Cork Schools Enterprise Programme

Our local Communities need successful Business Owners and the wealth they create in order to prosper better.  It is for this reason that the NCEB works to see more businesses trading more profitably and employing more people in our five local areas … now and into the future.  In this regard, the NCEB has identified our School Students as one of our priority target groups - our business men and business women of the future!  The long term goal is that these Students will be more oriented towards “creating a new job” rather than just “getting a job”.

In this way, NCEB seeks to fulfil a role as culture change agent, making our local areas much more pro business and enterprise-friendly.

Also, the hope is that those Students, who eventually do opt for self employment as a career choice, will bring to their new business a much broader approach including a focus on finance and marketing and not just on production alone.

The Cork Schools Enterprise Programme is based on “learning by doing”, with each Student Group setting up a mini company - raising all the necessary finance; identifying producing and selling a product; making a profit; filing company accounts and returns; etc … 

In the current School Year 2010/ 2011, 247 Second Level Students are participating in mini companies in 14 of our 18 Second Level Schools.  Many regional, national and international events and competitions were organised, with prizes at each - to encourage, praise and salute the efforts of our Students.

Visit of Business Leaders to Mini Companies

As part of each year’s Enterprise Programme, the NCEB arranges for our Chairman, Directors and other business leaders to visit the mini companies in a number of the participating Schools. 

Each of these visits was covered in a quarter page feature in the following week’s Corkman Newspaper, which coverage is always very well received - these visits are features of the Schools’ Programme unique to Schools in the North Cork Region.

New Competition / New Opportunity for future journalists!

As part of the Cork Schools’ Enterprise Programme, The Corkman announced a new competition on 10 November 2007.  Editor Brendan Malone said the competition and the prize would represent a very significant opportunity for any Student, who was thinking about journalism as a career.

To enter the competition, any interested Student was to prepare a quarter-page article on her / his mini company, profiling the start-up and ongoing work of that mini company and the visit of the business leaders to the mini company, each article submitted was published in The Corkman.

Entries to the competition were judged by NCEB Chairman Emer Howard, and Editor Brendan Malone.

The winning Student was NW and he receive a prize of a new N series Nokia N70 mobile phone / RealPlayer Media Player, with 2 megapixel camera with 20x digital zoom, with two-way full-screen video call capability and with 22MB MP3 eAAC+ MPEG-4 media capability to download and play multimedia files (video and music) from full speed USB 2.0.  N will also be given a two-week work experience opportunity as a journalist in The Corkman newspaper in Mallow, working alongside the various professionals engaged in the production of a leading local newspaper - a fantastic opportunity for a budding journalist.  Yet again, this competition is a feature of the Schools’ Programme unique to Schools in the North Cork Region.

Schools Enterprise Programme 2009/2010

The annual North Cork Schools Enterprise programme was launched at Springfort Hall Hotel last Monday night, October 26th.

Minister for Education and Science Batt O’Keeffe officially launched the event, which is sponsored by AIB Mallow and The Corkman. A record  572 Transition Year students will take part in this year’s North Cork Enterprise Board initiative. Minister O’Keeffe welcomed the continuation of the NCEB programme pointing out that it inspires entrepreneurship in the classroom.

Transition Year students throughout North Cork are already embarking on school mini-companies as part of the NCEB programme. Co-ordinator of the schools programme Joan Kelleher along with the vital army of teachers  will guide the students over the coming year towards setting up successful companies. The event culminates in a national competition in April.

During the year there will be several initiatives and opportunities available. The winner of an essay competition will be given two weeks work experience at The Corkman office. Winners of the best mini-company in North Cork will get €1500 worth of computer equipment from AIB Mallow.

“By tasking students with setting up their own mini-companies the programme guides students in the direction of creating jobs rather than just showing them how to get one,” said Minister O’Keeffe. “They come up with their own business ideas, write the business plan, produce the product, market it and, most importantly, learn to manage the books.”

The Minister  paid tribute to the North Cork Enterprise Board for “working hard with national and local agencies and local business groups in helping to create jobs in our region”.

On the night, representatives from local schools and the business sector mingled for what enterprise board chairperson Emer Howard cautioned could also be last schools enterprise programme — if An Bord Snip Nua has its way.

Click here to open Corks own schools enterprise program website.

North Cork Schools Enterprise Directors Conference

The North Cork Schools Enterprise Directors Conference took place at the end of October in the Hibernian Hotel Mallow, with participation from several schools in the North Cork Region.

Students from The Patrician Academy Mallow pictured at the Directors Conference held in the Hibernian.

Seated centre Michael Hanley Manager NCEB, Geraldine O’Brien Owner/Manager Subway, Niall Hartnett Director Barry Group and standing :Elaine O’Regan Enterprise teacher.

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