Mitchelstown school win best display in North Cork Schools enterprise competition
Students from the Presentation Secondary School in Mitchelstown, brought home an award for the best display stand in the senior category from the Regional Final of the North Cork Schools Enterprise Programme on Thursday last.
The students entered their gluten-free baking company 'We Do' in the awards.
The competition is part of the National Student Enterprise Awards, an annual competition which attracts over 17,000 students each year.
Students from St Mary's Secondary School in Mallow took the top prize and will now go forward to the national final which will take place in Croke Park on April 2. They also captured the prize for best use of social media.
The girls’ innovative business idea is called 'Flexi'. Their main product is a wipeable and re-usable kids’ activity place mat. The innovation in the product lies in the fact that it keeps children entertained while they wait for their food when eating out and with just one wipe is 100% re-usable, cutting down on costs for the restaurant. The girls have already managed to get their products into various restaurants and eateries in the Mallow area.
The past six months has seen them take their product from idea stage through to production, sales and marketing.
'Slates R Us' the entry from Boherbue Comprehensive School, also won a display award.
'Frulatti', Boherbue Comprehensive School's milk shakes entry, and 'Limitless' Mercy Secondary School Kanturk's DIY sock monkey kit were deemed to have produced the best business reports while the prizes for best innovation went to 'Acetate', educational bookmarks from Mercy Secondary School in Kanturk and 'Nutritrix', educational placemats for children, from St Mary's Secondary School in Charleville.
When it came to marketing it was Nagle Rice Secondary School in Doneraile and White Deer Productions, Davis College, Mallow who took the prizes, the former for their mental health promotion company and the latter for their event management company.
Aoife O'Connor of Mercy Secondary School in Kanturk was named Most Promising Entrepreneur.
Prizes also went Mallow's way in the junior and intermediate categories of the competition and to the same school in both categories, the Patrician Academy. First year students won with their 'hurley holders' idea and will go forward to represent North Cork Enterprise Board at the national final. The boys’ products are small hurleys painted in county colours that have three hooks on them to hold items such as keys, medals etc.
2nd year students scooped the top award on the day for The Mallow Card Company, which produces a range of Christmas cards.
32 mini-companies in all took part in the event which is designed to give students who are running their own student enterprises a taste of what it’s really like to be entrepreneurs. At the event, students set up exhibition stands and gave a 10 minute interview to a panel of judges comprising of members of the local business community.
The manager of North Cork Enterprise Board, Michael Hanley, speaking after the event said: "We are absolutely delighted with the turn-out at the event this year and it is very much a testament to the hard work and commitment of the teachers and students in the schools in the North Cork region".
Published:
Friday 14th March 8:39am
