03 July, 2024

MTU Enterprise Camp takes place every summer. It is aimed at 14 to 16 year old students who spend a week exploring entrepreneurship and starting their own business as a future career.

 

 

This year’s MTU Enterprise Camp saw a record breaking 235 applications. Applications came in from second level students from all across Cork City and County, as far west as Bantry, as far east as Midelton and as far north as Fermoy.

The MTU Enterprise Camp was delivered in 2 locations again this year, our traditional Bishopstown Campus and, due to the success of last year’s Camp in West Cork, we partnered up with Clonakilty Agricultural College again to deliver the Camp to young enterprising students in the West.

We had a total of 25 speakers over the 2 weeks, 55 students taking part, in 2 locations, 14 student projects, endless fun, creative activities, competitions, learning for life and great questions!

 

 

Sinead Corcoran, Lecturer in the Department of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering in MTU, kicked off our first Camp in Clonakilty on the 24th of June with a spaghetti/ marshmallow challenge and virtual reality sessions equipped with VR headsets to break the ice. Next up was Peter O’Regan (CEO of TIGRE) who spoke to the students about his start-up journey to date and his passion for his idea stemming from his hobbies and studies in life. Elaine Calnan (MTU Cyber Skills Academy) followed on. Elaine went through a cyber security breakout session and explanation with the students. Tim Casey (MD of Cork Grassland Services) chatted to the students about his business and how technology has a huge part to play in agriculture. Dannel Basic (Founder of Teal Marine Technologies) spoke to the students about the blue economy and building sustainable boats and marine technologies for Atlantic waters. Katy Wareing (Director of Strategy & Innovation, Ludgate Hub) let students know about the services and the network that exist in West Cork for enterprises, and the opportunities coming down the road especially in the area of sustainability. Lorna O'Regan (Founder of Feel Good Health and Fitness) conversed with students on how she founded her 2 businesses, 1 in the area of health and fitness and 1 in the area of tourism boosting the local economy. Marie Cahalane (Clonakilty Credit Union) brought students through what the local credit union can offer students. Fiona Kelleher (CEO of MyGug) spoke about their sustainable business model and how their business positively impacts the environment. Students then took a bus from Clonakilty Agricultural College to MTU Bishopstown to experience the Campus where the majority of students had not visited previously. Emily Piggott (Student Intern, Rubicon Centre) and Paul Healy (General Manager, Rubicon Centre) gave the students a tour of the Rubicon Centre and introduced them to some of the entrepreneurs resident in the incubation centre. The first week closed with students delivering their 2-minute videos and 1-minute elevator pitch on their group social enterprise business ideas that addressed the SDGs.

 

 

A week later, our second Camp was delivered from the 1st to the 3rd of July in MTU’s Bishopstown Campus. Michelle O'Keeffe (PhD, Nimbus Research Centre) and Denise Heffernan (Nimbus Research Centre) conducted a design thinking workshop, tasking students with ideating for gifting. This got the creative spark ignited for the campers. Next, we had a talk from Sinéad Lordan (Founder of TASK) who highlighted the opportunities that COVID-19 brought about for her and how her business has grown as a result. Tracey Ryan (Head of R&D, Doctrine Skincare, and New Product Development Manager, Beauty Kitchen UK Ltd) spoke to the students about her dynamic entrepreneurial journey and how the skincare industry touches on many interest areas such as biological, chemical, marketing, logistics to mention but a few. Luke McKenzie and Elaine Calnan (MTU Cyber Skills Academy) visited us to deliver the Cyber Skills Workshop. Lisa Murphy (Lecturer in the Department of Management & Enterprise, MTU) got students to discuss and draw entrepreneurs as well as going through some important and eye-opening statistics on entrepreneurship in Ireland. Deirdre Mannion Weldon and Chulainn O'Neill (Bishopstown Credit Union) discussed the importance of financial literacy for entrepreneurship as well as the dangers of being a money mule. Laura O'Connell (Programme Officer, NFTE Foróige), Tom Rickard (VR Development Officer with Foróige) and Sonya Matthews (Educational Specialist, Foróige) delivered a design thinking workshops on gaming where students had time to build a game and get other groups to test the game and receive feedback for future iterations of their game. The campers visited the Rubicon Centre where George Bulman (Operations Manager) gave a tour, introduced the students to entrepreneurs and gave a talk on branding and the successful companies in the Rubicon. Finally, the students presented their 2-minute videos and 1-minute elevator pitch, in front of a panel of MTU experts, on their group social enterprise business ideas that addressed the SDGs.

 

 

Thank you to Helen McGuirk (Head, Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence) and Rebecca Robinson (Entrepreneurship Researcher, Hincks Centre) for coordinating and leading the Camp. Thank you to The Higher Education Authority for funding this important Camp and to the School of Business in MTU for their continued support. Also thank you to our colleagues in the Hincks Centre for their support throughout the Camp. The Technology Enhanced Learning Department at MTU, MTU Cork Campus Disability Support Service (DSS), Student Services in MTU, Catering in MTU, Health and Safety in MTU and the FOI Office in MTU for their help and support. All these departments and people helped to make this a successful Camp.

 

 

The Camp received great feedback from the students and parents alike. Our MTU Enterprise Camp has also been nominated for the ACEEU Triple E Award for EDI Community Engagement Initiative of the Year award 2024 in conjunction with the MTU GoalMine Programme, recognising MTUs impact on equality, diversity and inclusion for sustainable entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship education in the community.

If you or someone you know is interested in taking part in Enterprise Camp 2025, please see our Expression of Interest form at on the Enterprise Camp page of our website.

 

Rebecca Robinson

Hincks Centre Researcher

 

 

MTU Enterprise Camp is delivered and coordinated by MTU's Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence, supported by MTU’s School of Business, and funded by the Higher Education Authority (HEA).