Pupils who created an organic seaweed soap business with a small loan from their parents’ association have cleaned up at an all-island junior entrepreneur competition which encourages children to create real businesses in their classroom. The fourth, fifth and sixth class at Lisheen National School near Skibbereen, Co Cork developed a mini-science lab in their classroom and experimented with soap-making, working with different essential oils, seaweeds and natural dyes. The pupils overcame several false starts and production problems before hitting on the winning formula for their “Draíocht na Mara” soap.
The class secured a €300 loan from the parents’ association for their seed money and made an initial batch of 100 soaps, but had to quickly increase production to 300 bars to cope with demand. READ MORE Pupils’ seaweed soap business cleans up at entrepreneur awards Leaving Cert Spanish: some struggled with ‘challenging’ vocabulary Leaving Cert chemistry: A ‘fair’ paper with plenty of choice and few surprises Student doing German-Irish commute wins disability funding after three-year campaign The class also used their digital skills to produce a label for the soap and create a video ad to promote it. Finally, they invited the local community to a showcase day where the product was on sale and also set up a stall in the local farmers’ market.
In all, the class generated total sales of €2,160 and a profit of €1,350. They repaid their parents’ associ.
