Council Chair announces winners of Young Enterprise Business Challenge  

16th November 2021

PLEASE NOTE: This article is over 1 year old and may not contain the most up-to-date information.
Young Enterprise Omagh CBS 2 thumbnail

To celebrate Global Enterprise Week, Young Enterprise Northern Ireland launched a business challenge aimed at  pupils in Years 8, 9 & 10 in schools across the Fermanagh and Omagh District with prizes for the winning entries.

The theme of this year’s Global Enterprise Week was “rebooting our communities and economies in the post pandemic world and students were tasked with devising ideas to reboot their own area. They were challenged to either create an alternative use for an empty retail unit in their local high street or design a new community hub with classes that would bring people back together again after a period of time when it was not possible to gather in significant numbers due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the presentation to the successful participants, the Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Councillor Errol Thompson said;

“The quality of submissions was of a very high standard and I have been extremely impressed by the thought process employed by the students to devise plans to reboot their local communities. I am sure that the adjudicators had a very difficult decision to make when deciding on the prize-winners and I would not have envied them their task. I would like to congratulate Oran and Jessica on their success.”

Carol Fitzsimons MBE, Young Enterprise NI Chief Executive, said: “We are so pleased to work in partnership with Fermanagh and Omagh District Council during Global Entrepreneurship Week. This investment by the Council shows they value the development of the skills of young people. The world of work will dramatically change by the time our children finish education.  They need to be prepared to adapt and thrive in this changing world.  This is where skills such as confidence, resilience and creativity are vital”.

Oran Conway from Omagh CBS was awarded first prize for his idea for a community space.  He came up with the idea of having classes where generations would teach each other their skills ie the younger generation would teach the older generation their digital skills like internet safety and the older generation could pass on their skills such as carpentry, sewing and baking. This is an excellent concept which would reunite two generations who were forced apart during the pandemic as well as share vital skills and knowledge.

The runner up award went to Jessica Gibson from Omagh High School. Jessica’ very novel and topical concept was the creation of a convenience store with a twist. Refill World is a shop that would help the environment by reducing the use of plastic containers. You can stock up on all your dry goods using your own containers and reduce the amount of plastic containers going to landfill.

The prizewinners were announced on social media by the Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Councillor Errol Thompson, as part of the Councils programme for Global Enterprise Week.