Budding entrepreneurs go to business bootcamp

Budding entrepreneurs behind a number of gadget and gizmo businesses are being given expert advice on how to grow their enterprises.

The eight winning senior entries at the National Student Enterprise Awards in April are learning from experts how to expand their projects in a bootcamp at University College Cork.

The use of a bootcamp is perhaps most appropriate for Offaly student Shiofra Ryan, whose An Tionchar business revolves around an impact hurling boot with enhanced ankle and arch supports, and a shock-absorbent insole.

She was the overall winner and is one of 17 students attending the event, where UCC’s college of business and law has arranged a programme to expand their understanding of the business world and gain new perspectives from people who have grown their own business.

Other projects include an affordable rain harvesting scheme for households from Coláiste Rís, Dundalk student Ciaran Boyle, and a device to help guide a key to the keyhole which won students of Desmond College in Newcastle West, Co Limerick, the senior innovation award in the national finals two months ago.

Niamh Murray, a student of Moate Community College in Co Westmeath, was attending with her Once Upon a Rhyme business, selling T-shirts and jumpers with tailor-made designs bringing nursery rhymes into the 21st century.

Other innovations and services whose developers are attending include a liquid and stain-repelling treatment for clothes, handmade wooden crafts, gift-wrapped grow-it-yourself plant kits, and a picture box frame with magnetic strip for organising make-up.

Stephen Walshe from Local Enterprise Offices said the students from around the country would further develop their entrepreneurial skills during the week of the programme.

They will also have a chance to network with business owners from the southern region at a dinner in their honour at Cork County Hall tomorrow.

The Student Enterprise Awards involve 17,000 students from 370 second-level schools each year, helping teenagers learn the skills to become the entrepreneurs of the future. For more details go to www.studententerprise.ie.