Time capsules, web portals and beeswax polish

The ‘Irish entrepreneurs of tomorrow’ have been unveiled ahead of the country’s biggest student enterprise competition later this month.

Teenagers from every county, aged from thirteen to eighteen, will be competing at the Student Enterprise Awards National Final in Croke Park on April 27th, the brain-child of the County and City Enterprise Boards.

Since last September, well over 10,000 secondary school students from every corner of Ireland have researched, set-up and managed their own real-life student enterprises. Through the Student Enterprise programme, students learn how to brain-storm business ideas, they also learn how to identify solutions for everyday problems and they are encouraged to use their own talents in their entrepreneurial roles.

Over 280 students from seventy-seven individual student enterprises across the Junior, Intermediate and Senior Categories have now qualified for the National Final, having progressed through the county level judging process.

The up-and-coming entrepreneurs will be showcasing their products and services for the judging panel, such as time capsules, merchandise to encourage good manners, road safety board games, hand-made cosmetics, animated cartoons to help teach Irish, web portals, business magazines and beeswax polish. One of Ireland’s best-known entrepreneurs, Bill Cullen, will be inspecting the students’ work, passing on advice to the students based on his own entrepreneurial experiences.

Announcing details for the 2010 Student Enterprise National Finals, Ger Enright, Chair of the Enterprise Education Committee with the County and City Enterprise Boards said: “The thousands of young entrepreneurs in the Student Enterprise Programme who have spotted gaps in the market, who have turned an opportunity into a real-business, demonstrate how important it is to continue supporting an enterprising culture in Irish society, starting in the classroom.”

On the morning of the National Final in Croke Park, students have to set-up an enterprise exhibition display stand before their multiple interviews with the judges and each student entrepreneur also had to submit a business plan in advance. The students will be judged on criteria such as innovation, market research, production, personal development, finances, business planning, interview techniques and risk management.

Further information about the Student Enterprise Programme is available at www.studententerprise.ie.