Virgin Atlantic and Ryanair - Entrepreneurship Programmes

Virgin Atlantic and Ryanair - Entrepreneurship Programmes

Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson is of course one of the world’s most high profile entrepreneurs, so it is only fitting that his airline has released a podcast devoted entrepreneurship.

Launched on April 25th, ‘The Venture’ is a branded podcast that explores the adventures of starting and running an industry-changing business by interviewing different entrepreneurs.

Designed to be a six part series, at the time of writing one episode has been released. The subject of the first episode is record label ‘Kill Rockstars’, an independent company formed in 1991 in Olympia Washington and known for signing underground punk bands.

The podcast series is available on social network Soundcloud, as well as on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts. It is being produced in cooperation with podcast creator Gimlet Media. None of the six episodes will look at aviation, instead each one will follow the stories of entrepreneurs from outside the airline industry.

While the link between Richard Branson and entrepreneurship is clear, there is of course a question on using podcasting as a medium.

In fact, despite being around for over ten years, podcasts have a respectable audience so much so that in a recent LinkedIn post, author Jason Miller wondered why more marketers aren’t using them.

In his post, Miller cited a survey of 2,700 LinkedIn members worldwide which showed that among department heads, VPs, business owners, and board members, 44% tune in. “Put something imaginative and original together and they could be listening to you.”

Another airline that has been promoting entrepreneurship is Irish LCC Ryanair, which in April announced that it was donating €1.5 million to Trinity College University Dublin. This money will be used to fund a Ryanair Professor of Entrepreneurship. Ryanair’s money is being channeled through the Ryanair Foundation, which exists to support charitable and educational projects across Europe.

Arguably a sponsorship of this nature would have been unimaginable under the ‘old’ Ryanair even five years ago, and it shows how far the brand has travelled over the past few years.

Ryanair isn’t the only airline to be working with a leading business school. For example, Emirates has a partnership with Carnegie-Mellon University and currently funds an ‘CMU-Emirates-Silicon Valley Innovation’ Lab.

Key Take-Away

Virgin Atlantic and Ryanair’s focus on entrepreneurship works because it has credibility.

Both Richard Branson and Michael O’Leary are instantly recognisable business figures, as well as being known for shaking up the airline industry in different ways.

Virgin Atlantic focus on podcasting is interesting especially given the increased popularity of audio based social media, with companies such as Soundcloud, Anchor and Pundit, all having made waves over the past few years.