Schools Programme 2009
Student Enterprise Programme - Westmeath’s Young Entrepreneurs
As an Enterprise agency, we take a special interest in instilling a culture of entrepreneurship amongst second level students in County Westmeath. We recognise that they are the business owners of the future, and the earliest we can impart business and enterprise skills to students the better. The Schools Enterprise Programme represents a fantastic opportunity to promote the concept of enterpreneurship and to give students an opportunity to run their own business. They may never have the opportunity to do this again.
All second level establishments in the county are invited to take part in this competition and receive support from the Enterprise Board in developing an enterprise culture within their school / project.
Interested students must develop a business idea and put it into practice by selling their product or service. They must then compile a short business report on their project. Schools are then invited to select winners within their school and nominate them for the Westmeath County Final. At the County Final, all participating schools compete to select one winner (from each category)who will represent the county at the National Finals.
On March 9th 2009, Westmeath CEB hosted their County Finals and the winners chosen displayed innovation, hard work and good sales skills which brought commercial success to their projects. Impressing judges this year was the international element to the competition as one of the winning teams had sourced their products from Guatemala. Each year, the variety of projects is very impressive and includes projects on I.T., services, craft, design, food products and gift ware. This years winners included :
| SELL - B | St. Joesphs College,Summerhill, Athlone |
Maura Mee, Gemma Stack, Sarah Murphy, Deirdre O’Neill |
| STUDY BUDDY | Loreto College ,Mullingar |
Niamh Hand, Lisa Brennan, Aine Lynn |
| ALL AGES & STAGES | Athlone Community College |
Niamh Farrell, Ellen Foley |
The Enterprise Board support schools and colleges by providing information sessions on the competition, DVD’s, guest speakers and advice and support on assisting students. A website, www.studententerprise.ie is also available to students with helpful hints and advice on getting their business idea up and running. On the student enterprise website you can also download 'Exploring Enterprise' detailing all you need to know about running your own business.
This initiative is just one of a number of programmes that Westmeath County Enterprise Board Ltd. offer with the overall aim of stimulating an enterprise culture among young people. This competition, since its inception, has been very successful and will have long term benefits in helping Ireland’s youth to develop attitudes and skills for personal success and life-long learning and employability.
The competition is aimed at all second level students and contains Junior, Intermediate and Senior categories. The winners at county level go forward to the national level competition which takes place in May each year.
In addition to our Student Enterprise Awards competition aimed at stimulating an enterprise culture, Westmeath CEB also provide a number of additional supports to schools :
- Organisation of guest speakers for local schools to talk on business topics.
- Delivery of talks by CEB staff on all aspects of enterprise and running a business.
- Regional Seminars – Young People and Enterprise Midlands Seminar and Information Event, Athlone.
- Appointed mentors to individual students to assist them with enterprise development.
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