Students in the senior end of Carrigaholt Mixed National School are currently participating in the Junior Entrepreneur Project (J.E.P.). The children have created and produced diverse products and hope to sell their chosen project in the near future. The aim of J.E.P. is to give the children the opportunity to experience real life business learning integrated into their classroom. It is a 12 – 16-week programme which fosters creativity, problem  solving and independence. 

The programme allows the children to explore their abilities and discover new strengths in an inventive way in the classroom. It builds their confidence and self-esteem while being inherently rooted in team work. Initially the children work in groups to brainstorm ideas and produce a prototype of their chosen  product / service to present to a group of ‘Dragons’ on ‘Meet the Dragons Day’. Once a product / service is successfully chosen for the class they assign roles and responsibilities within the business, conduct market research, create the product, market the product and sell it at a showcase day organised by themselves. The children each invest a token amount of money in the ‘business’ so that they get a sense of the profit / loss risk involved in being an entrepreneur. Their aim is to create a successful business which produces a profit that they can then choose how to spend as a class. 

During the project the children are also given the chance to learn from local entrepreneurs and question them on the positives and negatives of running a business. J.E.P. incorporates all areas of the primary school curriculum during these 12-16 weeks while allowing the children the opportunity to practice practical, real-life business learning simultaneously.