Good evening members and prospective members. 

With great pleasure, I'm delighted to post our official notice that the University of Limerick Consulting and Entrepreneurship Society will be hosting its Annual General Meeting on October 3rd, 2023 in person. At this time, there are no constitutional amendments being proposed and the agenda is to set a weekly meeting slot, elect a new committee, and have a meet and greet. It is welcome to members and prospective members, however, pizza will only be available to those who sign up. 

Any proposed amendments to the Constitution or anyone who wishes to nominate themselves for Committee election should message @ul_ces on Instagram before COB on October 1st.

We look forward to seeing and meeting you all. 

Best wishes, 

Ben Fitzgerald Kiely - Committee Advisor and Mike Sadlier Award Recipient. 

The University of Limerick’s Consulting & Entrepreneurship society had an extremely eventful year focusing on building stronger bonds while also looking to explore new spaces. Our goal for the past academic year was to encourage each and every member to embrace the abundance of opportunities, both locally and nationally and challenge themselves to make their mark on the society. From small confidence building tasks to complex case problems, the hard work and consistent effort has undoubtedly helped members from a wide range of disciplines, gain skills that will be of great importance for whatever career they decide to pursue upon completing their studies at UL.

The tried and tested social Christmas and Easter events were as popular as ever, but our introduction of sustainability-based events proved to be a success amongst students and staff, it provided the opportunity for student needs to be highlighted in a manner that would be beneficial to the campus, while also providing the experience to operate as a consultant would. We hope that the winners’ recommendations will be implemented over the coming years. Free pizza proved to be a big hit with students and resulted in continued high engagement for our competitions and we hope to maintain this trend for years to come! The UL sustainability hub and Postgraduate Student’s Union (PSU) assisted us in running innovation competitions and we hope to continue to keep these as yearly events on our calendars along with our ever successful 52start entrepreneurial event. It is always inspiring and encouraging to see students constantly look to improve and innovate to build a better world around us. Our guest speaker series have always been in high demand, and this remained the case this year. We had Chris Kelly, CEO of Tracworx, David O’Beirne, head of solutions at Ericsson and Joe Hennigan from Receipt Relay all come to discuss their career journeys throughout the academic year and these visits were crucial in helping students prepare for the numerous competitions culminating in UL’s student entrepreneur of the year acting as our last main event of the academic year.

Our affiliation to the ISCG has continued to be of great value to all of our members. We were engaged in client projects that proved to be a valuable experience and a great challenge to assist the companies in their required capacity. Several members attended the student sustainable thinking and leadership summit in Deloitte HQ at the start of 2023, meeting and discussing important topics with numerous other ISCG members and gaining valuable experience from the day. Our branch representatives also enjoyed a successful day in Dublin at the ISCG national intervarsitites with our very own Pragya Sharma winning best speaker on the day. The regional round in UL was an extremely tight affair and this high standard undoubtedly helped to send our best possible team to compete in Dublin. We hope that we can improve our overall result for next year’s event and take the title back to Limerick!

We established greater links around UL, receiving improved support in promoting our brand and helping to encourage and provide support to students with entrepreneurial ideas, ensuring they would be assisted in taking the first few bold steps or those looking to get an early start into the world of consulting. In the Limerick area we were able to create several partnerships. We have highlighted the importance of engaging in the local community and will look to build upon further partnerships next year.

We have done so much, but there is also so much more to do! I look forward to seeing what the current and future members will look to bring to the society. The future of this society is undoubtedly bright, due to the large engagement from the students and credit must be given to the effort and commitment of each member on a weekly basis. I hope that UL’s Consulting & Entrepreneurship society can continue to build and grow within the university and our members continue to push their ideas and creative mindsets. I would like to thank the entire committee for all of their hard work in making the past year such a successful endeavor and I wish next year’s committee the very best of luck in their efforts for the period ahead.

If you would like to make any suggestions for events for the coming year or would be interested in a role with the committee for next year please email consulting@ulces.ie or slide into our DM's on instagram @ ul_ces.

Hi all, I hope the second semester has started off productively- a good start is half the work!

