A record number of over 1,000 students from across County Clare will participate in this year’s Student Enterprise Programme, a national initiative organised locally by Local Enterprise Office Clare.
Second level students this week joined local business leaders and previous Enterprise Programme winners for Induction Days at Armada Hotel, Spanish Point, and at Treacy’s West County Hotel, Ennis, where they were encouraged to take their learning experiences outside the classroom by creating ideas, transforming them into opportunities and converting them into real businesses.
Student Enterprise Programme judge Siobhan Mulcahy, Clare County Council Arts Officer, Charlie Glynn from Kilrush-based Glynn Technical Diamonds Ltd. and Declan Murphy from Sixmilebridge-based Clubify spoke about the steps required to establish and nurture a successful business.
“The purpose of this enterprise programme is to give secondary school students a flavour of what it is like to run their own business. I would hope that in the future, it will encourage some of them to develop a business in Clare and create local employment,” explained Cllr. Michael Begley, Mayor of Clare.
Padraic McElwee, Head of Enterprise at the Local Enterprise Office Clare, said the primary objective of the Programme is to foster an enterprise culture among Irish second level students and get them to consider entrepreneurship as a career path for the future.
“The Student Enterprise Programme offers participants the opportunity to take a business from the idea stage, through market research to production, selling, management and finally, to writing a comprehensive business plan.” he added.
Mr. McElwee continued, “The induction days held In Ennis and Spanish Point marked the first and probably the most important phase of the Programme. Students were introduced to the competition and made the first decisions on the path to setting up their student enterprise – whether that be on their own or as part of a team.”
Students will compete in three categories, namely Senior Category (Transition Year, 4th Year, 5th Year, 6th Year & Youthreach Students), Intermediate Category (2nd Year & 3rd Year Students) and Junior Category (1st Year Students).
The winning enterprises will represent County Clare at the National Student Enterprise Final for 2019 on Friday 3 May 2019 in Croke Park in Dublin.