Entrepreneurship for Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers

TU Dublin is offering a new online course on Entrepreneurship for Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers who wish to start their own business will begin this January. Classes will begin January 25th and will continue each Wednesday for 12 lectures from 11.00 – 13.00.

The course is open to anyone who self-identifies as a Migrant, Refugee or Asylum Seeker and who wishes to start their own business. However, the course is not suitable for a person who has already started their own business or simply wants to learn about entrepreneurship.

The course requires participants to have a business idea that they wish to evaluate as a sustainable enterprise. During the course, participants will cover the following topics:

Distinctive challenges facing Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers becoming self-employed
Idea evaluation
Customer segmentation
Customer relationships and channels
Clarifying the Value Proposition
Balancing business and personal well-being
Key business activities
Key resources and partners
Developing financial projections
Test marketing your idea
Understanding legal matters
Presenting your business plan

The module will include a range of Guest Speakers whose experiences and expertise are relevant to the target audience. Using a newly-developed online tool that will enable participants to develop their idea on a week-by-week basis, plus adopting Universal Design for Learning principles, a customised experiential learning approach will allow each participant to maximise their learning from the course.

The course will consist of 12 lectures followed by a 4-week period to allow for the completion and submission of a Business Plan. The course is being offered at NFQ Level 6 of the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ), and successful participants will be awarded 5 ECTS credits. Participants on the course will be students of TU Dublin and will therefore be eligible to access any of TU Dublin’s resources (e.g. library, disability support services). Additionally, each participant will be allocated a business mentor through the Open Doors Initiative who will support them with the development of their business idea.

Potential participants are required to submit an application form that includes a 500-word summary; the summary of their business idea can be typed into the form or else created via video or audio file. The summary should address the following questions:

Are you starting the business on your own or with co-founders?
What is the product/service?
What problem is your product/service solving?
Who will buy it?
Why is your product/service better than what is already available?

The course will conclude with the presentation of Business Plans to a panel of potential funders of the business. While the submission of every Business Plan will be evaluated for the awarding of 5 ECTS credits, only final business proposals considered sustainable will be eligible to make a presentation for potential funding.

There are 20 places available on the course, and the selection will be made based on the information provided about the business idea. Applications for the course will close on January 11th 2023, and any queries relating to the course should be emailed to thomas.cooney@tudublin.ie.

Please complete the application form.

TU Dublin, Ireland’s first Technological University, is where career-focused students, dedicated staff and academic excellence in science, the arts, business, engineering and technology converge to create the leaders of tomorrow. We offer an inclusive and open learning experience with pathways to graduation, from Apprenticeship to PhD. Our 28,500 students learn in a practice-based environment informed by the latest research and enabled by technological advances.

TU Dublin hosts a thriving research community engaged in applying innovation and technology to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. We are deeply committed to collaborating with our national and international academic partners and our many networks in industry and civic society to create new learning experiences and develop impactful research.

TU Dublin is an exciting new milestone in Irish Higher Education. With campuses in Dublin City, Tallaght and Blanchardstown, it spans the largest population centres of Ireland’s capital city. Building on the rich heritage of its founding organisations – DIT, IT Blanchardstown and IT Tallaght – TU Dublin will be inclusive and adaptable, creating educational opportunities for students at all stages. TU Dublin students will be socially responsible, open-minded global thinkers who are ambitious to change the world for the better. As graduates, they will be enterprising and daring in all their endeavours, ready to play their part in transforming the future.