UCC President opens its first Entrepreneurship Week

The UCC President, Dr. Michael Murphy opened UCC’s “Innov8” business week on Monday 13^th February 2012 as a sign that the college is truly “committed” to fostering entrepreneurship for its graduates.

Dr. Michael Murphy, Ireland’s highest paid university president stated that there was no reason that a start up company on par with Facebook could not take root in Ireland rather than Silicon Valley.  Murphy Commented that, “There are problems that need to be solved and entrepreneurs needed to solve them”. He cited innovative car-pooling phone applications as an example of recent entrepreneurship in action.

The UCC President , said that this big event and change would have to be led by college as well as by its young entrepreneurs. “As a college, we must strive to equip the graduates of tomorrow with the skills necessary to become entrepreneurs and business started as well as productive workers”.

Also attending the opening, was CorkBIC CEO Michael O’Connor and Supply.ie Managing Director Mike McGrath, who both gave short addresses, focusing on the value of networking and effective marketing strategies as a means of driving business start up companies. The Enterprise Ireland funding recipient stated, “Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, have to a large extent blurred the distinction between what was once considered social media and is now considered business interaction, but the need for effective face-to-face networking remains strong”.

Innov8 week continues throughout this week, and will incorporate talks by Ernest Cantillor of Electric, Pat Lynch from YouGetitBack.com and Jordan Campbell of the Ireland Fund. The week also features the launch of Ireland Fund’s “Business Plan” competition, offering third level students the chance to win an exciting cash prize for the best submitted business plans.

UCC’s Entrepreneurial & Social Society (E&S) is the largest student society in the country with over 6000 registered members.