Kate O’Sullivan, trading as KA Woodcrafts and representing Portumna Community School in Portumna, has taken first prize in the Senior category at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme Galway Finals. The business will now go on to represent Galway at the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals in Mullingar on May 7.
Supported by Local Enterprise Office (LEO ) Galway, Kate O’Sullivan impressed the judging panel with KA Woodcrafts, a student enterprise which manufactures handcrafted wooden products. The student worked under the guidance of teacher Deirdre Durac.
Yevhenia Havrushenko, Merlin College with her business Fidget Craft took first prize in the Intermediate category with Alice Monaghan from Presentation Athenry with her business Purely Crafted winning the Junior category.
The Bish was recognised with the Most Enterprising School award and secured prizes across all the categories which the school entered, including Best Business Report (Cartaí Beo ), Best Product (Lyte Keychains ) and Best Stand (Digitize ART ). The students worked under the guidance of teachers D. Loughnane and Niamh Doyle.
In total, 45 student businesses were in contention across three main categories at the Galway final, with teams competing for a place at the National Finals in Mullingar on 7th May 2026. Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme for second-level students is funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country. In 2025, the programme saw 28,000 students from almost 500 secondary schools take part nationwide.
Caroline McDonagh, Head of Enterprise, LEO Galway, issued congratulations to everyone who took part in the Galway finals.
“With over 1155 students and 28 schools taking part in this year’s programme, it is a huge achievement to make it to the finals and it shows a real flair for entrepreneurship. Amazing businesses and entrepreneurs have come from this programme.
“To those of you who won an award, congratulations—but most importantly, to everyone involved, this is a first step on the path. You are the entrepreneurs and business leaders of the future, and we’re excited to see what you do next,” she concluded.