Several events have already taken place and there are loads of activities yet to kick off this semester! Our entrepreneurial competitions are only coming up now so be sure to attend any of our weekly meetings to find out more information or results from our previous events.

We recently attended the Irish Student Consulting Inter-varsities in the Deloitte Dublin offices. Our team had a great time and really took advantage of the opportunities the day provided. A special mention goes out to Pragya Sharma for winning best speaker of the day! We hope to return next year and look to build on our successful outing! Our team (pictured) really did UL proud on the day and I wish to thank and congratulate them for their efforts.

There are a host of competitions this month, headlined by the UL Postgraduate Student Union Innovation Hustle - with some serious prize money to be won! Please check out our Sulis page for more details on these events or reach out to any committee member for further information.

Keep an eye on our Instagram page @ul_ces to stay up to date with all the events and activities we have planned.

David,

Co-President

Welcome back to ULCES for Semester 2! We hope you had a lovely and restful Christmas break and are ready to get back to work for the Spring Semester.

We have loads of exciting things planned for you this semester, including a Sustainability competition and various opportunities to unleash your inner entrepreneur with up to €30,000 in prizes!

Last Wednesday we had a lovely welcome back evening with pizza and a few new faces which is great to see, as well as a talk from Niamh McLoughlin from Scale Ireland telling us about the exciting opportunity for a free membership for students to encourage the next generation of tech entrepreneurs to learn from the best and brightest in the unique and dynamic Scale Ireland community. 

Keep an eye on our Instagram page @ul_ces to stay up to date with all the events and activities we have planned.

Emma,

Head of Communications.

ULCES are delighted to give this update to new and prospective members for AY 2022/23. We aim to publish regular updates like these throughout the year. If you have any ideas for new events or types of engagement please reach out :)

We participated in the newly rebranded C&S Fair yesterday evening. We were delighted with the levels of engagement and interest in our growing society. We are going to deliver our events remotely for Weeks 2 & 3 and then return to in-person events from Week 4. We feel it is very important to include as many members as possible in our events and we appreciate in-person may not be as accessible as in previous years. Please reach out if other forms of engagement are preferred for you, and we will work as a committee to deliver for you.

We also renewed our national membership with Scale Ireland, Ireland's representative and advocative body for technological startups and entrepreneurs. Our members can attend a remote event with Pascal Donohoe, Wayflyer, and others on Monday afternoon. Details will be posted on our SULIS Page.

We are also preparing our suite of consulting events. We will have events with Bain & Co. as well as Deloitte over the next few weeks as we build on the consultative spirit and interest within our UL Community.

We are also actively recruiting for our Committee this year. Please email entrepreneurship@ulces.ie to request to join the committee. The following positions are available:

• Secretary- In charge of all administrative duties including minute taking and organising AGMs.
• Head of Finance & Deputy Treasurer- In previous years, we have elected two officials to distribute the financial obligations and matters arising throughout the year, as well as Budget management and submission in May 2023.
• Communications & Public Relations Directors- We have 2 or 3 electable positions for managing our digital communications, our Wolves Platform, and assisting the Secretary on AGM and Newsletter Publications. One Person will also work directly with ISCG and/or Kemmy Business School to share Society Updates throughout the Year as well as a takeover of Kemmy Business School's Social Media for a week throughout the Academic Year.
• Health & Safety Officer- This person would be responsible for all risk assessments and also complete any paperwork required for Covid-19 protocols that may get re-introduced throughout the year.
• Membership Development- This role is usually a dual role with another position. This person will organise training for the committee and Society, working closely with Events, Operations, and the Society Head(s) to maximise the value of Society Membership. They will also prepare members for consulting and entrepreneurial competitions, distributing any briefs and/or preparatory materials for such an event.
• Head of Operations & Strategy- This person would work very closely with the Society Head(s) to create a vision for Society Growth, as well as act as a catalyst for the team to make sure that all parts of the committee are working as well as possible. 
• Head/Director of Consulting- This person would act as the main Point of Contact for the Irish Student Consulting Group and represent the Society at National Meetings
• Web Development Officer- We have a prototype website that needs final development and launch. This person would take control of that and liaise with the Head of Communications to update the content with newsletter and event updates at least twice a month.

