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Get involved - join the Young Enterprise family
Get involved with the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES), a programme that encourages innovation and provides foundation business skills for the next generation of business leaders.
What is YES?
Young Enterprise inspires the next generation of business leaders, disruptors, and changemakers, helping to create a generation of business savvy and financially competent Kiwis.
Senior secondary students set up and run their own business, operating with real profit and loss.
In addition to starting a business, YES companies are also part of a regional and national competition. There are 21 YES regions across the country with teams competing to become the Regional Champion.
There are 5 YES Challenges, each worth a certain number of points that add up to 100 total points. After 5 Challenges, the 6 top teams will be invited to pitch at the Regional Final.
At the Regional Final, the teams pitch to a panel of judges to see who best meets the criteria to become the Regional Champion. Each Regional Champion is then invited to pitch at the National Final in December, with two company members being flown to Wellington to pitch and attend the Awards Gala Dinner!
Students learn by experiencing the value of innovative thinking and develop enterprising attributes. YES is an incredible learning experience that thousands of students participate in each year.
How can I support Young Enterprise in Hawke’s Bay?
Voluntary sponsorship is available for a small fee in addition to your annual membership fee. This sponsorship adds vital income which supports our ability to effectively deliver the programme right across Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne.
Your donation can assist with:
- Supporting YES teams with their pitches
- Provide judges for YES teams
- Ensuring that we have motivational guest speakers for the regional awards
- Provide sales training to the YES teams
- Support YES challenges throughout the year
- Advertising and marketing of YES annual events
- Support the Farmers Market event for YES teams
Should you choose to sponsor Young Enterprise through the Hawke’s Bay Chamber, the fee is noted on our invoicing as “to assist us to run a successful programme for our future entrepreneurs”.
YES Mentors
Mentors provide guidance to students as they navigate starting their own business. This is a one-year commitment. As a voluntary mentor, you will engage and challenge the students, and act as a sounding board for their strategies and ideas.
Register your interest in Mentoring by emailing Fran at youth@hbchamber.nz.
Speed Coach Kickstart | Tīmata 2023.
Come along to Kickstart | Tīmata 2023 to speak with a variety of YES companies about their business concepts at the start of the YES programme. It’s a quickfire round of mentoring where you’ll act as a sounding board for the ideas of several YES companies in a short space of time. You can volunteer as a Speed Coach regularly or as a one-off, with each event requiring roughly a 2-hour time commitment.
Register your interest in Speed Coaching here.
YES Programme Judge
We always need volunteers to judge at YES events, such as Pitches or Regional Finals, and there are opportunities to do so throughout the year.
If you are interested in volunteering as a YES Programme Judge or would like any additional information contact us.
Thank you to our generous sponsors!
