Muckross Park are Winners of the Senior Schools Competition
Photo: Trish Cooney, Muckross Park, Greg Swift, DCEB the business E.T.O. run by Sive Dooley, Eimear Mc Crann, Sabina Keane, Grace Joyce and Ellis Reilly with the Lord Mayor of Dublin and Pat Lynch, Chairman of DCEB.
On Thursday 5 February in Croke Park the winners of the Dublin City Student Enterprise Awards were announced by Lord Mayor, Cllr Eibhlin Byrne.The winners in the Senior section are Muckross Park, Donnybrook. E.T.O. run by Sive Dooley, Eimear Mc Crann, Sabina Keane, Grace Joyce and Ellis Reilly won €500 and a Dublin glass trophy each. The Intermediate group winners are Loreto Stephens Green. Personalise Me, run by Ciara Walsh, Emille Thornton and Kate O'Regan. The Winners in the Junior Section are Colaiste Eoin, Funky Folders with Jessica Stuart, Emily Robinson and Philomena Graydon.
Each student-run enterprise set up an exhibition display stand at the competition venue before being interviewed by a panel of experienced judges. From a total of two hundred and fifty marks, the young entrepreneurs are marked on areas such as Business Performance, Market Research, Interview Skills, Finance, Risk Management, Innovation and Personal Development.
They will represent Dublin City in the National Schools Competition in Tullamore, Co Offaly on Thursday, May 14th 2009 for the annual Student Enterprise Awards for secondary schools. It is the biggest programme of its kind for secondary schools in Ireland and is organised by the network of County and City Enterprise Boards. www.studententerprise.ie
In all, three hundred students from seventy-five student enterprises from secondary schools all over Ireland will compete across the Junior, Intermediate and Senior categories. Around 12,000 secondary school students take part in the Student Enterprise Programme every year. To qualify for the National Finals in Tullamore, the student-run enterprise must first win their category at the local Enterprise Board finals, which are held around the country.
"We recognise that our economy relies on small businesses to sustain growth and that there is an ever-increasing need for Irish entrepreneurs to identify and develop new opportunities at home and abroad. The Student Enterprise Programme helps our future entrepreneurs to learn the necessary business skills today, to help them identify and develop their own business opportunities in the years to come," said Greg Swift, CEO, Dublin City Enterprise Board.
The overall prize fund of €20,000 includes a SMARTBoard interactive whiteboard worth €6,000 and the winners of the Senior Category will enjoy an educational trip abroad with their teacher.
There was a demonstration of the www.businessgame.ie where students can hone their entrepreneurial skills for free. The student with the highest score by 30 April from a registered school in Dublin City will win an Anus Lap Top.
RTE, Den News were there to capture all the action of the day. Check out
http://www.rte.ie/tv/theden/news2day/news2day_20090206_av.html?2487781,null,228