Environmental challenge spurs young entrepreneurs’ creative thinking
“Rangatahi are our future leaders and innovators. Having the opportunity to engage and support their creativity through an environmentally-themed challenge in Entrepreneurs in Action was a real privilege," says Anne Haira, MfE Deputy Secretary.
Anna Ririnui, MfE’s Strategic Partnerships Manager, says “We challenged the young entrepreneurs to ‘redesign business’ and were blown away at the creative and innovative solutions they came up with, putting the environment at the heart of their business ideas. We hope this is something they take forward into their future careers.”
The environmental challenge
Participants were asked to identify an environmental issue and use te ao Māori to develop a sustainable business solution to support and accelerate Aotearoa’s transition to a more climate resilient, low emission, circular economy.
The competition was fierce and the ideas were inspiring.
They included:
- using agave offcuts from tequila manufacture to make biodegradable hay bale twine
- frozen supermarket meals made from rescued food waste
- upcycling old coats into sleeping bags
- an independent sustainability WOF-type rating for farmers.
Read more about it here.