Sligo Students Set for Croke Park Entrepreneurship Final

Sligo Students Set for Croke Park Entrepreneurship Final Senior Category Overall Winner - Conors Cuts
Back Row left to right: Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Councillor Michael Clarke, Stephen Walshe, Business Adviser, LEO Sligo
Front Row left to right: Eleanor Corcoran (Teacher), Conor Burke and Elaine Byrne (Teacher)

Local Enterprise Office Sligo have announced that teenage entrepreneurs from Colaiste Iascaigh, Easkey, Corrran College, Ballymote and Jesus & Mary Secondary School, Enniscrone will represent Sligo at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals on Friday 5th May.

The Finals make a return to Croke Park for the first time since 2019.

The students all took part in the Sligo County Final on March 23rd, which was held at the Sligo Park Hotel. An estimated 900 students from 11 second-level schools took part in the annual programme in Co. Sligo.

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.  The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Finals.

In the Junior Category, the students representing Sligo at the National Finals are: Sorcha McDermott, Katie Doherty and Aoibheann Carden from ‘Centrestone Jewellery’ at Colaiste Iascaigh.

Junior Category Overall Junior Category Overall Winner - Centrestone Jewellery
Back Row left to right: Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke, Ciara Moran (Teacher) and Stephen Walshe, Business Adviser, LEO Sligo
Front Row left to right: Sorcha McDermott, Katie Doherty and Aoibheann Carden

In the Intermediate Category, Aisling Gillen, Amelia Duffy and Ruby Oldfield, of ‘Elite Dance Class’ from Corran College will be representing the county at the Finals.

Intermediate Category Overall Intermediate Category Overall winner - Elite Dance Class
Back Row left to right: Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke, Judith Bailey (Teacher) and Stephen Walshe, Business Adviser, LEO Sligo
Front Row left to right: Aisling Gillen, Amelia Duffy and Ruby Oldfield.

In the Senior Category of the competition, Sligo will be represented on 5th May by Conor Burke from ‘Conor’s Cutz’ at Jesus & Mary Secondary School.

Special guests at the County Final included Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Councillor Michael Clarke who said:

‘it is heartening to see such fantastic enterprise and endeavour on display here today by students from all corners of County Sligo. The level of enterprise, confidence and ingenuity demonstrated by this entire group of students gives me extreme confidence that County Sligo will continue to thrive as an excellent place to live, invest and visit.’.

Speaking at the county final, John Reilly, Head of Enterprise, Sligo County Council congratulated the students, saying

“We have a very successful student enterprise programme here in Sligo, with over 900 students from 11 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”.

The local students will be competing against hundreds of other student entrepreneurs from all over Ireland at the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals, taking place at Croke Park in Dublin on the 5th May. 

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.  The Student Enterprise Programme also has new range of online resources for 2022 / 2023 at www.StudentEnterprise.ie, which will feature regular blogs and houses a full range of Student Enterprise resources for students and teachers.   

Further information around the Student Enterprise Programme is available from www.studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise on social media.

Senior Category Runner-Up The Crafty Bee Senior Category Runner-Up - The Crafty Bee
Back Row left to right: Eleanor Corcoran (Teacher), Stephen Walshe, Business Adviser, LEO Sligo, Business Adviser, LEO Sligo, Elaine Byrne (Teacher)
Front Row left to right: Jennifer Blakeney, Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke, and Erin McCormack
3rd Place Senior Category Compen 3rd place Senior Category - Compen Back Row left to right: Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke, Stephen Walshe, Business Adviser, LEO Sligo, Business Adviser, LEO Sligo and Kieran Lynam (Teacher)
Front Row left to right: Colm Egan, Oisin Devlin and Conor McMillan.
Marketing Award Glo Candles Marketing Award - Glo Candles
Back Row Brenda Walker (Teacher)
Front Row left to right: Katie Walshe, Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke of Sligo County Council, and Michela Volante
Innovation Award Book Cozy Innovation Award - Book Cozy
Back Row left to right: Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke and Stephen Walshe, Business Adviser, LEO Sligo
Front Row left to right: Lauren Healy, Sarah Dufficy and Sarah Walshe
Best Business Report Award Sapphire Soaps Best Business Report Award - Sapphire Soaps
Back Row: Ciara Moran (Teacher)
Front Row left to right: Amy Carty, Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke and Zoe Donegan
Design Award Fine Line Design Award - Fine Line
Back Row left to right: Josephine Hughes (Teacher), Colm Flanagan, Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke and Michael Horkan (Principal)
Front Row left to right: Evan Finnerty, Mikey Coen, Sean Kubican and William McCameron.
Best Commercial Business Award - Sports Tape Sligo Best Commercial Business Award - Sports Tape Sligo
David Kennedy, Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke, Naoise Fitzgerald and Dervilla Casey (Teacher).
e-Commerce Award Alchemia Candles e-Commerce Award - Alchemia Candles
Back Row left to right: Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke and Josephine Hughes (Teacher)
Front Row left to right: Olivia Jackson, Kayla Cuskelly, Marta Gallo Gimene and Lisa Farrell.
Special Merit Award - HeadBand Headers Special Merit Award - HeadBand Headers
Back Row left to right: Siobhan Flaherty (Teacher) and Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke
Front Row left to right: Isabella Benito- Bouquet, Aoife Johnston, Tara Hosey and Ally O’Hara.
Special Merit Award The Craft Sisters Special Merit Award – The Craft Sisters
Back Row left to right: Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke and Siobhan O’Donnell (Teacher)
Front Row left to right: Rachel Taylor, Emer Mitchell and Lorraine Dunleavy.
Special Merit Award - OJ Horseshoe Art Special Merit Award - OJ Horseshoe Art
Odhran Conlon, Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke and Jarlath Mullaney
Junior Category Runner-Up  Junior Category Runner-Up - LLA Keyholders
Back Row left to right: Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke and Ciara Moran (Teacher)
Front Row left to right: Luke Hargadon, Allen Scott and Lorcan Morrison
My Entrepreneurial Journey Junior Category Winner My Entrepreneurial Journey Junior Category Winner - Guildea Designs
Rachel Scanlon (Teacher), Alice Guildea and Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Michael Clarke.