Clare school well 'pea-leased' to win inaugural GROW2CEO challenge

Scariff Community College is one of three winners of the inaugural GROW2CEO, a challenge aimed at seeking out Ireland’s next generation of budding food entrepreneurs, delivered by GIY and kindly supported by Accenture.

One of the three shortlisted schools from the Galway regional final, Scariff Community College has been awarded a school garden worth €2000, a €500 growing materials grant and a school tour to GROW HQ.

Students Blathin O'Connor, Sarah Treacy and Marie Crotty created ‘Pea-licious P Pasta’ a tasty, fresh, nutritious, transportable, competitively priced and plant-based pea pasta.

The team guarantee the use of organic products while growing and cooking and packaging, meaning that all ingredients are organic and any waste created is returned to their garden as organic fertilizer.

Each of the 250 post-primary schools that registered to take part received a GIY pea growing kit to plant the seed of 'wonder food' for people and the planet.

In addition, expert growing tips and training advice from GIY founder Michael Kelly were provided along with business start-up and development guides.

Throughout the 16-week programme, the students learned how to grow food from seed, develop a sustainable food-related digital marketing and business plan and engage with 1-2 businesses in their areas, from start-ups to food producers to food suppliers, or environmental businesses to gain knowledge & insights from industry.

Following their 16-week-long learning programme and the development of a brand new food business, the winners were shortlisted for a dragon’s den style pitch in their region and they battled it out through the delivery of a 10-minute pitch on their new food product and business model to a panel of judges from GIY, Accenture, Guaranteed Irish, Taste Waterford, Cork Chamber of Commerce and Galway Chamber of Commerce.

Commenting on the results Michael Kelly Founder of GIY says, “For such a small country Ireland punches above its weight when it comes to top-class food businesses.

"Our landscape, our climate and our value placement on whole, nutritious and seasonal food along with entrepreneurial savvy create the perfect recipe for this success. We hope that each of these groups, not only the winners strive on with each of their fantastic food businesses and that this is the spark to create another great Irish food brand.”

In addition to creating a savvy new business, GIY reports an increase in the key 5 Food Empathy behaviours as a result of growing their food was prevalent amongst each group.

Each student group reported that during the project period, they ate more plants, were more conscious of food waste, supported local producers, and considered how to stop food pollution and build a greater connection with nature through the project.