February 4, 2012.

Institute for Minority Entrepreneurship

Thomas Cooney

Dublin Institute of Technology Aungier Street Dublin 2

01 402 7075

thomas.cooney@dit.ie

The 'Institute for Minority Entrepreneurship' was established to offer the different minority groups in Ireland equal opportunity through entrepreneurship education and training. 'Minority Entrepreneurship' has been broadly defined by the Institute to be inclusive of those communities who are generally regarded as being outside of mainstream Irish society in terms of entrepreneurship. The following groups are considered by the Institute to be 'minority entrepreneurship groups': Ethnic; People with Disabilities; Prisoners; Gay; Over 50; Travellers. IME provides three broad types of services. The first is a range of specially-designed courses that are delivered either in DIT, in the offices of the programme funders, or in premises where the programme participants are most usually located. The second is a FREE mentoring scheme. This allows potential and new entrepreneurs to receive mentoring on a one-to-one basis from a successful entrepreneur over a specified period of time (maximum six months). The third is a range of materials that are downloadable for FREE.