Patrician Academy students to represent Cork at national enterprise event

Five student entrepreneurs will represent North Cork at the Student Enterprise Programme National final this summer.

Cork County Council’s Cork North and West Local Enterprise Office (LEO) announced that five students from the Patrician Academy in Mallow will represent North Cork at the competition in both the intermediate and senior categories.

This year, more than 700 students from 16 schools took part in the annual programme, culminating in the recent North Cork final at Springfort Hall Hotel.

The enterprise education initiative, funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by 31 LEOs throughout the country, has seen more than 440,000 students take part since its inception in 2003.

The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Final.

This year, in the Intermediate category, Dylan Walsh will showcase his business, DW Sports, alongside Rory O’Leary, Bill Palmer, Conor O’Leary and Ben Norton with their business, Crius AI, in the senior category.

Successful

The Mayor of the County of Cork, councillor Mary Linehan Foley said there is a very successful student enterprise programme in North Cork.

“Our national finalists are excellent ambassadors for the programme and we wish them the very best of luck,” said Ms Linehan Foley.

“What our students are learning from the programme is that with the right supports and encouragement, they can take an idea from the classroom and develop it into a real-life business.

“The skills they learn along the way, such as business planning, market research, selling and teamwork, will help them become more entrepreneurial throughout their future careers.”

The competition will take place at the Mullingar Park Hotel on May 7, and will see the five Cork students compete against hundreds of other student entrepreneurs from across Ireland.

For more information on the Student Enterprise Programme, visit: https://www.studententerprise.ie.