Eachparticipant received a $1000 Massey University Scholarship, and the winners ofeach business challenge were awarded an additional $3000 scholarship.

Throughoutthe weekend, students were mentored in teams by 1 of 11 leading New Zealandorganisations such as One NZ, XERO, Grant Thornton and Spark. On Saturday theteams worked from their company host premises experiencing firsthand what it’slike working in an office environment, a highlight for a number of students whohad not previously visited Wellington.

On Friday,they tackled the “Embracing Tomorrow Challenge,” issued on Friday morning bythe CEO of Young Enterprise, Alex Bullot. They spent the day working fromMassey University’s Design School where they completed a business plan andprepared their pitches before presenting to the judging panel at 6:30 pm thatevening. In teams, the students were mentored by their designated corporatehost mentors and ‘YES Experts’ who helped them harness their innovativethinking to address the task of reimagining entrepreneurial education in NewZealand.  Head of YES, Ian Musson, reflected on day 1 of the programmesaying, “The first challenge required a huge level of teamwork, creativity andan entrepreneurial mindset for teams to think big about future-focused solutionsto the education space in New Zealand.”

Team VML tookout first place for challenge one. The winning team members were AlizeRoss-Aria (Hastings Girls High School), Hailey Helwes (Green Bay High School),Izaac Foster (Bayfield High School), Lachlan Mead (Homeschool), Michelle Lye(Rangi Ruru Girls School) and Verity Hogan (Campion College), who were mentoredby VML hosts, Aroha Gell and Amanda Howe, as well as their YES alumni mentor,Esta Chaplin.

The secondchallenge, issued Friday evening by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, gaveteams 48 hours to form a market entry strategy for a Kiwi skincare brand. TeamAsia New Zealand Foundation took first place with its strategic proposal toexpand the company into the Chinese market. The winning team members were EmilyRowe (Cashmere High School), Fletcher Lochead (Palmerston North Boys HighSchool), Joey Hung (Manurewa High School), Noah Curtis (Mount Albert GrammarSchool), Ollie Tangey (Bayfield High School), and Violet Dominikovich(Craighead Diocesan School), who were mentored by five Asia New Zealandrepresentatives and alumni mentor, Fred Sugden.

CEO of YoungEnterprise Trust, Alex Bullot, said “We design EIA to develop students’ softskills which are becoming increasingly sought after by employers. Thisfour-day immersive learning experience throws students into the deep end tocollaborate with people they have just met in an intense, fast-pacedenvironment. This full-on experience sets them up well for approaching theirnext steps post-secondary school, whether moving into tertiary study,employment or continuing their entrepreneurial journey.”

Participantsin EIA were chosen from the 5000+participants of The Lion Foundation YoungEnterprise Scheme that spans the entire school year. Of those 5000+ students,189 applied to compete in the event with only the top 60 students beingselected from across New Zealand. Each geographic region in New Zealand has atleast one representative competing in EIA.

Corporatehosts for the event included: Asia NZ Foundation, Chartered AccountantsAustralia and New Zealand, Grant Thornton, Hospitality NZ, The King’s Trust,Ministry for the Environment, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, One NZ, Spark,VML, and, XERO. 

You can check out the event images here.