Offering Disadvantaged Communities Career Options Through Entrepreneurship

06 February 2020

As part of Dundalk Institute of Technology’s annual Entrepreneurship Lecture Series, Prof Tom Cooney from University of Technology, Dublin, recently delivered a lecture to students in the School of Business and Humanities.

The lecture was also attended by representatives of local community organisations and enterprise support agencies. The lecture focused on ‘Offering Disadvantaged Communities Career Options Through Entrepreneurship' and explored the distinctive challenges faced by disadvantaged communities such as immigrants, people with disabilities, Irish Travellers, ex-offenders, etc. in maximising their economic and social potential and how entrepreneurship can offer a new future.

The lecture shared the idea of creating Entrepreneurship/Self-Employment programmes for people with Difability (Disability). While the rate of employment and wages for people with ‘difabilities’ remains alarmingly low, very few customised programmes exist for people with difabilities to become self-employed.

Tom is Professor of Entrepreneurship at TU Dublin and Visiting Professor at University of Turku (Finland). His is also Academic Director of the Institute of Minority Entrepreneurship and works in various capacities with a broad range of enterprises. As an Expert in Enterprise Policy, he has worked with Governments, the European Commission, OECD, the European Training Foundation and other international organisations. He has published 9 books on the topic of entrepreneurship.

The lecture series is for DkIT students from all disciplines and is also open to the general public. It is an opportunity to listen to individuals and their entrepreneurial journeys as they detail their successes, failures, and any lessons they have learned along the way. It provides a forum for students to explore entrepreneurship as a viable career option, not to mention a great opportunity for them to network. The lecture series forms an important part of DkIT's continued strategy to introduce students from all backgrounds to enterprise learning environments, to help nurture desirable graduate attributes such as creativity, critical thinking, teamwork and entrepreneurship. If you are interested in attending future lectures, please contact angela.hamouda@dkit.ie

For more information about the MBS in Entrepreneurship and Marketing please click here.