MarketLink, the innovation and entrepreneurship programme at Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) will host its inaugural MarketLink Open Forum at LIT on March 25 next in conjunction with the Marketing Institute of Ireland.
Through a series of case studies on Branding and Marketing Communications from Impact Media (Lucy Meehan, Managing Director), Meteor (John Anslow, Retail Marketing Manager), award winning mobile technology company MobaNode (Shane McAllister, Director & Founder) and Munster Rugby (Glynn Billinghurst, Sales & Marketing Manager), the MarketLink Open Forum will promote marketing as one of the key tools in successful business growth today.
MarketLink is an eight-week multidisciplinary careers, innovation and entrepreneurship programme for 3rd Level students studying in LIT. The first programme ran during October and November 2009 and the second programme is scheduled for October and November once again this year. A key ingredient of MarketLink is the interaction between LIT students, local entrepreneurs and SME managers in the MidWest. Programme participants will be asked to research and manage a market stall business in Limerick as well as produce a business plan during the programme which incorporates a series of business workshops and case study presentations from local entrepreneurs over an eight week period.
The inaugural MarketLink Open Forum, “Business Growth through Focused Marketing”, will be chaired by Ronan O’Brien, Head of the Department of Business at LIT and the Official Welcome will be given by Dr. Maria Hinfelaar, President of LIT. The Open Forum is open to all LIT 3rd level students interested in taking part in MarketLink in 2010 as well as the broader business community in the MidWest.
Speaking in advance of the MarketLink Open Forum, Ronan O’Brien said, “We are looking forward to welcoming our students, members of the MidWest business community and Marketing Institute of Ireland to our Open Forum on March 25. By opening up the forthcoming MarketLink Forum to the wider business community, we aim to inform the Region’s businesses of the benefits of the MarketLink programme and to continue to develop links between enterprise and education in the MidWest.”
Commenting on the forthcoming MarketLink Open Forum, Dr. Maria Hinfelaar said, “At LIT, we strive to foster a culture of entrepreneurship amongst our students through our Marketing Management and Business courses and through innovative, interactive programmes such as MarketLink which are also open to non-business students whether they are in Engineering, Science or the Arts. Marketing is critical to the success of all businesses today, large and small and we look forward to hearing about this first-hand from our guest speakers.”
A Shannon Consortium Initiative, the MarketLink programme is a collaboration between LIT’s Department of Business, Careers Office and the Enterprise Acceleration Centre. The programme is supported by the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) and the Enterprise Boards in the MidWest Region. Limerick City Market Trustees are a key external partner in the MarketLink programme.
There is no charge for the MarketLink Open Forum but attendees must book their place in advance by contacting MarketLink Co-ordinator, [email protected], 061 490151.
The event will take place between 2.00pm and 4.30pm on the 25th March in room 4A02 at LIT. A detailed programme for the event and further information on the MarketLink programme is available on www.facebook.com/LITMarketLink.
MarketLink, the innovation and entrepreneurship programme at LIT is to host an Open Forum on Marketing in conjunction with the Marketing Institute of Ireland (MII) on March 25 at LIT.
Ronan O’Brien, Head of Department of Business, LIT; Bernie Moloney, Assistant CEO, Limerick City Enterprise Board Donncha Hughes, EAC Manager at LIT and MarketLink Co-ordinator and Mark O’Connell, Director, Marketing BDO Simpson Xavier and MII MidWest.
