Katie’s Visit Boosts Budding Entrepreneurs at SERC

South Eastern Regional College’s (SERC) Enterprise Team welcomed multi award-winning “Edupreneur” Katie Matthews to the College for a special session with students and staff.

Katie’s successful career has seen her listed as one of Northern Irelands 40 Under 40. She is the founder of Excel in Education Tutoring School; The Mind Tribe UK and Young Entrepreneurs Network NI, a dedicated support and development network for 18 to 30-year-olds interested in business, entrepreneurship, leadership and professional development.  

Katie shared her experience as a young entrepreneur, the importance of networking, and highlighted some of the challenges any aspiring entrepreneur might face. Students had the opportunity to ask Katie about her experience and career to date during a question and answer session, as well as discuss their own ideas with the multi award winning “edupreneur”.

Megan Rollins, Innovation Advisor for SERC, said, “At SERC, we are committed to providing our students with a range of opportunities to increase their employability skills which will complement their vocational courses of study. From our Enterprise fortnight when students start, to the entrepreneur club, to talks from industry experts such as Katie, students are encouraged to network with other students and start to think about real-world issues and entrepreneurship.

“We’ve had great feedback from everyone who attended the session with Katie Matthews with many students stating that it would help them with current and future plans. Students left with ideas to further develop those vital soft skills we encourage at SERC which are required for networking. They were also equipped with a set of conversation starters and questions for professional settings and events.

She added “Katie's encouragement and enthusiasm inspired everyone to participate in the networking sessions and the confidence of students in the room was palpable. In fact, towards the end of the session students were jumping out of their seats to volunteer to come up to the front and participate in a demonstration.”