ciara’s Time Capsules from St Joseph’s, Tulla, while the best display stand went to St Bridget’s Cross, Ennistymon Vocational School.
For more information on the awards or on other services being offered by Clare County Enterprise Board, contact Lucy Reidy, Clare County Enterprise Board, Enterprise House, Mill Road, Ennis on tel. 065 6841922 or email: lreidy@clareceb.ie.