19/01/2018

05/02/2018

GMIT developed this experiential learning course to encourage learners to cultivate and develop their own food product/business thus stimulating new entrepreneurs. The course is targeted at those involved in the Agri-Food sector including local/regional food producers, the wider agricultural community, rural farmers and food entrepreneurs, where entrepreneurial training has not typically been prioritised. In the west of Ireland there are a plethora of local food producers who lack the entrepreneurial training to develop and their business models. This course will provide the hard and soft skills required to grow as a food entrepreneur and develop their business. It will also connect them with like minded people and provide them with ample networking opportunities.

The objective of the course is to provide those involved in the Agri-Food sector with the knowledge and work-based skills required to foster and develop their food ideas into successful businesses, encouraging participants to consider food entrepreneurship as a viable alternative to employment.
As peer to peer learning is significant to the success of this type of training, the course has been developed by a combination of qualified staff in Food Science and Nutrition together with a panel of industry leaders (existing food entrepreneurs) and promotes work based learning i.e.learning by doing. Interacting with Food Entrepreneurs provides participants with the opportunity to network with like-minded people, be inspired by their success and learn the reality of setting up and growing a food business. The industry leaders provide mentoring and support to participants throughout the course.

The course will incorporate topics such as Idea Generation, Customer Discovery, Team Theory, Food Science and Nutrition, Design Thinking, Lean Start-up Business Models, Business Plan Development, Branding, Marketing, integrating ICT and Digital Skills, Prototyping, and Product Testing. It will also teach skills such as problem solving, presentation and pitching skills and digital skills for business.

The practical application of learning is embedded in the course through regular real-life project challenges where students will be required to put theory into practice. Students will also actively carry out the processes within their own businesses in a series of work-based challenges and tasks. Participation in multi-disciplinary teams ensures students are exposed to alternative knowledge, skills sets and perspectives.

The objective of the course is to provide those involved in the Agri-Food sector with the knowledge and work-based skills required to foster and develop their food ideas into successful businesses, encouraging participants to consider food entrepreneurship as a viable alternative to employment.
As peer to peer learning is significant to the success of this type of training, the course has been developed by a combination of qualified staff in Food Science and Nutrition together with a panel of industry leaders (existing food entrepreneurs) and promotes work based learning i.e. “learning by doing”. Interacting with Food Entrepreneurs provides participants with the opportunity to network with like-minded people, be inspired by their success and learn the reality of setting up and growing a food business. The industry leaders provide mentoring and support to participants throughout the course. Graduates of the course found the experiential learning environment and interaction with industry an extremely beneficial and rewarding experience.

Applicants must satisfy both GMIT and Springboard entry requirements to the course. These include:
GMIT Criteria:
Applicants wishing to gain entry to the Level 9 course must meet the following criteria:
Honours Degree (Level 8) in any discipline (completed at least one year ago)
or
An Ordinary Degree (Level 7) in any discipline plus two years of relevant experience working/ self employed in the area of food entrepreneurship/ innovation
or
Five years working/ self employed of relevant experience in the area of food entrepreneurship/ innovation.
Applications are processed on a first come first served basis so apply early.


Students will be given the opportunity to meet with the Programme Manager prior to course commencement should they have any queries or concerns before enrolling on the course.
Places will be offered to students that satisfy the entry requirements on a first come first serve basis. When the course has reached full capacity a waiting list will be put in place to accommodate any places that may become available.
In the 2015/16 course, 25% of the students accessed the course via RPL making the policy hugely significant to a course like this.
Springboard Criteria:
In order to obtain a place on this course, applicants must satisfy the following criteria:
- Be in receipt of a relevant and eligible payment from the Department of Social Protection or have been formerly self employed
- Homemakers”: those that have not being in the work environment for many years due to family commitments/other caring obligations and have a previous history of employment but may require upskilling, reskilling or cross skilling to transition to the workforce. Theses applicants may not be in receipt of a social welfare payment.

GMIT developed this experiential learning course to encourage learners to cultivate and develop their own food product/business thus stimulating new entrepreneurs. The course is targeted at those involved in the Agri-Food sector including local/regional food producers, the wider agricultural community, rural farmers and food entrepreneurs, where entrepreneurial training has not typically been prioritised. In the west of Ireland there are a plethora of local food producers who lack the entrepreneurial training to develop and their business models. This course will provide the hard and soft skills required to grow as a food entrepreneur and develop their business. It will also connect them with like minded people and provide them with ample networking opportunities.

The objective of the course is to provide those involved in the Agri-Food sector with the knowledge and work-based skills required to foster and develop their food ideas into successful businesses, encouraging participants to consider food entrepreneurship as a viable alternative to employment.
As peer to peer learning is significant to the success of this type of training, the course has been developed by a combination of qualified staff in Food Science and Nutrition together with a panel of industry leaders (existing food entrepreneurs) and promotes work based learning i.e.learning by doing. Interacting with Food Entrepreneurs provides participants with the opportunity to network with like-minded people, be inspired by their success and learn the reality of setting up and growing a food business.


