Limerick Students Gather For Launch Of Student Enterprise Annual Awards Programme

Opening the event, Councillor Gerald Mitchell, Deputy Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, emphasised the importance of local entrepreneurs to the Irish economy.
Picture: Brian Gavin Press 22.

Students from across the City & County came together for the launch of the Student Enterprise Annual Awards this morning (Tuesday, 29 September 2015).

Hosted by the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) Limerick the awards form part of Limerick’s Student Enterprise Programme, which seeks to stimulate the creation of real-life businesses in secondary schools by encouraging students to research and manage their own business, with support from local business mentors.

More than 600 students from across Limerick gathered in the Council Chamber at Dooradoyle today to receive business advice from speakers including RTE presenter, Geri Maye and international Social Media Advisor, Paul O’Mahony.

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Opening the event, Councillor Gerald Mitchell, Deputy Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, emphasised the importance of local entrepreneurs to the Irish economy.

“Entrepreneurs develop new business ideas because they believe in what they are doing and have the confidence to never give in. These are the entrepreneurial traits you need to develop to become the business leaders of the future,” he told students.

Cllr Mitchell added: “I am filled with confidence when I look around the Chamber today and I see so many young people willing to learn more about how they can succeed in their future lives as business men and women, as leading members of their community.”

Anthony Coleman, Asst. Head of Enterprise, LEO Limerick stated: “Participation in the Student Enterprise Awards Programme is a great learning opportunity for students as they gain invaluable, on the ground experience outside of the conventional classroom environment.  The role of the teacher involved is also of great importance.”

Paul O’Mahony provided those in attendance with case studies and examples of how to a social media audience, before “Guide A Key”, last year’s winners, who attend Desmond College in Newcastle West, also made a presentation..

Clare Jordan, General Manager of Limerick Craft Hub, gave practical advice of how to commercialise ideas and establish a business, while she also highlighted the strong craft sector that exists in Limerick. Geri Maye encourageD students to pursue their dreams and spoke about how perseverance is an essential trait of all entrepreneurs when making career decisions.

While the students took in the thoughts of the guest speakers, their teachers were hard at work too with a workshop on idea generation provided by Gert O’Rourke, from the University of Limerick (UL) NexusProgramme, which assists High Potential Start Ups.

Garry Lowe of Whizzkids Training, who co-ordinates the competition and visits the schools every month to see how they are progressing, was next to the podium. He advised the students on a range of areas from idea generation to digital marketing and provided a host of tips on how to do well in the competition.

Speaking following the event, Mr. Lowe said: “Today is all about getting students thinking about running their own business and I couldn’t be happier with the way it went. The guest speakers really inspired and the reaction from the floor was great today. Already students were running some initial ideas by me and that was what we hoped to achieve. They will have to work hard on these ideas over the next six months before they are judged, but I and the Local Enterprise Office will support them all the way.”

Visit the Limerick Local Enterprise Office website here

Check out the Limerick LEO Facebook page here

Read more about Limerick business here