Enterprise Challenge 2020 – DCU Students win funding for local enterprise

Congratulations to the DCU student team who came in 2nd place at the Enterprise Challenge 2020 – Online Pitch Competition (28/05/2020). At the competition, eight finalist teams of MSc and Final Year BSc Students from DCU and TU Dublin, representing eight different local enterprises competed by pitching on how their assigned enterprise could address challenges and realise opportunities.

The DCU team is made up of six Masters students – Sorcha White Barrett, Chris Clancy, Joe Morrin, Akanksha Puniyani, Rohit Khatwani – all studying MSc in Management Strategy, and Woo Chungeon who is studying MSc in International Management.

The Enterprise Challenge 2020, facilitated by Dublin City Council (DCC) and the Local Enterprise Office (LEO), is a joint initiative between DCC, LEO, DCU and TU Dublin which matches micro / small- medium commercial and social enterprises with teams of Final Year or Masters Level students. In total 24 teams and 116 individuals participated in the competition, from both students in DCU and TU Dublin. The final event took place on 28th May 2020, where the 8 finalist teams presented their project pitch, followed by a Q&A to a panel of experienced judges. Finishing in 2nd place, the DCU team were delighted to win €500 for themselves, but more importantly to receive a grant of €1,000 for their client company Fintechjobs.io, who will use the prize fund to help implement some of the recommendations provided by the DCU team.

Fintechjobs.io is a relatively new and bespoke online meeting and recruitment platform for potential fintech candidates and employers. The challenge for the DCU team was to figure out how to grow organically to gain more engagement and interaction on the client website. Throughout the duration of their Strategic Entrepreneurship and Innovation module, delivered by Dr. Peter Robbins, and over the course of 12 weeks they met as a group and met with their client to fully understand the business, allowing the team to develop an in-depth analysis and subsequent innovative recommendations for the client company.

David Crowley, CEO of Fintechjobs commented: “Thanks to Peter and the team for giving Fintechjobs so much further insight into our target market, and provided compelling recommendations due to the diligence and hard work of the team that was chosen for us. Each of them brought their own skill sets to bear and gave good input into our small business and we were delighted to work with all of them.”

Greg Swift, Head of Enterprise Economic Development at Dublin City Council stated: “This is a fantastic initiative, projects like this are so important as they enable students to learn so much and acquire real life, industry experience through working alongside local enterprises.”