Kilkenny students gear up for enterprise county final

An estimated 150 students from 16 participating schools will take part in the Student Enterprise Programme County Final, which takes place during Local Enterprise Week on Wednesday, March 8 at the Lyrath Estate, Kilkenny.

Kilkenny County Council, through its Local Enterprise Office, will host the event. 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.

Last year’s local winner of the Best Commercial Potential Award, Molly Burke, Molly’s Jewel’s from Coláiste Pobail Osraí has plenty of good advice for those entering this year’s competition. She has learned a lot from setting up and running her own business as part of the Student Enterprise Programme — so much so, that she has now set up another business. 

“The Student Enterprise Programme gives you the knowledge of how to set up and run your own business. Once you have done it once, you’ll know how to do it again in the future, so give it a go, and see how you like it,” she says.

Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council Pat Fitzpatrick has said he is very much looking forward to attending this year’s county final to view the up and coming young entrepreneurs of the county.

“Kilkenny students are learning the right supports and encouragement from the programme that they can take an idea from the classroom and develop it into a real-life business,” he says.

 “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 career.”

 Aileen McGrath, acting head of enterprise at the Local Enterprise Office, Kilkenny County Council, says the Student Enterprise county final is always an enjoyable event.

“It is great to get back to physical events and we look forward to viewing all of the student exhibitions on the day,” she said.

The county final exhibition will be open to the public from 1pm with the awards ceremony taking place at 1.45pm with entertainment by Kilkenny’s own Robert Grace — the  most viewed Irish artist on TikTok 2022, and with over 2.3 million social media followers. 

Further information around the Kilkenny Student Enterprise Programme is available from localenterprise.ie/

kilkenny or  studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise on social media.