School students to tackle global business issues

High school students from across New Zealand will create inspired solutions for a worldwide business issue at Enterprise in Action 2012, hosted by Massey University at its Albany campus this weekend.

Tertiary education minister Steven Joyce will officially launch the event with Sir Kenneth Stevens founder of the Glidepath Group.

More than 80 Year 12 and Year 13 school pupils will take part in the three-day event organised by the Young Enterprise Trust. It includes the Global Enterprise Challenge and regional heats for the FedEx International Trade Challenge.

Participating schools are from Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, Wanganui, Manawatu, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, Nelson and Southland.

The University is also one of 11 team sponsors and will provide specialists in marketing and finance to advise the teams on their business plans. Dr Jeffrey Stangl from the School of Economics and Finance, one of the mentors for the Massey team, says he looks forward to the event every year.

“I really enjoy dealing with the students – they are bright, enthusiastic, and full of creative ideas,” he says. “It’s gratifying when you see that spark of excitement in a student’s eye, when you see that ‘I got it’ moment when they realise they’ve come up with a great idea.”

The other team sponsors are Just Water, Telecom, Russell Investments, PKF Accountants, KiwiRail, Unitec, The Edge, Actionmail, Rise and Beca.

Massey University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor of the College of Business Professor Ted Zorn says Massey is committed to supporting young entrepreneurs as they will go on to help shape the future of New Zealand and the world.

“Our college vision is ‘creating leaders transforming business’ and I look forward to seeing how the students apply innovative thinking to real challenges facing the business world,” he says.

“We are proud to host Enterprise in Action at our Albany campus. We also have technical and international experts on hand who will help students shape their solutions by listening to their ideas and providing expert advice.”

Professor Zorn has offered a further incentive to each of the winning team in the form of a $2,000 scholarship towards study in the College of Business. This is double the value of the scholarship offered to all other students taking part.

Winners of the Global Enterprise Challenge will become the New Zealand entry into the global competition.

Last year New Zealand's Global Enterprise Challenge was won by Team Telecom, who proposed interactive space training exercises for pre-teens who want to experience being an astronaut.