TU Dublin Students Triumph at ENFUSE Finals
Two TU Dublin student teams triumphed at this year’s ENFUSE Finals, where they pitched to expert industry judges their plans to support a local enterprise or social enterprise.
Fighting off stiff competition from teams from Dublin City University and the National College of Ireland, TU Dublin placed first and third in the prestigious competition. The ENFUSE Finals culminated in this year's ENFUSE programme, which involved approximately 214 postgraduate students that supported 46 local enterprises and social enterprises across Dublin.
As part of their master's programme, each team supported a local enterprise in Dublin by sharing ideas, and knowledge and creating a bespoke plan to help the enterprise innovate. The top 3 teams won specialist mentoring and training support from the Local Enterprise Office Dublin City and support from the Dublin Regional Skills Forum for their allocated enterprises, along with prizes from Dublin Place Brand. The first-place team will now be named on the specially commissioned ENFUSE trophy, which their university will host for the coming year.
The winning TU Dublin teams were:
First Place
Students: Teja Tomsic, Ross McClelland, Melisa Villagomez, Anurag Dasandhi, Leidy Ortiz, Oreoluwa Ogunnusi. Client Enterprise: The Rediscovery Centre. University/College: Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin). MSc Digital Marketing. Module: Digital Campaign Planning. Lecturer: Dr Róisín Vize.
Joint Third Place
Students: Halil Semih Guven, Tevfik Furkan Ekici, Charls Roy Kallarackal, Billy Keenan. Client Enterprise: Pieman. University/College: Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin). MSc Business & Entrepreneurship. Module: Product and Market Development. Lecturer: Jennifer McDonnell.
Pictured - Halil Semih Guven, Tevfik Furkan Ekici, Charls Roy Kallarackal and Billy Keenan
The Rediscovery Centre was supported by TU Dublin students Teja Tomsic, Ross McClelland, Melisa Villagomez, Anurag Dasandhi, Leidy Ortiz and Oreoluwa Ogunnusi, who won first place in the finals. Highlighting the student's contribution to the Rediscovery Centre, Steve O'Reilly, Circular Economy & Policy Project Manager: explained:
'With relevance, ingenuity, creativity, and flair, the fantastic group of TU Dublin students guided by Dr Roisin Vize devised an intelligent marketing campaign that translates a complex topic into something that will really resonate with Irish citizens. Working on the ENFUSE programme helped us to think outside the box and provided us with a framework for how to translate theory into publicity'.
Dr Róisín Vize, TU Dublin lecturer of the ENFUSE 2022 - 1st Place Student Team, was delighted with the team's success. Highlighting the importance of students being able to apply their learning to real-life scenarios, she stated:
‘The Enfuse programme is an exceptionally rewarding project for Universities and enterprises to be involved in, with tangible take-away’s for all involved. Having students work off a live client brief and consult regularly with a company allows them to develop and improve many practical industry related skills’.
Promoting the benefits to enterprises that participate and other supports, Greg Swift, Head of Enterprise and Economic Development, Dublin City Council, explained:
‘ENFUSE allows businesses to see the benefits of hiring graduates to help accelerate their digital, export and green transition strategic capacity and they can avail of the GradStart programme provided by their Local Enterprise Office to support this business cost.'
Speaking at the ENFUSE Finals, Declan Hughes, Assistant Secretary-General, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, said:
‘ENFUSE connects students and enterprises creating collaboration and synergies that benefit all participants. It enables enterprises to benefit from student research and analysis, enables students to apply their learning to real time business challenges and it enhances the enterprise ecosystem through improved networking, collaboration and knowledge exchange.'