Following the local final of the Newstalk Student Enterprise Competition at AIT, a team of students has been chosen to represent the college at the national semi-final of the competition in February. The students that make up the winning team are Nikita Dementiev, Ellen Rodekuhr, Inken Rodekuhr, and Ardan Hennessy.
Now in its fifth year, the competition is designed to develop an understanding of business management and promote early-stage entrepreneurship among third level students. 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.
Over 1,200 students across 320 teams, from Ireland’s 15 institutes of technology and the National College of Ireland, entered the preliminary stage of the competition. From these entries, the top four teams from each college were chosen to compete in the local finals, which were all held recently in each of the individual colleges.
During the local final, each team received the same case study 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. Each of the judging panels comprised of local business people, as well as a representative from the Business faculty in each college.
Following the local finals, competition chairperson Denis O’Brien said, “With Ireland experiencing a period of economic difficulty, entrepreneurs will play a central role in Ireland’s recovery. This competition gives participants the unique opportunity to work as part of a team, tackling real business problems. It gives students a valuable insight to just how business works. There are already signs of emerging businesses talent among this year’s participants. I look forward to seeing how the remaining stages of the 2010/2011 competition develop.”
The overall prize for the winning team and its team coach is a study trip to the Caribbean where they will shadow senior executives in leading telecommunications company, Digicel Group.
Last year’s winning team was from Tipperary Institute. They will host the national semi-final and the national final at their Thurles campus on February 6 and 7 2011.
For further information log on to studententerprise.newstalk.ie
