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2021 Wexford Student Enterprise Awards Announced

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Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 Wexford Student Enterprise Programme Awards, held in association with the Wexford Enterprise Centre which were announced recently following a live-streamed awards presentation. Approximately 860 students from 16 post-primary schools across County Wexford took part in the annual programme this year.

The three winning student entrepreneurs hail from Bridgetown College, Wexford CBS, and St Mary’s Secondary School, New Ross and will represent Co. Wexford at the Student Enterprise Programme National Final on Friday, May 14. Once again, this year’s National Final will take place online, with approximately 80 teams logging in from all over Ireland.

Lauren Williams from Bridgetown College won the Senior Category with her company ‘Irish Sea Mist’. Lauren produced her own sea-based natural ingredient face mists which have sold very well for the young entrepreneur. In the Intermediate Category, Evan Dwyer from Wexford CBS won for his handmade candles and soaps, ‘Evan’s Handmade Gifts’. The Junior Category was won by twins Grace and Issy Walsh from in St Mary’s Secondary School, New Ross. The sisters produced and sold a fun Wexford-themed card matching game called ‘2 Peas in a Pod’. In total, 24 trophies were awarded to different student mini-companies from across County Wexford.

The very first Student Enterprise Awards Programme in the country was established in 1994 by Wexford Enterprise Association and Wexford County Enterprise Board, now known as Wexford Local Enterprise Office. Since 2003, this successful enterprise education 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 over 29,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country take part last year. The program supports students to create, design and market their own business as well as learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business.

Congratulations to all the students and teachers who participated.

Further information around the Student Enterprise Programme is available from www.studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise and #WexfordSEP on social media.

Meet Harry Nolan, Founder of ‘Sticker Your Business’ winner of the 2019/2020 Student Enterprise Award

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We often look to experienced entrepreneurs for inspiration, but there is also a lot we can learn from those just starting out.

The Student Enterprise Awards programme was established in 1995 by Wexford Enterprise Centre to give secondary students the experience of setting up and running their own businesses. What began as Wexford only programme is now a successful national programme, administered by the Local Enterprise Offices (LEO). The programme has also been replicated at European level.

Harry Nolan, a student at St Mary’s CBS Enniscorthy, won the 2019/2020 Senior Category in County Wexford with, Sticker Your Club, a customised sticker business. He recounts his experience of setting up and running the business.

“The idea for Sticker Your Club came from a necessity to provide customised products at low cost to individuals and small businesses. Before Sticker Your Club, many small businesses, clubs, and individuals were unable to get personalised products due to prohibitive minimum order quantities. Sticker Your Club fills this gap in the market and allows smaller organisations and individuals to get these personalised products at a bulk price with a low quantity. We now provide a range of business services such as packaging stickers, business cards, leaflets, and clothing.

The most challenging part of the process was the initial set up of the business. At the beginning, it was quite challenging to build up a solid customer base and reputation which made it difficult to make decisions about stock levels as it was quite difficult to tell how much could be sold. However, as soon as this initial challenge was overcome it made it much easier to make these decisions and plan for the future.

Business is going very well. In a short space of time, we have increased our product range and are working on expanding our product range even further with a number of exciting developments in the pipeline.

The Student Enterprise Programme has been a brilliant initiative. It allowed me to develop a vast range of real-world life skills and develop as a person, student, and businessman. I would encourage all transition year students to engage and give their all to the program, as they will get double out of what they put into their projects.”

You can find ‘Sticker Your Club’ on Facebook and twitter @stickeryourclub.