Enterprise and Business Basics

Enterprise and Business Basics

Curriculum Mapping Student Devices
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This 10-week course introduces Irish students to the fundamentals of business and enterprise. Through real Irish case studies including Stripe, the Collisons, FoodCloud and local examples, students explore business types, develop an entrepreneurial mindset, generate and refine ideas using SCAMPER, conduct customer research, build a Business Model Canvas, manage costs and pricing, create branding and marketing assets, examine business ethics, and deliver a final pitch. Working individually or in small teams, they create and run their own mini-business project from idea to presentation.
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Explore the Course

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Set up the 10-week journey. Students learn what business and enterprise mean, see how Irish entrepreneurs got started, choose their grouping (solo, pair or small team), and open their Mini Business Portfolio with early goals and idea seeds.

Kicking Off Your Mini Business Journey
Introduction to Business and Enterprise Quiz
The Entrepreneurial Mindset
The Entrepreneurial Mindset Quiz

The decision phase. Students pool their candidate ideas, sharpen them with SCAMPER, run a feasibility filter, lock in ONE mini-business idea for the rest of the module, then define their customer and start collecting real-world research input.

Choosing Your Mini Business Idea
Generating and Choosing Your Business Idea Quiz
Knowing Your Customer
Your Customer and Your First Market Research Quiz
Building Your Business Model
Business Models and What Makes Your Offer Stand Out Quiz

Operational reality. Students cost their mini-business, set a price they can justify, work out profit per unit and break-even, then design the brand and the 4Ps marketing plan, finishing with a real piece of promotion.

Financial Foundations
Costs, Pricing and Profit Per Unit Quiz
Marketing Your Mini Business
Branding, the 4ps and Your First Social Post Quiz

The closing arc. Students draft and rehearse their 2-minute pitch, give and receive feedback, run an ethics and sustainability review on their mini-business, compile the final BusinessPlanTemplate as homework, and deliver and celebrate the pitches on Pitch Day.

Teamwork and Pitch Practice
Teamwork and Your First Pitch Draft Quiz
Ethics and Social Enterprise
Digital & AI in Business Quiz
Pitch Day and Reflection
Pitch Day and Closing Reflection

Set up the 10-week journey. Students learn what business and enterprise mean, see how Irish entrepreneurs got started, choose their grouping (solo, pair or small team), and open their Mini Business Portfolio with early goals and idea seeds.

Kicking Off Your Mini Business Journey
Introduction to Business and Enterprise Quiz
The Entrepreneurial Mindset
The Entrepreneurial Mindset Quiz

The decision phase. Students pool their candidate ideas, sharpen them with SCAMPER, run a feasibility filter, lock in ONE mini-business idea for the rest of the module, then define their customer and start collecting real-world research input.

Choosing Your Mini Business Idea
Generating and Choosing Your Business Idea Quiz
Knowing Your Customer
Your Customer and Your First Market Research Quiz
Building Your Business Model
Business Models and What Makes Your Offer Stand Out Quiz

Operational reality. Students cost their mini-business, set a price they can justify, work out profit per unit and break-even, then design the brand and the 4Ps marketing plan, finishing with a real piece of promotion.

Financial Foundations
Costs, Pricing and Profit Per Unit Quiz
Marketing Your Mini Business
Branding, the 4ps and Your First Social Post Quiz

The closing arc. Students draft and rehearse their 2-minute pitch, give and receive feedback, run an ethics and sustainability review on their mini-business, compile the final BusinessPlanTemplate as homework, and deliver and celebrate the pitches on Pitch Day.

Teamwork and Pitch Practice
Teamwork and Your First Pitch Draft Quiz
Ethics and Social Enterprise
Digital & AI in Business Quiz
Pitch Day and Reflection
Pitch Day and Closing Reflection

Curriculum Mapping

See exactly how this course maps to official curriculum specifications

NCCA Transition Year Programme Statement (2025)
Curriculum Area
Outcomes
Personal Growth
P.1 P.2 P.3 P.4 P.5 P.6 P.7 P.8 P.9 P.10 P.11
Being a Learner
B.1 B.2 B.3 B.4 B.5 B.6 B.7 B.8 B.9 B.10 B.11 B.12
Civic and Community Engagement
C.1 C.2 C.3 C.4 C.5 C.6 C.7 C.8 C.9 C.10 C.11
Career Exploration
C.1 C.2 C.3 C.4 C.5 C.6 C.7 C.8
Components
C.1 C.2 C.3 C.4 C.5

The curriculum does not include official reference codes for individual learning outcomes, so we have assigned a code scheme to make it easier to identify and track coverage.

What Students Will Learn

Learning Goals

  1. Understand core business concepts including different types of enterprise, the entrepreneurial mindset, and real-world Irish examples of successful businesses.
  2. Generate, refine, and commit to a feasible mini-business idea using creative techniques such as SCAMPER and structured feasibility checks.
  3. Conduct basic market research by creating customer personas, distinguishing needs from wants, and designing effective survey questions.
  4. Develop and document a complete business model, including costs, pricing, profit calculations, branding, and the 4Ps of marketing.
  5. Apply ethical and sustainability thinking to business decisions while collaborating effectively to prepare, rehearse, and deliver a clear business pitch.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Define business and enterprise using real Irish examples such as The Side Door, Walsh & Walsh, and Stripe.
  2. Distinguish between the three main types of business and explain how each operates.
  3. Identify at least three entrepreneurial qualities from Irish founder case studies and explain how they apply to their own mini-business.
  4. Generate, sharpen using SCAMPER, and select one feasible mini-business idea for the 10-week project.
  5. Create a customer persona, differentiate between customer needs and wants, and draft five open survey questions to test their idea.

What You'll Need

Student Devices

Students will need one of these devices. Students can share in groups of 2-3 if necessary.

Chromebook/Laptop/PC
Chromebook/Laptop/PC
iPad/Tablet
iPad/Tablet
Required Equipment

Equipment used in some of the lessons in this course. Items can be shared among students.

IWB/Projector/Large Screen
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

Build a full TY year around Enterprise and Business Basics

This module is one of 7 Transition Year modules you can combine into a complete Year-Long TY Digital Skills Programme, shaped around your timetable and the students in front of you.

Run the same pathway for every student, or set different pathways for different groups. Students also get access to the modules they're not doing in class, which is ideal for the keen ones who finish early or want to explore further on their own time.

Prefer a deeper tech focus? Swap in Advanced Coding or Robotics and Automation. Each module is 10 lessons of 40-60 minutes, leaving room for school events, mid-terms and everything else TY throws at you.

Why TY coordinators choose it
One decision, a year's content
No more stitching resources together every term.
Flexible per class, per student
Run different pathways side by side.
Certificates after each module
Great for TY portfolios, open days and reports home.
Sets students up for Senior Cycle
Broad exposure so they choose subjects with confidence.
Sample Year Plan
ICT + Coding focus
  • Computer Skills
    Gets everyone on a level footing
  • Introduction to Coding
    Real, working projects from week one
  • Exploring Digital Media
    Video, design and storytelling
  • Exploring Artificial Intelligence
    The topic your students keep asking about
  • Enterprise and Business Basics
    A pitch-and-launch project to close out the year

Ready to bring this course to your school?

Get in touch to discuss pricing and ordering for your school.

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