Plan to place 50 top graduates in export firms
Graduates 4 International Growth (G4IG), developed and delivered by Enterprise Ireland in partnership with UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, will last for 18 months.
Graduates will undertake an initial six-month intensive training and skills development programme in an Enterprise Ireland client firm followed by a 12-month placement in a relevant overseas market.
G4IG is aimed at developing firms’ export market development strategies and at the same time advancing graduates’ international business skills. It is geared towards Irish firms in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors with ambitious international business growth plans.
Successful graduate participants will be awarded a Post-Graduate Diploma in International Growth by UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.
Launching G4IG, Minister O’Keeffe said the programme would create graduate job opportunities and boost exports. The chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, Frank Ryan, said: “This initiative is about growing exports by strategically aligning graduate talent, market opportunity and companies’ international business plans.
“It is a unique opportunity for companies to acquire a valuable market development resource and to drive their export sales strategies.
“By combining access to the expertise and contacts of Enterprise Ireland’s world-wide network of offices and UCD’s extensive experience in delivering executive business development programmes, we are confident that G4IG will deliver significant results for companies and participants.”
The dean of UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Professor Tom Begley, said: “Ireland’s best option for dealing with the current economic difficulties is to trade our way out of them... We at UCD Smurfit School are pleased to offer our faculty’s expertise in marketing and international business in developing Ireland’s next generation of export management talent.”
