Businessman Brendan O’Regan is providing funding for the Student Inc entrepreneurs accelerator programme at Munster Technological University.
Student Inc. has kicked off at MTU’ start-up incubators, the Rubicon Centre in Cork and the Tom Crean Centre in Kerry.
O'Regan was founder and executive chairman of Zenith Technologies, which was acquired by Cognizant in 2019.
O’Regan commented: “I am delighted to support the next generation of MTU entrepreneurs at the start of their business creation journeys, and I look forward to seeing many of their ideas translating into new businesses, driving employment and regional development over the years to come.
“I built an international business based in Cork, but it wouldn't have been such a success without having MTU on our doorstep. We had twelve people in the management team at the time of selling Zenith to Cognizant, including those leading our operations in the US and Asia, and they were all MTU graduates. It would be great to see this year’s Student Inc participants enjoying similar levels of success.”
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The Student Inc. programme was first developed on MTU’s Cork campus (then CIT) eleven years ago, with the goal of encouraging student entrepreneurs to assess the feasibility of their business ideas and start businesses in a nurturing environment.
Running annually from the beginning of June to the end of August, it is a full-time immersive programme that provides students with seed funding and access to a network of entrepreneurs, trainers, mentors and investors across the South-West region.
In addition to receiving €4,000 in cash, student entrepreneurs gain access to expert mentoring and training and free office space in their respective university start-up incubators.
The programme was rolled out to University College Cork and MTU Kerry campus in the summer of 2019, and further to Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (now part of Atlantic Technological University), University of Limerick and Limerick Institute of Technology (now part of Technological University of the Shannon) in 2021.
The expansion of the programme was supported by funding won under the Innovation and Transformation Programme funded by the Higher Education Authority in 2018.
The expanded programme ensures that all higher education students in the partner universities have the opportunity to see if their business ideas and inventions are viable as commercial opportunities or social enterprises.
All students in participating universities, regardless of their year of study or academic discipline, can apply for a place on the Student Inc. programme.
