JCI Belfast were incredibly proud to once again partner with Youth Action NI on their GetSetGo Programme today at their College Square North offices. GetSetGo is a very successful employability project which has measurable outcomes for getting young people aged 16-24 in to education, work or training.  This version attracted over 80 young people from all over Northern Ireland to Belfast to hear from ‘Business partners’ (ranging from employed professionals, retired business leaders and entrepeneurs) who gave up their free time to give advice from their experiences of work.  The young people present often find it difficult to get these opportunities as they are usually out of the traditional education system or not in work. We started the morning with a skills workshop where we tried to identify key skills already present in the young people by asking them to argue why their character (provided to them individually on a card) should be allowed to board a raft to get off a sinking desert island.  This allowed them to influence, negotiate, agree and use verbal & non-verbal communication skills.  The enthusiasm shown by the young people this early in the day was great to see and set things up well for the day ahead. We followed that up with an amazing video from ‘snapcaps’ – If you want inspiration (or to feel wick for getting shown up by a 9 year old) then watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf5wOoCW0d4! The 2^nd session was about entrepenurial skills and how to create a business idea.  As we are currently going through the patent process with my group I am not actually at liberty to divulge what our idea was (lol), but I can say it was incredibly heartening once again to see the enthusiasm (and ability!!) for the task.  The design and planning of the task, I must say, made it easy for the participants but fundementally it displayed how a simple hobby can become a viable business with a little thought. After lunch we returned to our ideas to build our pitches and present to a team of ‘Dragons’ for investment.  All of the groups were brilliant and how some of them were able to think on their feet when asked tough questions was very impressive. Overall, members had a fantastic day participating in such a worthwhile project, made all the easier by the excellent planning from the charity and the enthusiasm of those taking part. Already looking forward to next year!