2013 Case Study

Here is the case study for the 2013 LCVP exam which takes place on May 1st 2013. Use it as a revision tool.

Scroll down to read the case study. Select Full Screen to read it more clearly.

A trip to Caffrey's Chocolate Warehouse

Alisha and Abigael of 5th Year LCVP wrote this report about the recent LCVP trip to Caffreys Chocolate Warehouse.

"Our LCVP Class planned to go to Caffrey's Chocolate Warehouse as part of our LCVP course. After our trip we would complete a Summary Report about it. All of the 5th and 6th years LCVP students met up in the school reception and the roll was called. All the students and two teachers got on the bus and we began our journey.

We had great fun all together on the bus journey by singing and having great chats. At around 11am we reached Caffrey's Chocolate Warehouse, in Walkinstown. We waited in the reception area for a roll call. There was Willy Wonka music playing in the background and the scene was beautiful.

 

Everyone was so excited, we wanted to eat everything. We were advised to put our bags on the shelves while we went for our tour.

We were led into a room with a big TV and were greeted by our speaker Mary. She showed us a DVD on how chocolate is produced. None of us realised there was that much effort put in to making chocolate! Our speaker passed around a massive bar of chocolate for us all to feel the weight of it, and it was really, really heavy! We wanted to take it home with us, but we were told it was very plain and bitter. After the DVD we were given time to ask questions. The speaker answered all of our questions.

We were taken to the factory, and beside it was an exhibit of Umpa Lumpa's and chocolate fountains. It was almost like we were in the Willie Wonka movie. After this we were shown a short demonstration of how chocolate Easter eggs were made and how the eggs are decorated.

We were then allowed to decorate our own chocolate and we all found this really fun and enjoyed it. Mrs Leahy took some lovely photos of us all having fun.

Overall it was a great experience and we all grew closer as a class. We will all remember our trip to Caffrey's Chocolate Warehouse and all the chocolates we decorated. We would recommend any LCVP class to visit the Chocolate Warehouse as we learnt a lot about how a large business operates."

Well done Alisha and Abigael.

Mrs L :)

 
 

 

 

Visit Caffreys Chocolate Warehouse on Facebook or Twitter

St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland

Catherine sent in this information about a local voluntary organisation which also happens to be a national and international organisation. 

NAME: St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland

SITUATED: Ireland

CONTACT DETAILS: 29 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4

Number - 01 668 8077

WHAT DOES IT DO?: St. John Ambulance runs a one day refresher course where students can up their skills and practice in a relaxed and comfortable environment. Experienced instructors will guide students and offer peer support.

HOW ORGANISED?: St. John Ambulance is at the forefront of providing first aid and training services. Their members are all unpaid volunteers. They think that everyone should have immediate access to

first aid no matter where they are or what they are doing.

BENEFITS FOR CELBRIDGE?: A basic first aid course can help anyone make a difference between a life saved.

MOTIVATION?: St. John Ambulance welcomes new volunteers and look for bright and enthusiastic people to join their organisation. They provide a full range of internal courses to members. 

SUCCESS: As an approved organisation, St. John Ambulance work with the appropriate event organisers, statuory agencies and other organisations to provide first aid cover to the public gatherings.

FUNDING: St John Ambulance is a ‘user pays' organisation and gets funds through providing ambulance services  and first aid training. Additional funding is provided by the Department of Health and through grants from supporters. 

As a not-for-profit organisation, all funds go back into caring for the community, to purchase new equipment, to train personnel and to keep ambulances on the road.

 Funding also comes from running first aid courses such as these below.

Occupational First Aid Course - €300

Community First Aid Course - €100

OFA Fetac Level 5 Refreshner - €140

Find more information about the St John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland at their website  http://stjohn.ie/

Celbridge Youth Café

5th Year LCVP used their planning, team and organisational skills when we invited a speaker to visit both LCVP classes. Thanks to Darren Shanahan for visiting our LCVP class yesterday. He gave us a great talk on Celbridge Youth Cafe and his experiences as a volunteer. Below is Darren's presentation.






Thanks to the 5th Year LCVP class for organising the visit.

No Jobs? These Mexican Immigrants Made Their Own

Meet the women of the Apple Eco-friendly Cleaning Cooperative.

Apple is a collective of five Mexican women living in New York City who got tired of working odd jobs and wanted more control of their careers. After meeting at a Brooklyn day laborer hiring site, where they would compete for cleaning jobs with dozens of other women, the quintet decided go into business for themselves, and formed an Limited Liability Company. 

They also began making their own cleaning products at home out of natural ingredients. The result is a less toxic home for their growing roster of clients and a safer cleaning day for the women themselves, who would sometimes get headaches from working for hours amid traditional chemical cleansers.

Source _ www.good.is

What were the reasons for these women setting up their own business?

What skills did / do these women have to become entrepreneurs?

What qualities of an entrepreneur did / do they have?

What steps are the women taking to ensure their business is a success?

