Published on: Friday, 21 August 2015

A week of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial experiences took place in CIT from 17th - 21st August 2015.  Aimed at 14 to 16 year olds, the students explored entrepreneurship as a future career during the fun and intensive programme.

The camp has continued to gain popularity throughout the years as it is the only programme of its kind in Ireland. The twenty five students from Cork city and county schools were based in the Rubicon Centre, CIT’s on-campus innovation centre on the Bishopstown campus which allowed them to become immersed in the entrepreneurial environment.

Groups were given the opportunity to be creative, work in teams and explore opportunities to ensure that they had a positive experience in a safe and entrepreneurial environment. The annual Enterprise Camp gives teenagers skills and confidence to develop their entrepreneurial spirit while exploring the many benefits of not just ‘getting’ a job but ‘creating’ a job instead.

The camp was packed full of inspiring start up stories from companies such as Tip Tap Tap, Clonakilty Black Pudding Company, Dog Day Media and Digihab.  An overview of the entrepreneur of the year programme by Ernst and Young and an exciting trip to Logitech allowed the group to gain diverse perspectives of today’s business world.

The final day saw the hard working students present their business ideas to a panel of experts and the CIT Enterprise mascot, ‘ACE’.  Some of the ideas during the week included; self-repairing screens for phones, an app for scanning clothing styles, a smart fuel management system, a phone case that protects your earphones and waterproof socks ; all which showed true innovation and market potential.

A session on financing your business and pricing your product was provided by the camp sponsor, Bank of Ireland, allowing the group to gain practical insight in to how to fund their future business ideas.

Gerard O’Donovan, Head of School of Business at CIT said, “This was a great opportunity for students to learn about entrepreneurship in an environment dedicated to start-ups and emerging companies.  The week was a great success and really motivating to see young people coming up with great ideas and being passionate about their ideas and having fun during the learning process.”

CIT is at the forefront of entrepreneurship education and training in the region and is ideally placed to host an Enterprise Camp. “It has acted as foundation for the participants to be more entrepreneurial in their own lives, with some hopefully starting their own business down the line” said Paul Healy, Rubicon Centre Manager.

The week came to an end with the students receiving a well-earned certificate from the CIT president, Dr Brendan J. Murphy and no doubt reflecting on the week’s activities and the many enterprise possibilities for them in the future.

James Buckley, Presentation College and Emma Buckley, Mount Mercy	Aisling Dore, Gaelcolaiste Cholim; Maeve Cronin, Mount Mercy; and Eimear O'Sullivan, Ballincollig Community School

Image Credit Darragh Kane