UCC Graduates launch unique business venture | Kevin O'Neill

     Launched by two UCC graduates, new venture UrYearBook.com provides students with a unique facility to commemorate their time in third level education, both in terms of academic and social pursuits.

     Graduates of Government and BIS, respectively, Jayne Ronayne and David Murray developed the website to allow students to document the “class parties, nights out, faculty balls and meeting new friends for life” that is indicative of time spent in college. Their reasoning for doing this is simply that they wanted to remember the time they spent in UCC.

     Eleven months in development, much of which was spent under the guidance of Anne O’Leary (Kinematic), Billy O’Connor (Discovery Partners), David Ronayne (Mainport), Paul Kenny (Cobone.com) and others who the two refer to as “some of the greatest people”, the website takes its cues from established social media sites by asking users to upload profile photos and the pictures they want commemorated, as well as personal information that can be edited at any time prior to the printing process.

     As yet, not all courses in UCC are catered for, though the two pledge to extend their reach beyond those that are currently available. To date, only courses that come under the College of Business & Law (BIS, Commerce, Finance, Law, etc.) are covered, with even first year students in these courses able to register their interest in printing a commemorative book in four years time.

     In terms of cost, the finalised product will set students back €40 which Murray maintains is “a small price to pay when you compare it to how long you will hopefully keep it and compare it to the price of the renting of the graduation robe for the day.”

     The personal cost is minimal, the primary outlay for Murray and Ronayne is the time that they have spent to date establishing the idea, pitching it to mentors and sponsors and, now, to students. They acknowledge, however, that their involvement is far from over if they are to extend its presence beyond the College of Business & Law in UCC to the remainder of the student body and, potentially, to other universities in Ireland and beyond.

     “The reason was that we wanted to test the product and service with a small group of classes before offering it to the University as a whole. We have great plans to target other schools, universities and sports clubs and maybe even going international. We are delighted to have gotten such a positive response and we are very lucky to have had a number of different schools, IT's and universities contact us already.”

     Both Jayne and David have been offered a place in the Ignite Programme, starting this coming October with nine other companies. Described as an “incubation process” for the enterprise, it will allow the means testing and development of the idea in the weeks leading up to its launch for the conferring ceremonies at the end of the month.

     Further information can be found on http://www.uryearbook.com/ or by searching for Ur Year Book on Facebook or by following @ur_YearBook on Twitter.