Cork students named junior entrepreneurs of the year

Students from Lisheen National School near Skibbereen, Co Cork are this year’s Junior Entrepreneur Programme’s Class of the Year 2024.

They were among 12,000 primary school children across the country who took part in the skills programme which encourages schoolchildren to create and launch a real business from their classroom.

The children, who range in ages from ten to 13, won the award for their natural, organic seaweed soap business, Draíocht na Mara.

Having secured a loan of €300 from the Parents Association for their seed money, they transformed their classroom into a science lab, experimenting with soap making, and working with different essential oils, seaweeds and natural dyes until they found their winning formula.

They created a label for the 300 bars of soap they produced and a video ad to promote it, and sold it at a showcase day for the local community, and at a stall in the local farmers’ market.

Sales of €2,160 were generated, and a profit of €1,350 which they spent on a day out, local shopping vouchers and a donation to charity, organisers have said.

They children now plan to spend the remainder on buying chickens and a coop for the school.

Class teacher Niamh McCarthy said that every child in the class “has blossomed and grown on this programme – children who aren’t suited to book learning, those who are highly academic, children who are very creative – there’s something for everyone, and it has been such a pleasure to watch them all flourish”.

The JEP programme started in Kerry in 2010 by entrepreneur Jerry Kennelly and over 112,000 pupils have participated in the free programme which nurtures entrepreneurial skills.

Since 2020, JEP has been supported by Enterprise Ireland under its Primary Schools Entrepreneurship Initiative.