Ireland may be experiencing the depths of an economic slump but in Tipperary Institute in Clonmel the best business minds of the future are striding ahead of their college counterparts and showing signs of a great future in business.
A four person team from the TI are celebrating this week following their victory in an All-Ireland colleges competition to find the next generation of Irish entrepreneurs.
Bachelor of business studies students Eimear Corbett, Simon Pollard, Eliz
abeth Davies and Jason Fogarty, all of whom are from the Clonmel area, took the first prize in the Newstalk 106-108fm Student Enterprise Competition, following a challenging final at the National College of Ireland on Sunday.
The four team-mates, along with their coach Fiona Browne, will now jet to the Caribbean this summer where they will shadow senior executives in businessman Denis O'Brien's Digicel group. Digicel is the fastest growing mobile operator in the Caribbean and a new entrant to the Central American market.
The winning team beat off strong competition from the three other finalist teams from DIT, GMIT and IT Tallaght. The four finalist teams were given a case study based on a real-life business scenario for which they had three hours to devise a detailed solution.
Each team was then given 30 minutes to present their business plan to a panel of judges that included Frank Cronin, CEO of Newstalk 106-108 fm; Ivan Yates, presenter of 'Breakfast' on Newstalk and managing director of Celtic Bookmakers; and Mary Davis, managing director of Special Olympics Europe / Eurasia.
A delighted team captain, Eimear Corbett, said after the announcement: "Winning this competition is an absolute honour. The experience we have gained throughout each stage of the competition has been invaluable. We're extremely excited to be travelling to the Caribbean this summer and look forward observing how a company as renowned as Digicel operates in the area."
Team mentor Fiona Browne told 'The Nationalist' that she and all the TI community are very proud of the team. Every year she has her entrepreneurship class take part in the competition, as part of their course assessment. The four best teams emerge from the local round of the competition, which was held last December. Semi finals took place in the NCI last Sunday, with the final the next day, Monday.
It was a very intense weekend for the Clonmel team but Fiona said that they all have different skills and they gelled together well. All four are members of the Future Business Leaders Association, which was set up in the TI last year.
The competition judges commended the team on their clarity, ability to answer questions put to them and their excellent presentation skills.