We will also have training and development opportunities for committee and non-committee members in Semester One. More details to follow.

As always, we serve to improve your student experience and to Make Inspirational the Norm, so reach out to explore more with ULCES.

Come on down for pizza and to enter our Innovation competition which we are running in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

About this event

Come on down for pizza and to enter our week long innovation competition which we are running in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

You can take part as a pair or individually. The topics will be presented on the night. You will then have a week to work on a proposal for the project and present it to a panel. 1st place wins 400 euro. 2nd Place wins 250. 3rd place wins at 150.

More will be explained on the night and it will be something exciting to be involved with.

Join us for our virtual conference!

Our chosen theme is ‘Meeting the Challenge of Change’ where prominent figures in the consulting sector in both the UK and Ireland can provide insights into their career experience as well as some of the trends shaping the industry - primarily driven by sustainability, the pandemic and technology.

Guests:
- Shane Fagan, Principal at BCG
- Ruairi Allen, Partner at Deloitte
- Austin Boyle, Managing Director at Accenture
- Louise McEntee, Partner at Deloitte

Moderator: Eva Short, Reporter at Business Post

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85268050703?pwd=ekZRRmVwYUgzc3JPY3AyWlJMTStkZz09 

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope Week 10 is going OK for you all. 

I just wanted to share this amazing competition with you (productive procrastination achieved) which some current members and past members have taken part in. UL was involved in a very successful expansion pilot last year and it is continuing this year. Please find the info below and reach out if you are interested in taking part and/or finding out more. The registration link is in this news item as well as in our events section, same link :). 

Hello All

I would like to draw your attention to the Student Inc programme - supporting and mentoring student entrepreneurs to turn ideas into business opportunities .

This initiative is to encourage student entrepreneurs to assess the feasibility of their business ideas and start a business through providing students with seed funding and access to a network of entrepreneurs, trainers, mentors and investors. The programme is run through the Nexus Innovation Centre in UL and the Kemmy Business Schoolng at the end of June and running to the end of August,  so it does not interfere with your study time.

The programme is open to all students regardless of their year of study or academic discipline can apply for a place on the programme.

There is an information session held on 17th November at 5pm - see attached image.   Registration details will be announced shortly on the Student Inc website; so make sure to save the date!.

If you have queries on this initiative please contact Briga Hynes (Briga.Hynes@ul.ie)  or Gert O'Rourke (Gert.ORourke@ul.ie )

All the best,

ULCES Committee

We will host an information evening on all things ULCES in the Kemmy Business School this Wednesday at 7pm. Keep an eye on the Instagram page for more updates.

Hi all, 

We have launched our SULIS page. This will allow us to have our competitions, guest speakers, and infoshops on the secure UL network. It also allows us to share resources with you that wouldn't be possible otherwise. We are really excited to offer this as a tool to help you engage with us. 

Give us a shout if you have any other ideas of how we can add value for you. 

Best wishes! 

The ISCG are delighted to announce that a new suite of Commercial Projects are live an open for applications. Gain an experience in consulting working in remote teams from students all over Ireland. You will be able to work on projects like market expansions to the UK & Belgium, or implementation reports for the National Broadband Ireland Plan and many, many more. We are running a drop-in clinic in KB114 this Thursday between 1-4pm so you can sign up and ask any questions you have about the Society, Projects, Consulting, or anything else! We are here to support you and together we can make inspirational the norm.

Details on the projects can be found via https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1M47Hn6Prd1aIyGCWrHveFk_Lcub4N6RmBA0_Efl30ZY/viewform?ts=6144b600&edit_requested=true

Hi all,

The Society got a full rebrand in June, and now offers two complementary suites of activities. We still have, and will continue to champion all things Entrepreneurship, but we now offer Consultancy opportunities with our new partners, the Irish Student Consulting Group. There will be an Autumn, Winter, and Summer Round of projects for members who renew their membership next year. This offers you the opportunity to work on 3 different projects, make 3 sets of new contacts, and gain experience in 3 industries - all of which provide an undoubted competitive advantage in the hiring market. Full details will be shared by ourselves and the ISCG when updates are available.

