Supporting & Inspiring Business Leaders of Tomorrow
A prize-giving event at South West College in Dungannon recently marked the close of the Dungannon Commercial Awareness Programme, which launched in September 2010. The programme was supported by South West College’s InnoTech Centre, Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council, the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The programme was delivered by the InnoTech Centre to students aged 16-21 years from South West College and schools in the Dungannon and South Tyrone council area, with the aim of introducing young people to the world of international stocks, bonds, shares and traded services through the prestigious UK-wide IFS Student Investor Challenge, which equipped students with £100k in virtual portfolios.
Malachy McLernon, Senior Manager at PwC opened the event with an overview of some of the key concepts and implications of share trading activities. He commended the quality of effort from the participants and acknowledged the benefits of this type of competition, saying:
“PwC is delighted to have sponsored a competition like this where students could work in teams to gain valuable practical experience in a competitive environment. This can only be of benefit to those who aspire to be the next generation of business leaders in our community”.
A number of local schools who participated in the 6 month programme were present at the closing event, including students and staff from South West College, St Patrick’s Academy, St Joseph’s Grammar School and Fivemiletown College. Each team delivered a detailed presentation to a judging panel based on their investment strategy, portfolio performance, and overall knowledge of economic events and how these impact on share prices.
Councillor Pat Daly, Deputy Mayor of Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council praised each team, adding:
“You are tomorrow’s businesses leaders and I would urge you to build on the experiences of this programme. The standard displayed has been exceptional; build upon this and other experiences on life’s learning curve and you will go far”.
The participating teams received a certificate and each school also received an award in recognition of their support and cooperation in the programme. The winning teams won a range of prizes sponsored by PwC including vouchers and iPod gadgets. The overall winners called ‘There’s no Point’ from St Patrick’s Academy in Dungannon also received a PwC trophy.
Commenting on their win, the team from St Patrick’s said:
“We had to choose a team name for the programme and when we saw a poster titled ‘There’s no point’ we decided to use this as a challenge to ourselves to prove it wrong. And we did just that!”
Dave Murray from South West College’s InnoTech Centre closed the event, adding:
“Many of the teams began this programme with no knowledge of stocks, shares and bonds however the closing presentations from each of the teams demonstrates that students have clearly developed an appreciation of how investments are impacted by many issues including, company performance, government decisions and major global events. The South West College is delighted to have delivered this programme to develop and support young business leaders of tomorrow.”
