That bulb, suspended in the ether, will be powered by the energy generated by 190 of Otago’s brightest young minds as they pitch their business ideas in the 2023 Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (Yes).
And this year’s aspirants have plenty to live up to.
In each of the last two years, the Otago champions have gone on to claim the national title.
The year 12 and 13 pupils, representing 10 Otago schools, have already passed through the "proposal of business validation" stage and now have the opportunity to pitch their strategies for taking their ideas to market to a team of judges comprising business leaders and mentors mainly from Dunedin.
Run by Business South, Yes was first held in 1981 and in the interim 42 years, almost 50,000 business ideas have been launched.
Over the next two days each team has five minutes to pitch its business model to the judges with an additional five minutes then available to the panel to ask questions.
Included among the concepts to be put to the judges over the next two days are a beach towel which converts into a skirt, and a canteen service emphasising new tastes and cultures through food.
Following an end-of-year review, area finals will be held with the winners representing their regions on the national stage.
Schools represented in this year’s competition are Bayfield, Columba, Cromwell, Dunstan, King’s, Logan Park, Otago Boys’, Otago Girls’ and Queen’s. Roxburgh will be pitching remotely. Under the business name Abalro, the Bayfield High School team of Robert Donohoe, Abby Green and Alex Livingstone took out the 2021 national title with a natural supplement powder which significantly reduced acne in teenagers.
Sole Haircare, a company established by Otago Girls’ High School pupils Jenna Willis, Morgan Passey and Elsha Bulmer last year, was crowned the best in New Zealand. The trio developed a natural colour-matching dry shampoo which provided sun protection to the scalp.
— Steve Davie
