Students from Moate Community School attained prestigious acclaim at the National Student Enterprise Finals when their collective endeavour, Cosy Covers’, a simple eco-friendly, sewn aide that takes the hazard of removing hot kitchenware from a microwave, was awarded ‘Best Commercial Potential’ in the Junior Category.
Supported by Local Enterprise Office Westmeath, the Moate CS students who comprised the successful team were Lauren Finan, Ellen Raleigh, Skyla Looney, Kacey Mulvihill and Aine Broderick, who worked under the guidance of their teacher, Lisa Doyle.
There was a record number of 85 student enterprises competing in Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme for second level students. The 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 close to 26,000 students from almost 500 secondary schools across the country take part.
“Congratulations to the students of Moate Community School on winning this prestigious national award this week, which recognises all their hard work. We have seen over 220,000 students learn how to successfully run a business in the 18 years of the Student Enterprise Programme, thanks to a long-term partnership between local schools and Local Enterprise Offices. Judging by this year’s finalists and winners, the future is bright for entrepreneurs here in Westmeath,” Christine Charlton with Local Enterprise Office Westmeath, remarked.
The National Final students, who competed across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, saw judging take place virtually via electronic submissions. Each student enterprise was challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, which must show sales of their service or product. The judging panel included business owners and representatives from enterprise agencies and associated bodies.