Entrepreneur profile

Here is Blaithin's profile of Feargal Quinn - Superquinn

Feargal Quinn was born in Dublin on the 27th of November 1936. He was educated in Newbridge College, and is a commerce graduate of University College Dublin. He also learned the grocery trade in Lipton’s in the UK.

He grew up with a business background as his father ran the Red Island holiday camp in Skerries. This influenced Quinn to start up his own business. He opened up a new shop in Dundalk in 1959, at the age of 23. In 1960, Feargal Quinn founded a new business called ‘Quinns Supermarket’ in Dundalk. The trading name was later changed to ‘Superquinn’ in the late 1970’s.

In January 2005 it was announced that Superquinn was to be sold to a company called ‘Select Retail Holdings’.

In January 2009, the company made the decision to close the Dundalk store. This was the second time that Superquinn had failed in Dundalk, but in September 2010 a High Court order forced Superquinn to re-open in its home town again.

To date, Superquinn employs over 4,500 people in 23 locations nationwide.

Feragal Quinn shows a lot of qualities and characteristics of an entrepreneur. He is a risk taker as he continued to open up shops although his businesses in Dundalk were failing, he his highly motivated as he is still in the business trade and also has his on television show on RTE called “Fergal Quinn’s Retail Therapy”. He is also shows leadership as he took on the responsibility to run so many shops successfully.

Superquinn retail site here.

Senator Feargal Quinn - Independent Senator biography page here.

Feargal Quinn's Reatil Therapy at RTE

Entrepreneur profile

Here is Lauren's profile of Lily O Brien Chocolates founder Mary Ann O Brien 

Mary Ann O Brien - Lily O Briens chocolates

Background

Mary Ann was born in Tipperary.

She has one child named Lily and another who passed away after 18months called Jack.

She is also the co-founder of the ‘Jack and Jill’ foundation with her husband Jonathan Irwin, as well as ‘Lily O’Brien’s chocolates’

How she started her business.

When Mary was over in Africa she explored the hotel and found out what she loved doing. Cooking! For the 2weeks she was over there she helped (in her bikini) the owner’s daughter cook these chocolates in the small business she ran there.

When she arrived home she decided she would try and make the chocolates and sell them at her local hairdresser to see if she would get a positive feedback, and she did.

In 1992 Mary O’Brien had started up her business in her own kitchen in Newbridge, Co. Kildare and made her living from it

Mary tried to sell her chocolates at her local Superquinn and to her surprise she got an offer of a contract to sell her chocolates at the store! Mary leaped at this offer and set up her own business and borrowed money off the bank to help her do this.

Name of business

She run’s the successful Lily O’Brien’s Chocolates.

It is called Lily O’Brien after her daughter because Lily was born when Mary started up her business.

How many people do they employ?

Lily O’Brien employs over 100people and they make over 55-60tonnes per week!

Did she get help?

No, Mary Ann O’Brien started up her own business from at home. Starting to sell them at a hairdressers, venturing on to her local Superquinn and then it became a €16million-a year company, selling all over Europe including little travel boxes being sold on airplanes!

Entrepreneur profile

Here is Siobhan's profile of Niall Mellon

Niall Mellon -The Niall Mellon Township Trust.

Background-      Niall Mellon was born in 1967. He is from Ballyroan in county Dublin. When he finished school he joined his father’s investment brokerage. When he was 24 he set up his own mortgage company. His interests in the property and financial services soon grew. He had a great interest in buildings and property development and he carried out many different building projects in the United Kingdom.

The idea-             In 2002 while he was on holiday in South Africa he was appalled by the amount of shacks that he seen driving down the motor way. He went to see some of the townships on his visit and also met with some of the community leaders there. He decided that he wanted to do something about it because he believed that no human should live in a shack.

Not knowing if it was going to be a success or not he decided that he would take the risk and set up the “Niall Mellon Township Trust” where we would go to South Africa with volunteers and build houses for the people living in shacks.

His business-     His business is located in Tralee. He set up his charity using his own funds along with help and support from close family members and friends. The charity depends on volunteers to raise money and travel with him to South Africa each year to built houses. His company employs 104 full time staff and 28 community and site staff.

 Each year Niall Mellon along with many volunteers travel to South Africa for the “Building Blitz” As well as building house for the poor they also provide employment for local builders in South Africa by getting them to help them with the “Building Blitz” It also provides business for local companies that supply building materials as they source all their goods locally in South Africa.

Charity Work-   because of his great efforts with his charity work he has received praise from many people such as Nelson Mandela. He has also been awarded doctorate of Philosophy by D.I.T ad also a Doctor of Law by U.C.C. He has been given international honours for his efforts to encourage the spirit of volunteering.

Characteristics- Niall Mellon shows many different characteristics of an enterprising person such as being a risk taker, a leader, innovative, highly motivated and a very good communicator.

Here is a link to the Niall Mellon  Township Trust for more information.