Student lands top prize with website

UP and coming business visionaries, whose projects may create jobs for themselves and for others, were honoured in Killarney last night. School gifts for graduates and a new LCD recycling device were two ideas that earned their creators the title of Young Entrepreneur 2010.

The awards were the culmination of the six-month Young Entrepreneur Programme (YEP), now in its third year.

Michael Dillane, a Tralee CBS transition-year student, beat more than 350 secondary school students for the title with his business plan for a school gifts website.

Schoolgiftsforgrads.com offers Leaving Certificate students a wide range of gifts in varying price, quality and style. Michael, whose prize is a trip to Silicon Valley, California, is already running the business from home.

Third-level winner Lisa O'Donoghue won the award for her idea to recycle LCDs. The University of Limerick student's design allows LCD monitors to be safely disposed of into valuable computer waste. Her prize is €5,000 in seed funding to further develop her business idea.

Lisa was one of more than 120 third-level students from the Institute of Technology (IT), Tralee, and the University of Limerick (UL) who took part in the Young Entrepreneur Programme this year, a joint initiative between the IT, Tralee, Shannon Development and entrepreneur Jerry Kennelly.

Other finalists were Shane Buckley, of Presentation Secondary School, Milltown, who produced a solar power light for handbags, and Norita Cashman, St Brigid's, Killarney, who crafted a new watering system for flowerpots, window boxes and hanging baskets.

Over the past three years, 1,600 students have graduated from the Young Entrepreneur Programme and the number is set to increase to more than 1,900 by 2013.

Mr Kennelly said the YEP generation will be well prepared for entrepreneurship.

"Thanks to the programme, they will be given access to the concept that their future success is only limited by their imagination and their hunger to learn new skills, to satisfy the global demand for better, faster, cheaper and more innovative goods and services," he said.

The 18 finalists put their ideas to the test before a judging panel at the Malton Hotel, Killarney.

The winners were chosen by leading business people, including Michael Dawson, chief executive of Gift Voucher Shop; Nicola Byrne, managing director and founder of 11890; Terry McWade, deputy chief executive, Royal College of Surgeons; Eddie Buckley, managing director, Aspen Connect, and Mr Kennelly.

The award for the best overall secondary school went to Presentation Secondary School, Milltown, where more than 30 students took part. The award – €5,000 worth of classroom IT equipment – was accepted by principal Cormac Bonner and teacher Mark Hanley.