Pupils’ great ideas pitched to dragons
Two Wicklow primary schools turned into ‘Dragons’ Dens’ recently as as fifth class pupils collaborated on a range of innovative ideas during their two-day Bizworld workshop.
Budding entrepreneurs from Glebe NS in Wicklow town and St Coen’s in Rathnew worked hard on their projects before pitching them to their local ‘dragons’.
Ideas put forward at Glebe NS included an on-the-go bag charger, an allergy detective pen to ascertain hidden allergens in meals and an O- Go wristband containing a small inhaler, which were presented to Catherine O’Reilly from Sherry Fitzgerald Auctioneers and Robin Bradley, Wicklow branch manager of Bank of Ireland.
During the two-day Bizworld workshop tutored by Meabh Litton, the children split into groups, each developing their own mini enterprise.
Over at St Coen’s NS, the pupils’ projects included a new-age wifi gaming ‘Connectobox’. A fingerprint security wallet and a child tracker wristband were among the ideas formulated by the budding entrepreneurs. Robin Bradley from Bank of Ireland was again in the dragon’s chair, alongside Martina Fox from Wicklow Enterprise.
Bizworld is a not-for-profit organisation, chaired by Gavin Duffy, that promotes entrepreneurship skills for children at fifth class level. During the two-day workshop, tutored by Meabh Litton, the children split into groups, with each one developing their own mini-enterprise. The children also learn about money management and enterprise as they aqre taken through the entire entrepreneurial cycle – from company formation and applying for jobs in their companies, to market research with younger classes in the school, and then designing, producing and marketing their business idea.
More than 40,000 children have taken part in their free workshops around the country in the past two years, with more than 200 schools hosting programmes this year.
To register a school for Bizworld, visit bizworldireland.org.