Auckland students dominate national business awards

Auckland secondary schools dominated the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) national awards in Wellington last night, winning six major awards and for the second year in a row winning the coveted top award.

Twenty teams from around New Zealand competed at the national finals, including five from Auckland. Manurewa High School’s student company Caring & Co winning three awards: the supreme Company of the Year title; Excellence in Maori Business; and managing director Lar Su’a named Young Managing Director of the Year.  

Three other Auckland schools – Pukekohe High School, Aorere College and Kingsway School – also won excellence awards. 

Caring & Co impressed the judges with the success of its product, Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Unique Drizzle). The company used profits from sales to pay for the entire student body of Homai Primary School to complete Life Education Trust’s Harold the Giraffe programme.  

The YES programme, run across all of Auckland by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED), encourages year 12 and 13 students to embrace innovation and business by forming a legal company to produce and sell real-life goods and services.

More than 1100 students from 55 schools across Auckland took part in the YES programme this year. Yvette Hellyer, ATEED’s Manager Business Growth – South, says the standard across the region was impressive. 

“These students represent the future of Auckland’s business community. While the South provided the region’s champion team and several category winners, it has been fantastic to watch students from all across Auckland develop the skills and knowledge to successfully launch, run and sustain a business. They already possess the aptitude and desire to do well in business, which is great news for Auckland. We look forward to watching them excel in their future business endeavours. ”

The 20 YES companies qualified for the national awards after winning their own regional competition.

 

Auckland award winners: 

 

The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme Company of the Year (1st overall)

Caring & Co, Manurewa High School.

 

Excellence in Environmental Sustainability

Decagon, Pukekohe High School.

 

Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs Award for Excellence in Pasifika Business

Papa Tales, Aorere College (Mangere).

 

NZICA Award for Young Managing Director of the Year

Lar Su’a, Caring & Co, Manurewa High School.

 

Te Puni Kokiri Award for Excellence in Maori Business

Caring & Co, Manurewa High School.

 

The Edge Award for Excellence in Communication

Kosmo, Kingsway School (Orewa).