Tramore business wins Senior Student Enterprise Award
Tramore Sea Salt Spray from Ard Scoil na Mara wins Best Senior Student Enterprise in Waterford and qualifies for the National Student Enterprise Finals. Joining the Tramore business is Protein Pros from Mercy Convent secondary school, who won Best Junior Student Enterprise. The county finals took place on Tuesday March 5th at the Park Hotel in Dungarvan. Co-ordinated by the Local Enterprise Office Waterford, the final took place during Local Enterprise Week. The competition is the most successful programme of its kind in the country. 27,000 budding entrepreneurs from 380 secondary schools across the country have been running their own enterprises, with help from their teachers and Local Enterprise Offices.
Tramore Sea Salt Spray, winner of the Senior award, created, produced and sold a unique product to enhance hair texture and volume by using natural mineral-rich sea salt, giving your hair a beachy, tousled look while also nourishing and strengthening it. The team comprised of Ben Phelan, Arlo Barron, Donnacha Flannery and Sam Ahern. While the first Junior winners in Waterford in nearly 10 years produced a product similar to protein balls, however they made various different protein shapes instead. They offered multiple flavours including biscoff, dairy milk, and peanut butter in the shape of stars and hearts. The team included Sophie Wall, Emily O’Regan, Casey Wyse and Layla Costello.The Waterford Student Enterprise Programme started in September with over 1,000 students from 14 schools in Waterford City and County. They created their businesses, developed, branded, promoted and sold. But most importantly they learned what it felt like to run their own business.
Finally, 100 students represented 12 schools in Waterford County competed in the Waterford Student Enterprise Final on Tuesday March 4th at the Park Hotel in Dungarvan. 36 businesses in total, shortlisted from a total of 350 who commenced the competition in September, presented their business plans and challenged for the top prize in the county section of the Student Enterprise Programme.Tramore Sea Salt Spray and Protein Pros will represent Waterford at the National Finals on May 8th, taking on 34 other businesses, the best of the rest of the country.
National finalists from all over the country will set-up enterprise displays before taking part in a series of judges' interviews. The judging panels take numerous factors into account, such as business reporting, innovation, market research, risk management and finances. Praising the teachers and local schools involved in the programme, Gareth Evans, Head of Enterprise at the Local Enterprise Office Waterford, said: “We run a very successful and popular Student Enterprise Programme here in Waterford, thanks to the support of the many schools and teachers in the area. The Student Enterprise Awards give local teenagers a taste of what it’s like to run their own business and to be their own boss. Along the way, the programme helps them develop important entrepreneurship skills, learning about sales, innovation, managing finances and finding new markets. Learning the fundamentals of running a business now, will help them throughout their studies and career.”
Further information about May’s National Finals is available through www.studententerprise.ie, which also has free resources and video tutorials for students and teachers for the 2025/2026 programme.
For more information, please contact your Local Enterprise Office at 35 the Mall in Waterford City or Civic Offices in Dungarvan. Alternatively, you can email info@leo.waterfordcouncil.ie
