There was great innovation and lots of inspiration as young Kerry entrepreneurs excelled at the County Final of the Kerry County Council Annual Student Enterprise Awards held on Friday.

INTERMEDIATE WINNERS: Evan Greany Killian Dennehy Ruairi Brosnan and Josh Daly from St Patrick’s Secondary School Castleisland were named intermediate winners at the Kerry County Council Annual Student Enterprise Awards. Also included are: Victor Sheehan (Kerry LEO) and Flor Griffin (Business Teacher). Photo: Domnick Walsh

JUNIOR WINNERS: Cait Daly Brid Curtin Ellie Curtin Laura McShane and Kirsten O’Connor from Presentation Secondary School Castleisland won Junior Level for their ‘Roley Poley’ project. They are pictured with Breeda O’Sullivan (Kerry LEO) Paola Kennedy (Mentor) and Edward Clarke (Business Teacher) at the Student Enterprise Awards. Photo: Domnick Walsh

Outstanding participation levels saw 16 mini-businesses being set up by over 50 second level school students involved in the competition. The competition promotes business idea development, structure, sourcing of finance, marketing/sales and the presentation of a formal business plan.

The students progressed through the establishment of a mini company which trades over a period of months. An exciting and rewarding programme, students get to experience the realities of entrepreneurship from developing a business idea to producing a product, researching the market, promoting the business, managing the books and generating profits.

Prizes were awarded at Junior, Intermediate and Senior level at MTU in Tralee. The winners of the County Student Enterprise Awards in all categories will be considered for inclusion in the National Finals to be held in The Helix on May 18.

Winners

The winner of the Senior Category was Mearscaoilte Lao – a farm safety mechanism which allows ropes under tension on a calving jack to be instantly released. This company was set up by Katelyn Curtin and Orlaith Buckley from Presentation Secondary School, Castleisland.

The winners of the Intermediate Category was Kicks On Wheels – a remote control to drive the kicking tee and was set up by Ruairí Brosnan, Killian Dennehy, Josh Daly and Evan Greaney from St Patrick's Secondary School, Castleisland.

The Junior level winner was Roley Poley – an outdoor seat with cover and a retrofit rotating seat cover set up by Cait Daly, Brid Curtin, Kirsten O’Connor, Ellie Curtin and Laura McShane from Presentation Secondary School, Castleisland.

Other prizes were awarded for Social Enterprise, Best Stand, Innovation Award, Digital Award, Best Business Plan, Environmental Awareness and Duaiseanna Gaeilge.

Lillian O’Connor from Presentation Secondary School, Tralee won the coveted award for Entrepreneurial Educator of the Year and St Patrick's Secondary School Castleisland won the Best Newcomer School award.

The Creative Video Winner – Recharge Nutrition was won by Nicole Walker of Presentation Secondary School, Tralee – a Sports Nutrition App.

My Entrepreneurial Journey Junior Category was won by Nancy O’Connor from Intermediate School Killorglin – with her business Bosca Cliste – an Irish learning tool for kids.

“I am pleased to see the level of innovation, resourcefulness, planning and development of all 16 projects in this year’s awards," Tomás Hayes, Head of Local Enterprise Office, said.

"This is a real life exercise. It involves idea generation and actual trading. Profits are generated and finance is secured. It is a taste of business and all the issues involved from finding the right idea, funding the business, collecting the money and building the team. I must commend the teachers for their efforts and the mentors for their support. The judges had a very difficult task!”

Margaret Murphy, Kerry Programme Coordinator emphasised that “this was a very strong programme in 2022 requiring extensive work by teachers, mentors and staff which was made a lot more difficult with remote working and teaching".

"The results are evident with three category winners which will be considered for inclusion in The National Final on May 18. We hope that we can win another award for Kerry following our great success in 2021.”