North Coast College traders at St George's Market

Student company from North Coast Integrated College will trade alongside more than 80 others at The Big Market.

With a unique variety of products, from a suicide awareness app and gluten-free recipe books, to fruit-infused bottles and handmade decorations, it is the

perfect chance to pick up something you won’t find on the high street.

The Big Market is the first key showcase event for young people taking part in the Young Enterprise NI Company, Team, QuickStart and Business Beginnings Programmes. The programmes develop employability skills, increase confidence, and get young people to consider business start-up as a future career option. To add to the excitement, local business leaders will be judging the companies to award prizes on the day and recognise their achievements.

Josh Donnell, a member of the winning company at The Big Market last year, Keepsakes from Lisneal College, said: “As part of the Young Enterprise Company Programme we attended The Big Market in Belfast. On the days leading up to The Big Market we were getting all our stock ready for the big event. We had to manage our production team to create as many high quality products as possible. We did this by dividing our production team down into smaller groups, which really increased the speed of production. This was the key to our success at The Big Market! The quality of our handmade clay decoration set us apart from the other competing teams as we could personalise the product to your liking.

“The Big Market was a big learning curve for Keepsakes as it required us to sell as much as possible to get back profit from our product. On the day we made £100. Although the most vital part of The Big Market was the judging stage. Throughout the day a wide variety of different judges from all backgrounds came to our stalls to assess our company. With everything from banking to politics, they assessed our selling skills and product knowledge In the end through all our hard work as a team and learning the ins and outs of Keepsakes we were crowned Best Overall Company at the Big Market.”

Young Enterprise Chairman, Ciaran Sheehan, commented: “Each year Young Enterprise supports more than 3,500 young people start businesses across Northern Ireland. The Big Market is a fantastic opportunity for these young people to gain experience in trading in a live market environment, whilst developing their skills and confidence for a successful future in life and in work.”

We’d like to invite everyone in the city centre and beyond to show their support for these young people by calling in between 10am and 2pm to get a glimpse into the future of entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland and see the work of Young Enterprise first hand.”