A DEVICE for shoulder injury rehabilitation and exercise won the best invention award for two County Limerick secondary school students at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals.
Emma Greaney and Madison Brouder from Desmond College in Newcastle West, working under the guidance of teacher Donal Enright won the award for their “Rehabilation Nation” device.
Supported by the Limerick Local Enterprise Office, the students were challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, which must show sales of their service or product.
There were 82 student businesses in contention across three main categories in what is Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme with attracted an initial entry of 25,000 students from almost 500 secondary schools across the country.
Mike Cantwell of the Limerick Local Enterprise Office said that the Student Enterprise Programme continues to showcase the very best of Irish ingenuity and entrepreneurship amongst secondary school students.
“This year produced a varied selection of businesses, from agricultural products and homemade gifts to products that were built on our unique ability to tell compelling stories. We see every year that the National Finals are not an end point for our student entrepreneurs, but a stepping stone on the next stage of their entrepreneurial journey.
“From our class of 22/23, we will see some business leaders and global entrepreneurs of the future emerge,” Mr Cantwell added.
Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, more than 350,000 students have taken part, learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business.