The industry leaders provide mentoring and support to participants throughout the course. Graduates of the course found the experiential learning environment and interaction with industry an extremely beneficial and rewarding experience.
"The Certificate in Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship has been an amazing experience. It is deeply practical, promotes a fantastic entrepreneurial attitude and is taught by the most committed, hands on, experienced and knowledgeable industry experts who genuinely care about the well-being of the students", Ciara Daly, Graduate, Food Blogger "Getting Fed Up" https://gettingfedup.com/

The course and graduates will contribute to achieving the goals outlined in various national and European strategies aiming to grow the number of entrepreneurs in Ireland and Europe i.e. European Entrepreneurship Action Plan 2020, Europe 2020 Strategy, FoodWise 2025, Harvest 2020, the National Policy Statement on Entrepreneurship in Ireland 2014 and the National Skills Strategy 2025.
The proposed course will provide the end users with the skillsets required to evaluate and implement innovative business models, identify collaborative opportunities and incorporate farm management strategies.

Delivery Method: Innovative in its blended delivery methods, the course will use a wide variance of ICT learning tools to ensure an accessible, user friendly, flexible, learning environment. The course will be delivered via blended learning over two days per week for eighteen weeks. One day will be classroom based and the other will be delivered online using the Moodle Learning Platform. Full training on using Moodle will be provided to participants at the beginning of the course and engagement and participation with be monitored by the Programme Manager. This is a unique course and the only type of its kind in Ireland. It was for that reason we received such a high volume of enquiries from prospective students outside the region for entry to the 2015/16 course. However, the commitment of two days onsite and the overnight accommodation costs were too high for many to bear. On refining the course after delivery in 2016, the academic panel decided that a blended learning approach would be a more suitable option for the proposed course and would be able facilitate students from all over Ireland taking part in the course.

The course will incorporate topics such as Idea Generation, Customer Discovery, Team Theory, Food Science and Nutrition, Design Thinking, Lean Start-up Business Models, Business Plan Development, Branding, Marketing, integrating ICT and Digital Skills, Prototyping, and Product Testing. It will also teach skills such as problem solving, presentation and pitching skills and digital skills for business.

The practical application of learning is embedded in the course through regular real-life project challenges where students will be required to put theory into practice. Students will also actively carry out the processes within their own businesses in a series of work-based challenges and tasks. Participation in multi-disciplinary teams ensures students are exposed to alternative knowledge, skills sets and perspectives. This broadens participants' horizons and stimulates the cross-fertilisation of ideas and capabilities.

Delivery of the course will be led by the Department of Natural Sciences in The School of Science and Computing in collaboration with the Innovation in Business Centre at GMIT (http://www.gmit.ie/innovation-business-centres-iibc). The Innovation Business Centre has enabled dozens of potential entrepreneurs to take their ideas from concept to full commercialisation. In addition to the development of technical and transferable skills required for entrepreneurial activity, the centre also offers practical supports to students who have identified business ideas that they wish to pursue further including mentors, potential sources of funding and incubation centres.

Graduates of the programme will possess the skillset required to develop and execute a business concept. Throughout the course, participants are encourages to seriously consider food entrepreneurship as a viable alternative to employment.

The 2016 course was a huge success with graduate success exceeding expectations. At the beginning of the course, 65% of the students were unemployed with 35% of them in part time employment.
However, statistics as of March 2017 confirm that:
• 81% of graduates progressed to finding or creating employment on this programme i.e. 35% of graduates have secured employment and an astounding 46% graduates have set up their own food business (16% also secured funding for their start up)
• 16% of graduate are seeking employment
• 3% of graduates are completing further education in GMIT
In addition to the above results, 94% of the students developed a professional business plan suitable to submit to banks and/or funding agencies seeking investment on completion of the course.

The graduates felt that the course enabled them to become food entrepreneurs providing them with the skills required and found the work based learning environment and access to business mentors and industry leaders a momentous factor to the success of the course.

“This was a hugely inspirational experience in a hands-on practical learning environment. The delivery was very innovative. I would highly recommend it as a first introduction to business and entrepreneurship or to up skill existing knowledge and experience. It is beneficial to both entrepreneurs and employees working in an entrepreneurial environment” Deborah Coffey, Graduate and has recently secured employment.

“I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is setting up their own food business. It helps demystify the legislation and other requirements in the food business” Liz Griffith, Graduate and Owner of Burren Cordials.

Students will attend 2 days of lectures per week (1 online/1 classroom) for 18 weeks. Students will study the following three modules:

• Creative thinking and opportunity recognition
• Food Entrepreneurship
• Food sector specific skills

The three course modules were developed in collaboration with local food entrepreneurs and Local Employment Offices to ensure that the transversal skill set required to becomes an entrepreneur was incorporated. These included a range of hard and soft skill including for example opportunity recognition, design thinking, creative thinking, leadership, motivation, interpersonal skills, communication, business skills, financial management, adaptability, empathy, processing and legislative skills. The course also includes Sector Specific skills that are key to developing successful food businesses including modules such as Food Science, HACCP and Nutrition included in Module three.

Blended

Blended

Lifelong Learning Coordinator

Lifelong Learning
Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT),
Dublin Road,
Galway.

+353 091 742328

peter.butler@gmit.ie

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): GMIT adopted a policy on RPL in 2009 which is actively applied to all courses offered. If an applicant has completed any of the modules they may be granted exemption for that module based on prior certified learning. If applicants have relevant experiential learning exceeding five years in the industry that meet relevant learning outcomes,they may also gain entry to the course. The process for this is set out in GMIT's Code of Practice No 8 (RPL).