Membership fees are being streamlined this year, as voted on by the committee in June, so all membership for ULCES including ISCG membership will be €5 for the upcoming year. We are delighted to be able to reduce the fees for alumni and externals, all while increasing the experience and activities the Society will provide.

The initial 2 events that will be run by ULCES will be online webinars hosted on the Zoom platform. These events will also be recorded and uploaded to SULIS like many of the guest talks and infoshops we ran last year. The topics of these events will be posted first on Instagram, this SULIS site and UL Wolves, so make sure you follow us on @ulces to get the latest updates.

In case you are wondering what events ULCES will run next year, and whether it is worth the investment, here is what is proposed: ( all events are subject to change/ confirmation)

Competitions:
52Start Hackathon - October 29th to 31st (Hybrid event - Will be in Nexus Innovation Centre but will also be delivered via SULIS). Runs as part of the UL Foundation Awards.

Varsity Sparks- Last year was the pilot programme and we had a 3rd place finish. It is a virtual crowdfunding event where the top 30 submissions go through two rounds of national crowdfunding and pitching to eventually leave a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 2 spot prize winners. There was a €10k prize pot last year and there are talks on increasing that. We had over 4k users vote on ideas over the competition last year.

Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneurship Awards & Ireland Funds Business Model Canvas Awards- We always run an infoshop on these two events concurrently as their entry dates are usually within a week of each other in March.

UL Foundation Enterprise & Innovation Awards*- Last year was the first time it was run and there was a €15k prize pot over 3 categories. Category 1 was the Entrepreneurship Society Idea Hack which had €3k of prizes last year, Category 2 is Social Innovation and that had €6k in prizes, and Category 3 is Commerical Innovation and that also had a €6k prize fund. The Society had numerous winners and entrants in these awards.

We are in advanced talks to have an extra competition on the PEAQS software, which will be a certified event, as will 52Start.

We have other competitions and collaborations in the pipeline but it is too early to confirm anything.

Infoshops:

We run a series of presentations & networking evenings throughout the semester. Last year we had 6 infoshops, in 2019/20 we had 16. This year we will have something in between those figures. We have guest speakers or an in-house presentation on a topic relating to Entrepreneurship (and we will add Consulting this year), watch a TED talk relating to the discussion, and then just chat amongst ourselves with any ideas or topics that anyone wants to share. The Semester 1 talks usually start in the middle of Semester 1 in KB114, but we may have to change based on demand, availability, and the room booking rules in KBS. 

Events:

We will host an All-Ireland Student Entrepreneurship Summit in early 2022. This will have high-calibre speakers from all over Ireland and potentially further afield (discussions happening with UK and US lecturers, consultants, and mindset speakers currently). We aim to have this event on campus for ULCES members for free and it will be available virtually live and recorded to externals and to UL students for a small fee afterwards.

We are also in discussions to relaunch the Innospace UL project we ran in 2019/20. We took over the Student Engagement Hub for 2 weeks and had guest speakers and walk-in clinics where you could talk about all things entrepreneurship, business, mindset, or even just a cup of tea/coffee and a biscuit with your lunch.

Pending COVID guidelines and funding, we would also like to have at least one field trip to Intel, Deloitte, and/or First Data throughout the year also.

Consulting:
We will have three rounds of ISCG consulting projects for students to join in on; one in Semester 1, one in Semester 2, and a Summer round beginning in June. There will be commercial and social impact cases and you will be working with fellow students all over Ireland on working for a real-life company should you wish to register for that opportunity. There is no obligation to take part in all 3 if time doesn't allow, and there is also full freedom to enter all 3 if you so desire. We will run infoshops explaining what an ISCG project looks like in the week leading up to project registration.

The Committee will begin their meetings in the next fortnight to discuss all H&S and COVID related protocols to ensure that on-campus events will be as fun and accessible as possible to as many members that we can accommodate.

We will also continue to upload a variety of articles, podcasts, and online events relating to Entrepreneurship and/or Consulting to our members on SULIS. 

Feel free to contact president@ules.ie or director@ules.ie with any questions you may have.

