Liffey Trust teams up with Trinity Business School to fund MBA scholarships

Posted on: 25 August 2017

The Liffey Trust, one of Europe’s oldest incubators is partnering with Trinity Business School at Trinity College Dublin to fund scholarships for entrepreneurs studying on the Trinity MBA. The inaugural scholarship was awarded to John Drumm, founder of Glencar Healthcare, which specialises in funding Irish healthcare infrastructure.

The Séamus McDermott Scholarship for Entrepreneurship is providing a €10,000 scholarship towards the Trinity MBA for an entrepreneur beginning in September 2017. The number of €10,000 scholarships will increase to four each year over ten years totalling €340,000 over the lifetime of the scholarship fund.

Trinity College Dublin has a tradition of innovation with Trinity graduates being ranked by venture capital organisation Pitchbook as the most entrepreneurial in Europe. The Trinity MBA has entrepreneurship at its heart. The partnership of the Liffey Trust and Trinity Business School is therefore a natural fit.

Dean of Trinity Business School, Professor Andrew Burke said: “We are delighted and honoured to be partnering with the Liffey Trust on the Sean McDermott Trinity MBA Scholarship for Entrepreneurship.  People always assume that business start-up is the hardest part of entrepreneurship whereas research has shown that it is the later challenges of survival, growth and professionalisation that pose the greatest challenges for new ventures.  An MBA is very much more focused on providing solutions for these latter developmental requirements for new businesses so this scholarship is well placed to support ambitious entrepreneurs.  To this end, we are also delighted that the inaugural scholarship is being awarded to John Drumm of Glencar Healthcare who has already got off to flying start with some excellent fundraising for his exciting venture.” 

Founder of the Liffey Trust, Seamus McDermott said: “Job creation is the responsibility of us all. We at Liffey Trust have long supported job creation through entrepreneurship and recognised that in order to do this successfully partnerships are essential. Our new partnership with the top university of Ireland and with the academic staff of one of the finest business schools in the world will, we believe, have far reaching and long term benefits for Irish society as a whole.”

Winner of the inaugural Seamus McDermott Trinity MBA Scholarship, John Drumm said: "I am delighted to accept the Seamus McDermott scholarship and am looking forward to starting the upcoming MBA programme. Seamus is a fantastic example to all business people and I greatly appreciate his generosity in funding this scholarship. The Trinity MBA will enable me to further develop my entrepreneurial skill-set and to broaden the business competencies that I can bring to our growing team at Glencar Healthcare."

Seamus McDermott, Founder of the Liffey Trust, John Drumm Founder of Glencare Healthcare, and Professor Andrew Burke, Dean of Trinity Business School