UCE Involvement:
Kathmandu NZ Student Social Enterprise Challenge (2017)
Other:
National Events Manager, Engineers Without Borders (2017)
Graduate Engineer, Downer (2018)
How did you get involved with the UC Centre for Entrepreneurship (UCE)?
I saw the Kathmandu NZ Student Social Enterprise Challenge advertised by Entré, who organised and ran the regional competition. Social enterprise is something I’m really interested in!
What did you have to do for the regional competition?
We had 48 hours to develop a social enterprise around wellbeing. During the competition, we had a mentoring session and a pitch practice to help refine our ideas, before concluding with final presentations. And in the end, our team won, which meant we qualified for the national competition!
Our idea was called Youth Booster which was a way to try to get more kids involved with girl guides and scouts through sponsorship.
What did you have to do for the national competition?
It was another 48 hour competition based around wellbeing! We could carry on with our regional idea, but decided to present a different idea called Shirt Off My Back, which is a kids’ clothing social enterprise with a buy one, give one model.
We were one of four teams who competed in the national final, alongside a team from The University of Auckland, University of Otago, and Victoria University of Wellington. We all had give a big, final presentation in the Engineering Core in front of a number of guest sponsors and mentors. The competition was run as part of the Social Enterprise World Forum 2017, so although we didn’t win, we got to attend the Forum afterwards.
How did you find the national competition?
It was really enjoyable, but also pretty challenging as we pivoted our idea last minute! The mentors were so helpful – not to mention, it was great for networking!
It was cool to learn more about social enterprise, which involved realising that it is hard to be financially stable. I definitely want to get more involved in social enterprise in the future. It was also great to head along to the Social Enterprise World Forum. I learnt that there’s actually not that many social enterprises in the civil engineering space, so I’d love to get into it.
What piece of advice would you give to students wanting to get involved with UCE?
Definitely get involved! The people are awesome. Plus, there’s always free food! I’ve learnt heaps of great skills about business and wish I had gotten involved earlier.
Don’t worry about not knowing people, either. There are so many people in the same boat so you’ll make heaps of new friends who are like minded.
What are your aspirations for the future?
I’d really like to get involved in project management, and eventually work for a social enterprise. Also, I’ve been involved a lot with Engineers Without Borders, so I’d like to get involved overseas for some humanitarian work.
