Teenage entrepreneurs from the Patrician Academy, Mallow will represent north Cork at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National final, to be held on Thursday, 7th May, in both the intermediate and senior categories.
Over 700 students from 16 schools took part in the annual programme this year, culminating in the recent North Cork final at Springfort Hall Hotel and Cork County Council’s Local Enterprise Office Cork North & West making the announcement.
In the Intermediate Category, the student representing north Cork at the national final is Dylan Walsh with his business DW Sports. While in the Senior Category of the competition, north Cork will be represented by Rory O’Leary, Bill Palmer, Conor O’Leary and Ben Norton with their business ‘Crius AI”’, an app developed to help cafe and restaurant owners manage their businesses.
The enterprise education initiative, funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country, saw over 30,000 students from over 500 secondary schools take part in 2025/2026. The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Final.
North Cork has seen much success over the years. ‘Wrap it Up’ from Presentation Secondary School, Mitchelstown, won the Best Display award previously. While ‘Smooth Remove’ from Boherbue Community School going on to win 1st place in the national awards in 2019 in the highly competitive senior category. Eoin and Mark Sheehan from ‘Sheehan Exterior Clean’, also from Patrician Academy, won a national award in 2024.
The Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Mary Linehan Foley congratulated the students.
“We have 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 on the 7th of May. 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 local students will be competing against hundreds of other student entrepreneurs from all over Ireland at the Student Enterprise Programme National final, taking place in the Mullingar Park Hotel on May 7th.
