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Gray Crawford has led the charge on our Club getting involved with YES, the Young Enterprise Scheme. And a very worthwhile scheme it is.
For those of you that haven’t heard of YES before, or can’t recall it from previous years, it has been running now for 40 years and is all about inspiring young people discover their entrepreneurial potential in both business and life.
There are three ways that our Club can continue to be involved with YES
- Our members personally supporting and mentoring the teams
- Our Club being an ongoing financial sponsor for an annual award for excellence – as our Club has done this year
- Simply make a donation
This year 20 Canterbury teams entered projects to the competition. YES are looking to grow this to at least 24 teams next year.
These are my notes from the presentations (some detail may deviate from the reality):
PLANTme – Villa Maria College. Handmade and hand printed greeting cards made of tree fibre with seeds impregnated. So, instead of throwing away your cards, and contributing to the mounting pile of rubbish, you put it in the garden, and wildflowers will grow.
AZUL – Christchurch Girls’ High School. The development of a biodegradable food wrapping that could will compete with plastic food wrap. The scientific research and development of a product that had similar properties to plastic competitor took the majority of the team’s time. As a result they had not been able to substantially progress sales opportunities.
JELF – Cashmere High School. The development of biodegradable laminated pockets. These are unique, and they are seeking a patent. This team has already signed supply agreements with a number of schools (the big users of laminated pockets) and is in final negotiations with OfficeMax. The product they have developed can be modified to become pallet wrap (i.e. the wrap that holds boxes together on a pallet) and food wrap.
Pivot - Cashmere High School. They designed a sports bandage that becomes a bandage and ice pack in one. This is made of two layouts of tape and a unique chemical compound “sandwiched in the middle”. When the bandage is in place, you simply pour water onto the bandage to active the chemical compound which turns the bandage ice cold. This is unique and they are seeking a patent.
NZ Happy – Darfield High School. A recipe book with a focus on helping recognise and improve mental health, and proceeds from the sale going to the Mental Health Foundation.
A Spoonful of Spice – Rangi Ruru Girls’ School. A recipe book focussed on bringing together the different ethnicities that make up Christchurch. With 100% of profits going to NZ refugees. They plan to raise $7,400.
Many of the presentations were very slick.
Canterbury is the biggest region. This allowed us to have two teams attend the National Finals in Wellington on 4th December. The overall winners were: JELF and Pivot.
Our club sponsored the Sunrise Rotary Excellence Award for Social Enterprise. The winner of the award was AZUL from Christchurch Girls’ High School. Here’s a photo.
