Graduate Entrepreneurship and Business Immersion Programme UNDER MY WING SUMMER 2014

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1 UNDER MY WING SUPPORTING GRADUATE ENTREPRENEURS Graduate Entrepreneurship and Business Immersion Programme SUMMER 2014 The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. Peter Drucker

2 UNDER MY WING SUPPORTING GRADUATE ENTREPRENEURS

3 Introduction Welcome to the Under My Wing Programme. As a person who has recognised an opportunity and who is acting on it to start a new enterprise, you have become a member of one of the most important groups of people in Europe you have become one of Europe s entrepreneurs. Enterprising people like you are essential to European growth and job creation and to maintaining and improving the prosperity of Europe s citizens. Under My Wing is a fresh, new, energetic programme with an innovative curriculum format that will introduce you to the skill sets required to address the complex daily life of an entrepreneur. It aims to contribute to the development of your enterprise attributes and related personal competencies and to impart the fundamentals of sound business management that will help you as you launch your own business venture. From the first day you will: Develop your business idea for commercialisation, Hone your entrepreneurial skills of innovation, creativity, and opportunity recognition, Acquire real-life practical business skills such as business planning, legal and financial matters, and accessing finance, Learn how to market and sell your ideas and products, Begin developing your network of business contacts. During the programme you will: Experience the reality of creating and running a start-up through close contact with local small and micro business owners, Enhance your understanding of the business environment, Proof and test your business plan. By the end of the programme you will have: The confidence to take your business forward. Under My Wing comprises 100 hours of media-rich blended learning, delivered over the following seven modules: Module 1 Becoming an entrepreneur, have you got the right ides Module 2 Starting your business, turning your ideas into a success Module 3 Access to finance, securing capital for you and your business Module 4 Sales and marketing, knowing and growing your customer base Module 5 Business management, organisational skills and strategic planning Module 6 Communication, networking and understanding different business cultures Module 7 Business immersion, in-company mentoring and support Technical, behavioural and management competencies relevant to entrepreneurship will be addressed as you progress through the multi-media-rich e-learning activities and the highly practical classroom based learning that comprises seminars, workshops, discussion groups and Master Classes delivered by experienced entrepreneurs. The learning will be enhanced through immersion in the activities of local micro, small and medium sized businesses where you will experience the realities of running an enterprise and gain valuable insight into the businesses environment from the owners of these businesses. We hope you enjoy the programme and we wish you every success on your entrepreneurial journey. The Under My Wing Project Team A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. Nolan Bushnell

4 Module 1 Becoming an Entrepreneur Have you got the right idea? To kick-start your entrepreneurial journey you will examine the professional and personals skills needed to become a successful entrepreneur and assess the risks and opportunities associated with becoming an entrepreneur. It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be right by having no ideas at all. Edward de Bono You will reflect on the sources and characteristics of potential business opportunities, explore tools for generating business ideas to capitalise on these opportunities, consider techniques for evaluating the viability of these ideas and mechanisms for protecting your ideas. Importantly you will examine the go/no-go decision and start to consider the necessary steps to be taken in order to develop your idea and start your business. Module 2 Starting your Business Turning your idea into a success. From brainwave to prototype, this module will help you to explore the concept testing of your ideas. You will examine how to uncover this target market by considering who might buy your products or services. You will also create an elevator pitch to allow you take full advantage of those moments of opportunity for sparking investor or customer interest in your business, your products or your services. Business opportunities are like buses, there s always another one coming Richard Branson

5 Module 3 Access to finance Securing capital for you and your business So many entrepreneurs speak of the challenge of securing funding for their enterprises. Funding is the fuel on which a business runs and a business can follow many different paths to attain funding. Whether to cover initial start-up costs or to finance business growth and development, this module will explore the EU funding environment, identify the main funding categories and the variety of funding options available. It will also examine how businesses can access this funding. You will be exposed to the financial management and planning, financial statements and the national regulatory requirements for financial reporting. An entrepreneur must pitch a potential investor for what the company is worth as well as sell the dream on how much of a profit can be made. Module 4 Daymond John Sales and marketing Knowing and growing your customer base Many would agree that successful marketing is synonymous with successful businesses. Without marketing, your business may offer the best products or services in your industry sector, but potential customers may never discover them. I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others... I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent. Thomas Edison In this module, you will examine the essential marketing activities required for building business success and explore the channels of communication that you can exploit to deliver your marketing messages. You will identify the benefits of having a brand and begin the process of creating and maintaining both your personal and your business brand. But marketing is only half the picture; utilising your marketing messages in order to produce sales transactions comprises the other half. The skills, techniques and selling styles of the most successful sales people, will be studied in this module. You will begin to develop your own selling style and techniques.

6 Management is all about managing in the short term, while developing plans for the long term Jack Welsh Module 5 Business management Organisational skills and human resource management Whether it s research and development, production, marketing, sales, administration or finance, as a new business owner, you may end up wearing a multitude of functional hats. In this module we will help you to understand the diversity of roles that you ll be exposed to and the associated activities you will undertake in the daily management of people, costs, resources, processes and practices, standards setting and performance monitoring, to ensure the continued viability of your business. Whilst the day to day activities are important, the equal importance of keeping an eye to the future is discussed. Strategic planning, the steps involved in this planning process and the essential communication of strategy is dealt with in this module. Module 6 Communication Communication, networking and understanding different business cultures Good communication matters. It matters because people do business with other people, not with companies, businesses or organisations. Getting the communications right can significantly impact the success of your enterprise. This module will help you to identify different communication styles, determine your own preferred communication style, better adapt to your clients communication style and improve your business relationships by being an expert communicator. Whether informal conversations or formal speeches, whether networking at events, exhibitions, conferences or delivering formal presentations on your business, whether virtual or actual, this section of the programme will help you communicate more effectively through the correct choice of communication media, preparation of the message to be communicated and awareness of cultural differences in your business environment. You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can t get them across, your ideas won t get you anywhere - Lee Iacocca

7 Module 7 Business Immersion In-company mentoring and support You will spend a minimum of 40 hours immersed in the activities of selected local micro, small or medium sized enterprises. This business immersion module will expose you to the real-life work experiences of business owners and to the multi-tasking that is involved in the day-today operation of a small business in Ireland. It will contribute to the development of your understanding of the business environment in which your new enterprise will operate. Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced John Keats

8 How can I participate in the Under My Wing Programme? If you are a graduate of a degree, diploma, apprenticeship or certificate programme you are eligible to participate on the Under My Wing entrepreneurship programme. What are the fees for the programme? The Under My Wing Programme has been funded with support from the European Commission. As a result the programme is FREE to all eligible participants. How do I apply for a place on the programme? To secure a place on the programme, please contact Enda Brennan by on enda.brennan@meathpartnership.ie or by telephone on What is the venue for the programme? The programme will be delivered at the Dr. Curran Learning Centre, which is located at the offices of Meath partnership. The address is: Unit 7, Kells Business Park, Cavan Road, Kells, Co. Meath. meath partnership engage enable participate progress This project has been funded with support from the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein If we want to stimulate growth in Europe, it is from our SMEs that we must start. Entrepreneurial potential in Europe is not fully exploited: 45% of all Europeans would like to become their own boss if they could, but only an average of 10% are actually selfemployed today. If we could raise this percentage, we could have millions of new innovative and creative enterprises which would rejuvenate Europe s economic basis, make it more robust, more job-generating and more resilient to stormy economic times. I therefore intend to focus all my attention to encouraging entrepreneurship. - Antonio Tajani European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship Vice-President of the European Commission