Following the local final of the Newstalk 106-108fm Student Enterprise Competition at Tipperary Institute yesterday, a team of students has been chosen to represent the college at the national semi-final of the competition in January. The Clonmel students that make up the winning team are Eimear Corbett, Elizabeth Davies, Jason Fogarty and Simon Pollard. The winning team was coached by Fiona Browne.

 

Now in its fourth year, the competition is designed to foster a spirit of enterprise among third level students and develop their understanding of business management, with a view to cultivating early-stage entrepreneurship. Using a case study format, the competition encourages participants to research companies and, as part of a team, devise solutions to ‘real life’ business scenarios.

 

A record 340 teams from Ireland’s 14 ITs, Tipperary Institute and the National College of Ireland entered the 2009 competition in November.

 

From these entries, the top four teams from each college were chosen to compete in the local finals, which were all held yesterday in each of the individual colleges.

 

During the local final, each team received the same case study, a real-life business problem for which they had to develop a solution. The team then had to give a 30 minute presentation on their solutions to a panel of judges. Judging was conducted by Brian Keating Development Manager Shannon Development, Moya Breen Director of Business Tipperary Institute and Dr James Griffin Programme Specialist Tipperary Institute.

 

Denis O’Brien, Chairman of the Competition and of Newstalk 106-108fm, commented, “We are delighted and encouraged to see that this year’s competition has attracted a record number of entries. It demonstrates an appetite among students to develop their business knowledge as well as great ambition for success. The competition is designed to allow students to co-operate and work together in order to achieve a set of goals. It allows participants to utilise the knowledge gained from their studies and put it to practical use. It is excellent experience and preparation for a career in business”

 

The overall prize for the winning team and their Team Coach is a study trip to the Caribbean to visit Digicel’s operations in the region. Digicel is the fastest growing wireless telecommunications operator in the Caribbean and recent entrant to the Central America market.

 

Last year’s winning team were from National College of Ireland so the national semi-final and the national final will be held in the National College of Ireland on 31st  January and 1st February 2010