The Post Graduate Diploma in Business in Enterprise Development has been designed specifically for those seeking self-employment as well as those who wish to start or develop their own business or enterprise at some stage in their career. The course is offered FREE to qualified candidates as part of the Springboard initiative.
Dr. Bill O’Gorman, Course Leader at SETU said, “The course is based on experiential learning in a “live lab” environment. Learners are required to work on their own self-employment initiatives or business/enterprise creation ideas and the development of these opportunities. One of the key elements of the course is that participants learn by doing and are supported by practitioners, course leaders and mentors to apply this learning to their own specific needs.
“One of the main difficulties many people find is that they don’t actually know how to go about turning their ideas into action. This programme provides an in-depth knowledge of the stages and process involved in identifying ideas and opportunities; and creating and developing a product or process, market and business.”
Students attend workshops tailored specifically around the needs of self-employment and business/enterprise start-up, development and growth. These workshops include Opportunity recognition, Market Research, Finance, Start-up Funding, Strategic Planning, Human Resource Management, Business Management, Public Relations, Employment Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Branding, Marketing Communications and more.
Dr. O’Gorman continued, “The assessment of this programme is also designed to give students an advantage to become self-employed and/or starting their business. There are no traditional examinations and instead students submit a Market Research Analysis Report, a Business Plan and a Business Operations Plan to the course leader at specific points throughout the year.
“These are live documents specifically linked to students becoming self-employed and/or starting their own business or enterprise and students will be required to present these documents to a panel of experts, from which students will receive valuable feedback and advice.”
This programme leads to a fully-accredited Post Graduate Diploma in Business in Enterprise Development (NQAI Level 9), awarded by South East Technological University. Much of the material has been adopted from the successful Post Graduate Diploma in Enterprise Development awarded to participants of the South East Enterprise Platform Programme (SEEPP).
For more information, see www.wit.ie/springboard