"Who wants to be an Entrepreneur?"

Today (Thursday) Glenisk MD Vincent Cleary will officially launch Offaly Comhairle na nOg’s “Who Wants to be an Entrepreneur” magazine, which was put together on the back of concerns regarding job opportunities for young people. The launch will take place at noon in the Tullamore Court Hotel.

“In October 2011 there was a huge concern in our Comhairle na nOg regarding what job opportunities would be there for us when we are older,” Comhairle na nOg member Jessica Mahon said, explaining what prompted the project.

“In response to this concern, we decided that the need to promote entrepreneurial thinking to all teenagers would be a good response to our worries about our future job options.”

The Comhairle group believes that by showing young people enterprise as a career option it will reduce stress and money worries as young people see there are other options for work by employing yourself.

On reviewing the magazine prior to the launch Vincent said he is delighted to see young people in Offaly doing something positive and proactive and moreover identifying a need in their lives to help other teenagers consider enterprise as a career choice.

“We - entrepreneurs - I say that collectively and loosely as we come in all shapes, sizes, life stages, disciplines and non-disciplines, but to be successful we have all one thing in common and that is we recognise the need. It is critical in any project that entrepreneurs identify a market for their product or service before significant funds are invested. There are tried and trusted ways to proof test new projects and suffice to say if an entrepreneur’s new idea passes the proof tests then it will more likely succeed.”

Vincent was also quick to point out one piece of advice to anyone starting a new business and that advice is to stick with it. “Any new project will take time to gather momentum and one needs to give the concept sufficient time to be recognised by others, particularly customers,” he said. “We all hear of the stories of entrepreneurs giving up just before the idea took off. Nobody wishes to be that unsung hero. Therefore, the oxygen for any new project is time.”

One of the big themes in the magazine being launched today is self-belief, which Vincent is happy to see. “Entrepreneurs need to have self-belief in their product or service as entrepreneurs have one major advantage over big business, and that’s starting a new project from concept,” he said.

“An executive from a $30bn multinational corporation told me once that the problem with his corporation (and others I suspect) was that they didn’t do start-ups well as it was like another language that they didn’t understand. Hence, many large multinational corporations purchase fledgling companies not because of their turnover or bottom line or profit, but because of their potential and their potential new technologies.”

Offaly Comhairle na nOg is the youth council for Offaly through Offaly County Council. More information on it and its new magazine is available by emailing comhairle@offalycoco.ie or calling 057 9357460.