04 July, 2022

MTU’s Enterprise Camp 2022 took part online from the 27th of June to the 30th of June and in person on the 1st of July.

 

 

This is the tenth year of this week-long Camp which is hosted by the Hincks Centre and funded by MTU’s School of Business and the Higher Education Authority. The Camp aims to provide a creative, innovative and inspirational environment for secondary school students to build their creative confidence and to explore their entrepreneurial potential.

 

   

 

This was the first time that Enterprise Camp was delivered on-line and in-person in a hybrid approach. It was important to us that Camp was made available to all secondary school students across Cork and Kerry, whether they live in Bantry, Tralee or Cork City.

The theme of this year’s Camp was Social Entrepreneurship. Students aged 14-17 from schools all over Cork City and County and areas of Kerry, were tasked with creating innovative entrepreneurial solutions to societal problems. By doing this, not only were they gaining valuable skills for life but also for their chosen careers with the potential to support communities, our environment and society.

The schedule for the week was jam packed with sessions on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sessions from entrepreneurs and sessions from our MTU colleagues. Competitions and tasks made the week eventful. As well as these sessions, students worked in groups to develop an idea for a social enterprise.

 

 

Dr Helen McGuirk, Head of MTU's Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence, kicked-off the week's proceedings welcoming all students. Guest speakers and MTU staff spoke about the main focus of this year’s Camp - the SDGs. Sharon Keilthy, Treasa Cadogan, Cleide Hearn, Thomas McCarthy and Sean Treacy as well as MTU graduate Robert Gabriel, joined us to inspire the students with their own entrepreneurial stories. The diversity of presenters provided great interest and interaction for the students. Philip Smyth from the Atlantic Flight Training Academy (AFTA), joined us to explain about opportunities in the air space sector and staff from MTU gave presentations on the use of Canva, Marketing, Cyber Security and the UN SDGs.

This year, we had 46 active participants online every day from 28 schools in Cork and Kerry and 41 students who made it to our in-person event on Friday the 1st of July. Both male and female students took part in relatively equal numbers, ranging in age from 14 to 17 years old.

Students were allocated a team and the team worked online to solve business and environmental issues. The mixed gender teams were made up of students from different schools and different ages, which encouraged their communication, negotiation and social skills. Teams were tasked with creating a business idea that addressed one or more of the SDGs encouraging their entrepreneurial and creative skills.

 

      

 

Design and pitching skills were put to the test as students designed a poster and recorded a 1-minute video elevator pitch to describe their group ideas. The ideas, designs and pitches developed were of an extremely high standard with students putting an enormous amount of work into each idea and creation.

 

The final day of Camp was in-person at MTU's Bishopstown Campus with 41 students attending. Dr Helen McGuirk welcomed Prof Maggie Cusack, President of MTU, and Dr Breda Kenny, founder of the Hincks Centre and now Head of MTU's School of Business. All the 1-minute elevator pitch videos were played after which Dr Kenny presented each student with their Certificate of Participation.

Students then took part in a Creative Spark session where they experimented with LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® to express their SDG business idea. They also took part in the Spaghetti Marshmallow Challenge for design thinking to practice prototyping in testing.

 

This was followed by a tour of the MTU Bishopstown Campus, including watching 3D printing in action, before we all boarded the bus to the Atlantic Flight Training Academy in Little Island. Each students had a turn to enter the flight simulator of the Boeing 737-800 and practice manoeuvres before returning to Bishopstown Campus. 

 

   

 

Students left with goodie bags packed with goodies from our sponsors - Ballymaloe Foods, Telus and the Marketing Department in MTU.

 

       

 

Feedback from the Camp was extremely positive with parents emailing during the week and after Camp had ended to say how much their son or daughter enjoyed Camp.

 

Next year we hope to welcome students back to MTU Bishopstown Campus for Enterprise Camp 2023.