WELLINGTON: Youth Minister Nikki Kaye has said that $905,000 would be invested under the Youth Enterprise Fund. Young people across New Zealand will receive a boost to develop their entrepreneurial skills and knowledge.
According to Kaye, eight organisations will receive funding to help deliver a range of business enterprise initiatives to a diverse range of youth, including young people not in education and from disadvantaged communities.
“This will see around 3,000 extra young people receive the chance to develop their entrepreneurial ability,” Kaye says. The Young Enterprise Trust will receive the largest funding of over $600,000, to extend the reach of their successful Young Enterprise Scheme. “This scheme encourages school students to come up with ideas for a company or product, and then receive coaching from local business people on how to develop their ideas and turn them into reality,” Kaye adds.
“Some schools need greater support to provide the scheme to their students, especially in communities that don’t have the necessary breadth of local business expertise to draw on.” Based on a successful pilot in Pacific communities, Kaye says the extra funding will help Young Enterprise Trust employ roaming, specialist teachers to support more schools to introduce, improve and grow business enterprise in the classroom.
