Young Enterprise - Directors Training Day - March 2nd 2005
Ninety students from 8 Southland secondary schools took part in this years full day directorship workshops. Each student decided on a role that suited their personality types and then separated into workshops such as Managing Directors, Communications, Financial, Production, Sales and Marketing. Southland business owners specialising in each of those particular areas ran the workshops. Representatives from Action International, BDO Spicers, Quality Foods Southland, McIntyre Dick and Partners and The Communication Company, gave advice and guidance on how the students could fulfil their positions when they began their YES companies for the 2005 programme.
After a creative brainstorming session delivered by Blair Valentine from 'The Difference that makes the Difference' company, the students were then issued an enterprise challenge which they had two and a half hours to prepare for. The challenge this year was presented by one of the schemes national sponsors, ACC. Invercargill's ACC representative Nic Miller explained to the kids how over the 2003/04 year, 1,440,003 minor injury accidents, 103,002 moderate to serious injuries and 1070 deaths occurred and these were mostly around the home and the majority in the summer months. The challenge 'To create an innovative product or service to enhance safety in summer' gave the student's plenty of scope to be imaginative. Products such as 'Fuzz busters' (electric charges sent to you if you start to nod off when you are driving), modified step ladders which included suction cups that attached to walls, escalator barrier bars that shot out if you started to trip, hydro packs that fitted to car seats, exercise videos for workplaces, breathalisers attached to ignition starters which if intoxicated the car would not start, were just some of the options the twelve teams come up with. The students had to sell their product by way of a 3-minute presentation that had to include a narrated mime. This made for a hilarious but very interactive participation by every student who attended.
Young Enterprise Scheme National Director Mark Wilson, along with Enterprise NZ Trust CEO Donna Dentice, attended Mark made comment that Southland's students had come up with the most inventive and courageous products so far. Donna was very impressed with the students initiative and enthusiasm, and said how lucky Southland was to have such a large pool of students showing such entrepreneurship and confidence.
Printer Friendly Page 
