Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Competing in Enterprise at CPC

One of the 2016 CPC TY Mini Companies exhibiting at Expo 2016 in Scoil Bhride.
One of the most interesting and competitive subjects in the Transition Year at Cross & Passion College is Enterprise, writes Chloe O'Connell. The module is monitored and helped by the County Kildare Local Enterprise Office.

Within the class the students break up into small groups with a maximum of five members. Within their groups they are set with the challenge of setting up their own mini company. Each group comes up with their own idea for a product or service they can provide. There were no shortages of ideas in the class.

Every few weeks someone from the Enterprise Office comes in to see how the groups are doing and what progress they are making and to offer them some guidance in their next business move.

Each group not only had to come up with a business idea but they had to design the product, create a logo, write a business slogan, come up with a company name, do some surveys, do up a business report and promote their business on social media.

The year is spent running the company, making sales and trying to make a profit. Every group is working towards the end date of 22 February to hand in the business reports in advance of judging. Two teams are selected from each participating school in the county, to go on to the county finals in the Kilashee House Hotel. The winners from the county final will go on to the national Finals in Croke Park.

There will be some tough competition between the teams in the CPC Enterprise class this year as every team has an amazing mini company in contention.

In 2016 four students from CPC represented Kildare in the National Student Enterprise Awards with their business Pow Pac — they were Fiachra Healy, Alan Lambe, Eoin Cahill, Caolán Byrne and Michael Armstrong, with their teacher Stephen Mann.

(Chloe O'Connell is in TY at CPC and had her week of work experience recently with Kilcullen Diary.)