Inspiring Our Youth

On Thursday morning, 2^nd February, the Year 11 Applied Business class from Rainey Endowed Grammar School came to visit and collect information for their controlled assessment. The kids were required to investigate entrepreneurship and being a local entrepreneur our very own Bobby Carmichael filled out their questionnaires and delivered a presentation on how The Jungle started, how it has grown and what he feels are important virtues to develop entrepreneurship.

Bob highlighted to the kids how The Jungle started from a crisis, in that it was originally a farm which was about to become repossessed. Through sheer determination and a dedicated work ethic, Bob managed to diversify the farm into an Outdoor Activity Adventure Centre, thus saving the farm from being repossessed and in turn creating jobs for the local economy. From the humble beginnings of the first paintball site in Northern Ireland, Bob continuously developed and enhanced The Jungle and it has continued to grow and has been at the forefront of bringing new and innovative activities and events to Northern Ireland.

The pupils were then taken on a guided tour around The Jungle grounds to get a better perspective of the size and scale of the operations and to let them see the range of different activities and facilities available.

We received the following feedback from Rainey Endowed following their visit:

“Pupils benefited greatly from hearing, first hand, from Mr Carmichael about the importance of commitment, dedication and constant innovation in order to succeed in business.  The success and growth of ‘Fright Night’ from 250 visitors in Year 1 to 16,000 visitors in 2016 really emphasised the need to strive to continuously improve, as did hearing about the new ‘Rampage’ event planned for 2017.  Our thanks go to Mr Carmichael and all the staff at ‘The Jungle’ for the time and energy devoted to helping our pupils and the welcome we received.”

We were delighted to be able to offer some valuable advice to help inspire these kids to develop the real world skills required to become entrepreneurs. Bobby has delivered a number of these information and Q&A sessions to young kids and the feedback received from all has been very humbling. The kids are the ones who will be responsible for the future of our economy so we’re happy to share our experience in the hope to inspire at least some of them to become pioneers and leaders who think outside the box in the aim of creating and manifesting their own ideas and businesses, which in the long run will boost our economy and inspire others.