kiaora@standtall.nz
Kia ora everybody, it's Manaia Peina here the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua Regional Coordinator for YES. What an amazing year 2024 has been for all our enterprise students.
We started the year off in February with our annual Kickstart event, which 180 students attended. This event aimed to gather all the participating schools in the Bay of Plenty to introduce and inspire them about entrepreneurship, ideas, building business and why the Young Enterprise Scheme is a great opportunity for them to give it a go.
Midway through the year in June, we hosted the Mid Year pitch event at Basestation. We were and still are beyond proud of the 38 teams who pitched in front of our amazing judges. With three rooms running consecutively at Basestation and 9 judges from our community giving a whole morning of their time, we sure could not have given our young entrepreneurs the same amazing opportunity without their support.
Some of you may be thinking “Did they sell their products?” Well yes, they did! They planned, created, and sold in a few different ways such as online, via social media, and in markets. On the 8th of August Stand Tall with the help of Sue Boyne allowed the students to set up a stall and sell at the yearly Canvas careers expo. Here are some cool pics of our students set up to make some moola.
A highlight for me was hearing that Sunlive Bay News had reached out to Otumoetai College’s Wandering Kiwi wanting to publish an article on the girls' Travel Bingo business. Click this link and have a read-along.
Finally, in September the businesses had the rather large task of completing and submitting their annual review. The annual review is a 10-page business summary that needs to meet the chartered accounts marking criteria. The criteria include Executive Summary, Innovation, Production, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Sustainability. 22 of the businesses submitted their Annual review. They did the mahi and now they get the treat!
In October we hosted our end-of-year YES Regional Finals/Awards evening at the beautiful Papamoa Surf Life Saving Club. All 22 businesses who submitted their annual review as well as mentors, teachers, funders and whanau were invited to join us on this very special night. As well as handing out 22 certificates to the business that completed their annual review we also welcomed our 5 finalist teams from WBop and Rotorua to pitch live in front of everyone, to be marked by our 4 wahine judges Awhina Ngatuere, Jodie Robertson, Emelie Verseput and Danielle Caudwell.
First up to pitch for the night was Aquinas Flexibox. A team of 5 entrepreneurial young lads who created a customisable lunch box using 3D printing technology. Second to pitch was Otumoetai College Wandering Kiwi. Wandering Kiwi was created by a group of 6 young entrepreneurial women whose goal is to provide entertainment to get children off screens while in the car.
Third to pitch was Aquinas College Girls Pearls. Girls Pearls' project was in fact a charity. They hand-crafted dazzling pearl bracelets with their point of difference being that they donated all profit to Homes of Hope. Fourth was Yahweh from Rotorua Boys High School. Yahweh is more than a clothing brand. The 5 young men started a movement encouraging young people to believe. In their words “not only a clothing brand but a platform for GOD TO MOVE!! "
Fifth we have King Kimuz. One-man band from Papamoa College, Luke Blow has created an online name through various gaming platforms. He moves with the extension of eliminating online bullying as that is something he is very passionate about.
Last but not least we had ReelClean pitch for the second year in a row. ReelClean is run by a lovely group of students from Otumoetai college. Have you ever gone fishing and no matter how many times you washed your hands they still smelt like fish? Well RealClean has a solution for you!
Everyone put on a captivating pitch and in the end, after much discussion by the judges they came to the conclusion that from the Rotorua region Yahweh took first place. In the Westerm Bay of plenty Flexibox took our 1st place also.
We had 7 other awards for both teams and single entrepreneurs voted by their pairs and teachers.
Best Product Presentation was awarded to: T-Fusion, Whakatāne High School
Best Financial management was awarded to: Wandering Kiwi, Otūmoetai College
Best Teamwork was awarded to: Reform, Tauranga Boys College
Most innovative was awarded to: Be-wrappt, Otūmoetai College
Community Benefit was awarded to: Girls Pearls, Aquinas College
Greatest Contributor was awarded to: Reel Clean, Otūmoetai College
Regional Young Entrepreneur of the Year was awarded to: Stevie Newton from Otūmoetai college.
On behalf of the Standtall team, Young Enterprise Trust, and our fav programme YES thank you all so much for an amazing, fun-filled year.
See you in 2025!
Written with ❤️ from Manaia x
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