Vision/DCU awards
New Business Ideas Competition

Sarah Ingle of the DCU Business School and Lawrence Vesey, senior manager at 'Vision' yesterday launched the New Business Ideas Competition in the Hub. Vision, who are the sponsors of this competition, now in its third year, are a consulting firm based in Dublin. They are offering a prize fund worth €1500 to teams of students who have identified a potential business opportunity and are keen to put together an actual proposal.

Speaking at the launch, Lawrence Vesey stressed that DCU and Vision have one very strong link - entrepreneurship. "The motivation for students to apply for this competition can be very broad. It ranges from the life skills the students learn along the way to a sense of fun and excitement at coming up with a business idea, and the enthusiasm and pride in developing it into a fully viable business opportunity", he said.

Vision are looking for a sense of enthusiasm and belief in the merits of their business idea, a sense of commitment to it, coupled with a sense of pragmatism. Students should ask themselves if their idea is reasonable and actually 'do-able'. The emphasis is also on team spirit, which the judges of the competition will pay special attention to.

For the competition, students working in teams of two to five members, are required to write a proposal for a real business opportunity. The staff of the business school and of DCU's innovation centre, invent, will provide assistance in the preparation of the proposals and students are encouraged to make contact with them.

The registration form must be submitted before Friday March 8 2002 in hard copy or online at: www.dcu.ie/enterprise/e3p4.shtml.

The final project outline, which should follow a set format, includes details on what makes the business idea an attractive opportunity, how the idea responds to this opportunity and what the next steps to exploit it would be. It should be completed and submitted by Friday March 29 2002.

A shortlist of finalists will be drawn up during April, who will then be required to make a presentation to a panel of judges.

According to the guidelines, "whichever approach you take you must display that you have identified and verified a real business opportunity, and then illustrate that you have responded to the opportunity with an idea for a suitable product or service. You also have to show that a clear and unmet customer need exists and be able to outline a path to making your idea a viable business".

If you need further details or would like some advice in the writing of your proposal, Judith Lynch of invent and Sarah Ingle of the DCUBS will both be happy to assist you.

Sarah Ingle of the DCUBS can be contacted at:
Tel: 700 5928
Email: sarah.ingle@dcu.ie
Room Q109 (DCUBS)

Judith Lynch can be contacted at:
Tel: 7005960
Email: judith.lynch@dcu.ie
invent centre