Looking forward to welcoming you to one of the freshest Societies on campus; let's make inspirational the norm together.

Just wishing everyone who reads this a Happy International Women's Day. It's hugely important to recognise everything they do and the fact that often they don't get the credit/ reward they deserve. So enjoy today, and we hope to see you at future ULES events. 

The Main Focus of Positive Psychology is to utilise what resources and experience you already have and to nurture and create even more resources and habits to help you create a better mindset and outcome in your life. Some of these resources are:

Positive experiences (like happiness, joy, inspiration, and love)

Positive states and traits (like gratitude, resilience, and compassion)

Positive institutions (applying positive principles within entire organisations and institutions including countries like Bhutan)

Hi all, 

I am delighted to announce that Orla Foley will be joining us next Monday the 15th at 6:30pm. Orla has a whole range of qualifications from studying Pyschology in UL, to Physiotherapy and other muscle healing therapies in LIT & London, and she is an entrepreneur. She opened her own business in Killaloe, Co. Clare in 2001 focusing on helping people with pain and injuries but has learned to pivot her business model to include complimentary therapies, services, and add-ons to add durability to her business offerings.

She will be speaking to us about 3 main topics. 

Entrepreneurship and starting a business in niche markets

Positive Pyschology (I'll put up a separate post on what that means) 

Her national fundraiser for CRY Ireland, the Mid-Western Cancer Foundation, and CARI Foundation which has been extremely successful and is making huge strides in awareness for these charities.

Zoom/ SULIS meeting link will be posted here in a few days. In the meantime, book off that Monday evening and I'll talk to you soon. 

Best wishes,

Ben

Su Carty is an entrepreneur, business coach, World Rugby Council Member, Former IRFU player & referee, and director of Ohana Zero Suicide Alliance.

Su will be talking to us about Team Dynamics, Leadership, Mental Health, and Tips for being an Entrepreneur. This talk, like the 1st session last semester is completely free to anyone - member or not. So please feel free to share the event with absolutely everyone, because it's going to a cracker!

The Link will be posted on Instagram and Facebook. 

Hello everyone,

Welcome to semester 2. I am delighted to announce that ULES can provide support to members wishing to enter into the following competitions:

1. Varsity Sparks  Closing Date 8th March
2. Student Entrepreneur Awards (Enterprise Ireland) Closing Date 12th March
3. Ireland Funds Closing Date 16th March
4. UL Innovate Dates TBA

We are also hosting guest speakers starting from next week. I will post that update here shortly.

If you have any questions about joining or partaking in these competitions, please email president@ules.ie and I will get back to you ASAP (might be outside business hours because - college life :) )

Best Wishes,

Ben

Hi all,

The idea competition is kicking off tonight with an Instagram story. If you have applied for the event, but are not on the SULIS page yet, please email president@ules.ie with your name and UL ID number before 7pm tonight. Remember that there is real money for the top 3 ideas, no reports needed for this competition, and the whole process takes a maximum of 3 hours.

If you have any questions, pop me an email.

All the best,

Ben

This short and interactive session is designed and organised to appeal to all students from all backgrounds and experiences, especially early-stage entrepreneurs who wish to learn about entrepreneurship and network with local entrepreneurs. The session will benefit any student who wishes to develop a stronger entrepreneurial mind-set for use in a start-up situation or for use in an existing organisation as a means of enhancing their CV. 

Why Attend The ULES Idea Hack... You

• will provide inspiring & practical introductions to the world of Entrepreneurial ideation
• increase your network of entrepreneurs, funders and initiative influencers and generate more networking opportunities;
• will access Entrepreneurial mentors who provide insight and refreshing wealth of perspectives, which on how to generate new ideas, idea generation process, problem solution development process, for entrepreneurial and creativity activity.
• gain knowledge of practical tools and techniques that are transferable into any workplace situation
• have an opportunity to get invaluable feedback on your ideas, plus a significant cash prize!

Have a look at the attached image for all the key details or view this link.

Hi all, 

We have launched our SULIS page. This will allow us to have our competitions, guest speakers, and weekly/ biweekly infoshops on the secure UL network. It also allows us to share resources with you that wouldn't be possible otherwise. We are really excited to offer this as a tool to help you engage with us. 

