Cork Enterprise Month: Nurturing the next Generation of Entrepreneurs

Cork Enterprise Month: Nurturing the next Generation of Entrepreneurs

23 March 2010

Cork Enterprise Month has been celebrating the next generation of Cork Entrepreneurs with a number of activities and events organised by the Cork County & City Enterprise Boards (CEBs) in association with Second and Third Level Institutions in the County and City throughout March.  

For Second Level students, the CEB's have been running a Cork Schools Enterprise Programme that gives students the opportunity to set up and manage their own business.  The Programme aims to nurture innovation and entrepreneurship in secondary schools throughout Cork, and students participating on the programme take a business from the idea stage right through to completion, experiencing all the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

Cork Enterprise Month saw the students compete against each other in the regional finals of the Cork Schools Enterprise Programme at various locations in the County and City.  The winners of these regional heats will go on to represent their local Enterprise Board and their school at the national finals in Dublin this April.

The winners of the West Cork final, which took place on March 4th, were a team called ‘Belt Away' from Mount St. Michael Secondary School, Rosscarbery.  Their product is an educational board game and t-shirts with a positive message.

In North Cork finals on March 11th, the winners of the senior category were ‘Fowl Play' from Colaiste Muire, Buttevant where the students reared 25 turkeys for the Christmas market. While the winners of the junior category was won by ‘Mangoes' from the Patrician Academy, Mallow; for this project two second year students wrote and produced a childrens' story book.

Students from Christ the King School in Douglas and Midleton College scooped the top prizes at the Cork City and South Cork Regional Finals, which took place in CIT as part of their annual innovation day last Friday 19th March.  The winning team in the Cork City category was ‘Star Struck'.  The students from Christ the King School wrote and performed a series of anti-bullying plays in primary schools throughout Cork City to raise the awareness of the problem of bullying in schools.  The winning team in the South Cork category was ‘Perfect Plastics'.  The team from Midleton College produced BPA-free sports bottles, lunch boxes and cereal holders.

The promotion of entrepreneurship as a career choice is a vital element of the work of CEBs, and the Cork Schools Enterprise Programme contributes to this by promoting enterprise awareness and an enterprise culture.  The Cork Schools Enterprise Programme also features a range of other student enterprise activities including Junior Dragons' Den competition; and in-school talks to students by local entrepreneurs and staff of the Enterprise Boards.

The CEBs have been supporting a number of activities and events during Cork Enterprise Month, which foster and nurture entrepreneurial spirit in Third Level institutions. Events included INNOV8@UCC Week from March 8th to 12th, sponsored by the Cork City Enterprise Board and presented by the UCC Entrepreneurial & Social Society. 

The CIT Innovation Day, Showcase and Awards Ceremony took place on Friday 19th March, where prizes were awarded to those whose inventions and business ideas were judged most creative, novel, innovative, and likely to succeed in the marketplace.  1st place, and the coveted title of CIT Entrepreneur(s) of the Year in the CIT Prize for Innovation competition, sponsored by South Cork Enterprise Board was awarded to Mechanical Engineering student, Laurence Barry for his business ‘Hydrostack'.

Cork Enterprise Month, which has been running throughout March, was organised to highlight and celebrate the comprehensive range of Cork County & City Enterprise Board (CEB's) initiatives in Cork which promote and encourage entrepreneurship and innovation.  For further information on all upcoming events and activities taking place in association with the CEBs, visit www.corkenterpriseboards.ie or contact your local Enterprise Board.

Cork County & City Enterprise Boards are funded under Ireland's EU Structural Funds Programme 2007-2013 with funding from the Exchequer and the European Regional Development Fund.