Mayo school wins top junior entrepreneur award

THE sixth class students in St. Joseph’s Primary School, Ballinrobe, have won the Creative Pioneers Award in the All-Island Junior Entrepreneur Awards for their JEP business, Handmade Seed Paper.

Seed paper is an environmentally friendly gifting alternative to regular cards. It is made by blending wastepaper and water and sprinkling it with seasonal wildflower seeds to produce occasional cards and gift tags. When ready to plant, the card can be torn into small pieces and sown in soil.

The class had the opportunity to discuss their business idea with Michelle Daly, the CEO of the hugely successful Irish card company P&G Cards.

“Michelle said that seed paper was a brilliant idea and one which her company may explore in the future; this gave us lots of motivation to continue and make our product better,” said the class spokesperson.

After much trial and error, the class settled on a successful formula for production - they developed a nine-step process to make the cards. They also designed handmade labels explaining the unique features of the card and tied them with lace ribbon.

Laoise May, a pupil in sixth class, said that the best part about being an entrepreneur is that 'you can use your creativity and put your own ideas out into the real world'.

The class promoted their business on the school's Twitter account and sold their cards at a School Showcase Day. They made a profit of €200.

The Creative Pioneers Award is presented to the class that displays ingenuity and creativity from the beginning of their JEP journey. This is reflected in the individual and group ideas proposed by the pupils and in the Big Idea chosen for their JEP project.