Give us a shout if you have any other ideas of how we can add value for you. 

Best wishes! 

Hi all,

Until the UL Wolves page has the Stripe payment integrated, we are accepting payments through PayPal. You can find the link on ules.ie

Best,

Ben

Hi All,

Thank you for taking the time to look at the Entrepreneurship Societies' page on the UL Wolves website. We will be uploading this page with our events and news as soon as we have news. We have just finished a large meeting with the C&S Team about the new regulations, so now it's time to plan, create, and implement the new plan for the year.

Feel free to email me on president@ules.ie if you have any questions or suggestions for what we can do, no idea will be dismissed.

Until the next one,

Ben

We have launched our pre-registration for 52Start. Please go to our facebook or our website 52start.org to find out more details. Link is on Facebook.

Provisional Plan: Subject to change

Week 2 Introduction & Rec. Drive

Week 3 How to attract funding

Week 4 Business Consulting 101

Week 5 Green Economy

Week 6 RAG- No infoshop

Week 7 Food Science Talk

Week 8 Music as a form of mindset development

Week 9 Innospace- No infoshop

Week 10 How to make failure work for you & Semester Close

Developing the next generations of Irish entrepreneurs ‘EIREpreneurship’: Creativity, Collaboration, and Innovation in focus.

Why Attend?

Come to the first ever Student All-Ireland Entrepreneurial Summit and

• Hear first-hand accounts of how Entrepreneurship applies to all types of jobs.

• Learn the essential and transferrable skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur

• Identify how to get the resources to spark your entrepreneurial journey.

• Develop your network with like-minded students, high-end guest speakers and local/ national entrepreneurs.

• Discover how disruptive technologies are designed to give entrepreneurs a competitive advantage.

• We will be promoting sustainability and socially innovative methods of commerce.

• Hear directly from investors on how to attract money.

• You will be equipped with motivation, knowledge, and inspiration to drive you to success.

Does it relate to me? Being enterprising, entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial involves spotting an unexploited opportunity and making the most of it: essentially, identifying a gap in the market and filling it. However, it can also be about trying something new or improving a process to increase efficiency or boost results in a new or existing organisation. Increasingly, employers want graduates with skills that mirror those characteristics of an entrepreneurial mind-set, which requires novel and adaptive employees capable of coping with workplace uncertainty and career ambiguity, possess creative and innovative skills, are critical thinkers, problem solvers, have the ability to work in teams and extend beyond their discipline comfort zone. We want to empower these traits within you; and this summit can be your spark! 

We are having a chat about last semester and seeing how we can do more to help you. Hope to see you then. 

Room changed for weekly meetings. Now based upstairs in the Kemmy Business School in the enterprise centre KB114. 

ULES will visit Intel Offices on Thursday November 7th. Limited places available to paid members only. Apply for a place by emailing director@ules.ie.

Hope to see you then. 

Thanks, 

Ben Fitzgerald Kiely - ULES President 2019/20

Due to the adverse weather conditions Extra Tropical Storm Lorenzo will bring, we are cancelling our infoshop tomorrow night. The infoshop will run next week, hopefully! Take care and mind yourselves, especially during the peak of the storm 18:00-03:00.

Apologies for any inconvenience. 

Ben Fitzgerald Kiely- ULES President 2019/20 

UL Entrepreneurship Society are delighted to announce that in Weeks 9 and 10, we will have an event-packed space in the Student Courtyard; discussing all the different aspects of Entrepreneurship. We are going to discuss how entrepreneurship is not a business activity, practice, or skill, but it is a mindset that applies to everything we do in life. Come to us and find out why entrepreneurship makes people stand above the crowd and attracts success, creativity, and passion. Can't wait to see you all there :).

Everyone at the UL Entrepreneurship Society wishes to extend a very warm welcome to each and every UL student, staff, and alumni. We can't wait to get this fantastic year underway. We have starting planning road trips, summits, and workshops and we'll announce them in the next few weeks.

Best, 

Ben Fitzgerald Kiely - President 2019/20