National award for Laois students at Enterprise finals
Paddy Lynch and Tom McDonald from St Mary's CBS Portlaoise, whose business, I CAN, won the Junior Business of the year for 2026 at the National Final of the Student Enterprise Awards in Mullingar Park Hotel, Mullingar .Photographer: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland
STUDENT (s) from Laois have taken 1st prize in the Junior Category at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals.
Supported by Local Enterprise Office Laois the students from St Mary`s CBS, Portlaoise won 1st place overall and the Intellectual Property Awards in the Junior Category. The winning students were Paddy Lynch and Tom McDonald who worked under the guidance of their teacher, Ms Deirdre Moore. Their student enterprise was called: ‘I CAN', which offers a bottle and can collection and recycling service.
The Finals of the Local Enterprise Office initiative took place last Thursday in Mullingar.
The event was hosted by broadcasters Rick O’Shea and Ruth Scott, and they were joined during the ceremony by Alan Dillon, T.D., Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail to announce the winners across the three main categories on the day.
Dom Reddin, Acting Head of LEO Laois said: “The Annual Student Enterprise Awards continue to showcase the very best of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship among secondary school students nationwide. As Ireland’s largest enterprise competition for young people, the programme provides participants with invaluable real world experience in running a business, including teamwork, production and financial management, sales and marketing, and direct engagement with customers, judges, and the media. Winning the Junior Category at national level is an outstanding achievement for the students of CBS, Portlaoise, and is a powerful testament to the strength of entrepreneurial talent and ambition emerging within County Laois.” Alan Dillon, T.D., Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail, said; “This is one for the great days for Irish entrepreneurship in the country. We get a chance to see almost 90 businesses started by secondary school students from across the country who have all been shortlisted for the finals and that in itself is an amazing achievement from the 30,000 pupils who started last September.
“These are students who have come up with brilliant ideas and forged them into businesses, making sales and understanding and learning the skills it takes to become an entrepreneur. No matter what path they choose in life those skills will stand by them but we hope that many of the students we see today will go on to become the start-up leaders and entrepreneurs of the future in this country.” In all, there were 88 student businesses in contention across three main categories for the Final in what is Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme for second level students. The initiative, funded by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employent, through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country, saw over 30,000 students from 500 secondary schools across the country take part.
The National Final students, who competed across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, were all in attendance on the day exhibiting their businesses which were judged by a team of national businesses experts and mentors. Each student enterprise was challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, which must show sales of their service or product. The judging panel included business owners and representatives from enterprise agencies and associated bodies.
The Student Enterprise Programme is open to students of all ages at secondary level, with three separate categories - Junior (1st year), Intermediate (2nd and 3rd year) and Senior (4th, 5th and 6th year, LVA, LCA and Youth Outreach).
The Student Enterprise Programme is funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country. Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, over 500,000 students have taken part, learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business.
The Student Enterprise Programme is one of a number of initiatives that the Local Enterprise Offices run, to foster entrepreneurship across the country. Others include Local Enterprise Week, the National Enterprise Awards, National Women’s Enterprise Day and Local Enterprise Showcase. The Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities are funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland.
