2 November 2021
Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Regional Final & 2021 Awards
Today we celebrated the achievements of our talented Young Enterprise Trust (YES) students.
This year YES students from James Hargest College, Southland Girls’ High School, Southland Boys’ High School, Aparima College, Verdon College, Wakatipu High School and Mt Aspiring College were provided with the ultimate learning experience as they started a new business during a global pandemic.
We invited the top ten YES businesses from across the Southland region to pitch at today’s Regional Final including:
- AltoEco, James Hargest College
- Backyard Buffs, Mount Aspiring
- Cards of Colours, Southland Boys’ High School
- Denim Dilemma, Southland Girls’ High School
- EMOTI, Mount Aspiring
- Equal Earrings, Mount Aspiring
- Ice Rival, Southland Boys’ High School
- Sprout Tonic, Mount Aspiring
- Shanga, Mount Aspiring
- The Sill, Southland Boys’ High School
Congratulations to all the finalists, and the Award winners announced:
- Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Southland Company of the Year sponsored by Southern Institute of Technology – The Sill, Southland Boys High School.
- Excellence Award for Innovation sponsored by Findex New Zealand – Woolie, Southland Girls’ High School
- Excellence Award for Social Enterprise sponsored by South Port NZ – Shanga, Mount Aspiring College
- Excellence Award for Sales and Marketing sponsored by Craigs Design & Print – Shanga, Mount Aspiring College
- Excellence Award for Paying the Most YES Tax sponsored by Southland Business Chamber – EMOTI, Mount Aspiring College
- Excellence Award for Retail, Trade & Online Business sponsored by What’s On Invers – Ice Revival, Southland Boys’ High School
- Excellence Award for Primary Industries sponsored by VetSouth – The Sill, Southland Boys’ High
- Excellence Award for the Biggest Fail sponsored by Coin South – Paddle, James Hargest College
- Enterpriser of the Year sponsored by Community Trust South – Kaiah Sherriff, Southland Girls’ High School
- Colin Smith Memorial Award sponsored by Invercargill Licensing Trust (ILT) – South Port NZ.
We’d also like to congratulate Shanga of Mount Aspiring College who was runner-up for the NZ Aid National Excellence Award for Solving a Development Problem and Sam Pratt from Aparima College who has won an National Excellence Award.
Thank you to today’s fabulous MC, Benji Biswas (Crunchy), our judges – Tanya Hope (Findex NZ), Louise Evans (COIN South), Kirsten Hoyle (South Port NZ), Warrick Low (Vet South), Sheree Carey (Southland Business Chamber); and to Dave Loudon Photography for capturing the day.
Lastly, a huge thank you to our loyal family of local sponsors:
- Regional Partner – Southern Institute of Technology
- Silver sponsors – Vet South, What’s On Invers, Findex, South Port NZ, Craigs Design & Print, and Coin South
- Community funders – Community Trust South and ILT
- Working partners – Southern Farmers Market
Click here to learn more about YES.