Abstract
This paper relates the specific experiences of Dundalk Institute of Technology – DKIT (formerly Dundalk Regional Technical College) – in instigating a new entrepreneurship training programme in conjunction with the Irish concentrate plant of Coca-Cola. Launched in January 1996 with the support of both Coca-Cola Atlantic (Drogheda) and the Coca-Cola Foundation in Atlanta, the Coca-Cola National Enterprise Award targeted young Irish graduates with a business idea at the concept stage and offered them the opportunity to develop their ideas into meaningful commercial propositions. The programme combined formal education with practical workshops, assessment sessions, mentoring and financial reward, and allowed participating graduates to gain a recognized qualification – an NVQ in Owner Management Business Planning. Through the initiative, a three-way partnership of industry higher education and the state was formed to provide comprehensive support to aspiring entrepreneurs. The challenges posed in managing such a complex arrangement are discussed in this paper, as are the difficulties of delivering such a programme on a nation-wide scale. The participating entrepreneurs were surveyed at the end of the programme to gauge their reaction to the support they had received and their views are summarized and presented here. The authors also report on the entrepreneurs' progress one year after completing the programme and examine the contribution of such an initiative to the overall existing enterprise support structure.
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