“Anyone can start their own business, all you need is a good idea, the belief that you can be successful and the passion to work hard and achieve in a competitive world.”

The conclusion of one student who participated in South West College's Global Entrepreneurship Week challenge last Friday.

To coincide with Global Entrepreneurship Week (which ran from November 16-22), the Business Services team at the Enniskillen campus of South West College organised a 'hair-raising challenge' for students. Lead by Gabriel Keown, Course Director, BTEC Level 3 Business and Brigid Jones, Course Director, Foundation Degree Business, over 70 students across a variety of curriculum areas including ICT, Media, Health and Social Care, Hair and Beauty and Business participated in the entrepreneurship workshop.

“Simulating a recent episode of BBC One's 'The Apprentice', the students were set the prickly task of designing a marketing and advertising campaign for a shampoo with cactus extract,” explains Brigid Jones. “Setting them their task, Lord Sugar described in a video that their role in competing teams included deciding on a name for their cactus shampoo and the target market to which they wished to sell to, along with designing the shampoo bottle and delivering a three minute pitch to a panel of experts in the hope that they would invest in their product.

“I think the students hoped in anticipation that Lord Sugar was joining the panel in the boardroom for the pitches, looking for his next big investment!” added Mr. Keown.

Global Entrepreneurship Week is celebrated in over 140 countries and provides practical support and encouragement to millions of people. This year, the theme for Global Entrepreneurship Week in the UK was 'Make it Happen', giving people the perfect opportunity to take action on their entrepreneurial ideas. It is the world’s largest campaign to promote entrepreneurship. Each year, it plays a critical role in encouraging the next generation of entrepreneurs to consider starting up their own business.

“South West College has been a Global Entrepreneurship Week partner for many years, and we hoped that the event would encourage, inspire and promote the drive passion and ingenuity of young people to pursue their entrepreneurial spirit in the hope of making a lasting impact on society and shaping their own destiny. It formed part of a week of global activities that highlighted and celebrated entrepreneurship as well as offering practical support to those who are interested in setting up their own business or developing their business networks,” added Miss Jones.

Speaking of the success on the day, Yvonne Megahey, Curriculum Manager, stated: “Local employers tell us they need staff who can solve problems and take action. Our annual participation in Global Entrepreneurship Week and commitment to the concept of entrepreneurship education allows our students to widen their skills base and improve their employability.

“The event was driven by the College's vision of developing people and achieving potential, underpinned by its values of excellence, innovation, teamwork, integrity and confidence.”

One student commented: “This is a fantastic opportunity to work with other students in different subject areas that we otherwise wouldn’t get to on a normal day.”

Another student added: “Anyone can be an entrepreneur, it doesn’t matter what your subject specialism is, or what you have studied. Anyone can start their own business, all you need is a good idea, the belief that you can be successful and the passion to work hard and achieve in a competitive world.”