01 February, 2017

On Friday 27th of January, Enactus Ireland held its Spring Summit in Cork Institute of Technology (CIT). The Spring Summit focuses on a number of helpful training sessions with the objective of improving their social enterprise projects, while also identifying any potential risk and issues the teams could face between now and the National competition.

150 students from 10 colleges around Ireland came together in the hope of bettering their projects. Students will take part in a 10 phase Project den which includes topics such as Project management, marketing and succession planning. The practical sessions, delivered by partner companies of Enactus Ireland, give an insight in to how projects are managed and progressed in industry while also developing the leadership and teamwork skills of the groups.

Each team has had Access to support and mentorship from a range of Enactus partners including bank of Ireland, KPMG, Abbott, Cartrawler, AIG, KBC Bank, Willis Towers Watson, MERC Partners, Microsoft, New Ireland Assurance, Unilever, Musgrave Group, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Oracle, HSBC, Havas and The Ireland Funds.

This Summit offered the opportunity for the projects to continue with their development, in addition to being able to network with the rest of participants and entrepreneurs. The day proved to be very rewarding for the participants who were satisfied with the work achieved throughout the busy sessions and the progress made on their projects.

Students were welcomed to the student summit by Gerard O Donovan, Head of the Faculty of Business and humanities in CIT, who emphasised the importance of such collaborative events with key industry partners and encouraged all participants to make the most of the invaluable entrepreneurial skills they are gaining through these projects and initiatives.

Cork Institute of Technology were delighted to host this year’s student summit, an activity that compliments the wide range of student entrepreneurship initiatives taking place here on campus.

Enactus CIT are very encouraged by the progress to date and proud of the impacts achieved by the projects they have undertaken. The social entrepreneurship society offers great benefits for the students involved, developing a wide range of skills, offering access to top internships across Ireland and opportunities to travel the world.

The Enactus global initiative was introduced to the CIT campus in 2015 by the Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence who continuously supports the group, acting as faculty advisors and supporting the progression of the social entrepreneurship projects.

For further information please contact enactus@citsocieties.ie or hincks@cit.ie