Go Succeed Future Founders Returns for Year Two Across NI Colleges

Go Succeed and Young Enterprise NI are bringing Future Founders back for a second year — the entrepreneurship programme that put more than 2,500 young people across Northern Ireland through their first serious look at starting a business.

Built with all 11 councils and the region’s six further education colleges, Future Founders launched in September 2025. The pitch is practical rather than preachy: help students find the confidence, skills and mindset to turn an idea into something they can actually try.

The programme runs in three stages — an introduction to entrepreneurship, an Innovation Camp, and an Entrepreneurship Hub. Along the way, participants work on their own ideas, solve problems in teams, and hear straight from founders and business leaders about what starting up really feels like.

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is leading the work on behalf of Go Succeed. Mayor Alderman Thomas Gordon said the first-year feedback from students and educators showed how much ambition is already sitting in classrooms and campuses.

“We know there are many young people with brilliant ideas and entrepreneurial ambition, but they may not always have the confidence, knowledge or support to know where to start,” he said. “Programmes like Future Founders play an important role in giving young people those first opportunities to explore their potential, develop practical skills and see entrepreneurship as a realistic and exciting career path.”

Carol Fitzsimons MBE, chief executive of Young Enterprise NI, said the partnership with Go Succeed and the councils is continuing because year one proved the demand is real.

“Young people have huge potential to shape the future of Northern Ireland’s economy, and we want to ensure they have the confidence, skills and support to realise that potential,” she said. “Future Founders provides a practical and engaging introduction to entrepreneurship and, importantly, shows young people that they don’t have to wait until they leave education to start thinking like an entrepreneur.”

From the FE side, Joanne McCourt — principal lecturer and Entrepreneurship Hub manager for the further education sector at Northern Regional College — said the sessions pull students out of the usual classroom rhythm and into creative, problem-solving work. The first cohort’s energy, she added, is exactly why the colleges want another year of it.

Where it runs — including Belfast Met

Future Founders will be delivered on campuses across all six FE colleges: Belfast Metropolitan College, North West Regional College, Northern Regional College, South Eastern Regional College, South West College and Southern Regional College.

For Belfast readers following the city’s enterprise scene, that Belfast Met footprint matters — it sits alongside other Go Succeed stories Love Belfast has covered, from local firms using the service to pitch nights and founder journeys. Young Enterprise NI’s wider education work has also been on our radar, including Belfast students recognised at the Young Enterprise Awards and partners renewing support for inclusive enterprise education.

Year two’s brief is simple enough: more young people, more campuses, and another chance for the next wave of Future Founders to test whether that idea in their head could become a business.