March 2011 Student Wins Entrepreneurial Challenge

Students from all disciplines in NUI Galway were recently given the challenge of taking €10 and using their wits to make as much money as possible over three days. The SEEN €10 competition's aim was to show that any student could create an enterprise from a small initial investment, in this case just €10. SEEN is the Student Enterprise Exchange Network which is NUI Galway's student run and focused enterprise support service. The competition was won by Philip Ryan, a Commerce student from Donnybrook, Co Dublin, who made a profit of €202 after three days by selling confectionary and soft drinks door to door in the NUI Galway student villages. Philip explains how the competition has awoken his entrepreneurial spirit: "The €10 challenge allowed me to take what I knew in the lecture theatre out into the real world. The competition showed me just how easy it is to start up a business. It is due to the €10 challenge that I plan to start up my own business in the near future." Other awards included the most innovative product award which was won by Saffron Brady from Galway City for her Tayto sandwiches idea. The dell boy award for best sales person went to Kevin Donoghue, from Doocastle, Co Mayo, a third-year arts student, for his salesmanship in selling fruit cups on campus. Paddy Melia, from the SEEN team adds: "A competition such as the €10 challenge highlights the fact that emigration after college is not the only option open to students. With a small investment and a little support students can create their own employment and decide their own future." Competitors had to have receipts for their purchases but had to also gain a contact detail from their customers in order to back up their sales figures. Anyone who wishes to get involved in future events should email them at seen.nuigalway@gmail.com or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/seen.nuigalway/. -Ends-