Let us know you’re coming HERE (Applications for our Zoom mentoring session closes on the 18th September).
How will it work?
“Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, I want you in my room!”
Yes, you can connect with some of the BEST mentors right from the comforts of your own room. Fill out our easy application form, and if you’re a suitable candidate. You will be assigned a mentor on the 21st September! ON: Pitch LIVE will be broadcasted from Facebook on the 1st October at 6PM, just tune in to receive the Zoom password.
Keep note, those who have not signed up won’t get the Zoom link. We’re keeping it exclusive because we can only host up to 200 people!
Mentor Profiles
Speciality: Law, Biotech, Capital Raising in NZ & Overseas
Andrew joined Lowndes Jordan in 2011 from a leading New Zealand firm, where he worked for a number of years in addition to a stint at a leading New York firm. He is an expert in biotech, startups, capital raising in NZ and overseas.
Speciality: Software Engineering & Product Delivery
Bevan’s role as a People Lead is about empowering engineers to hone their skills and grow as individuals. He attracts, recruits and retains high performing individuals, building on and complementing the diversity of our team and works alongside other leaders to foster the growth of a world-class engineering culture.
Speciality: Software & Impact Driven Startups
Proving age is no barrier to becoming an entrepreneur, Carol has a history in Technology having come out of retirement from previous roles with EY, Bunnings and Dominion Breweries to name a few. ChirpyPlus reduces loneliness in the over 55s by providing real life friendships and connections & is growing fast throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Speciality: Mechanical Engineering, Photography, Music & Side Hustles
Dalong is a Mechanical Engineer at Downer New Zealand, Freelance Photographer at Fresh & Chips, and Music Producer known as DeepSleep. I am also a deeply passionate about sustainability and how it can be brought into the engineering world and everyday living
Speciality: Tech Startups & Scaling
Over the last 15 years David has been helping a number of New Zealand companies bring innovative and world-leading new products to market, and working with Scale-Up’s to grow and scale profitably. David has been actively supporting the start-up ecosystem, including Startup Weekend, VentureUp and Flux Accelerator, is involved in industry groups such as ProductTank Auckland and Hardware Meetup Auckland, and other organisations such as OMGTech! and Young Enterprise Scheme.
Speciality: Community building, Digital Marketing, Social Impact & Climate Change
Doris Zhang is the co-founder and community director at Freelancing for Good Aotearoa. She has previously been involved with TEDx, AI-Day, Velocity and Inspiring Stories. Although her passion lies in community building, she believes that digital marketing is a way to inspire, to deliver opportunities and to connect with like-minded people. She is also passionate about climate action, was nominated for the 2018 Zero Waste Award.
Speciality: Business Development & People Management
Putti specialises in custom build software, helping small startups to large enterprises digitise their processes and create awesome solutions. Doug is the Head of Business Development. This means that he helps people bring forth the ideas in their head into real technical solutions.
Speciality: Software Test Engineering
Bugslife.co.nz is a website that showcases what life is like as a Software Test Engineer. As a 15 year practitioner in the field, Eric seeks to bring the latest to what’s needed to thrive in the world of quality software by sharing the thinking and skill sets required by the industry.
Speciality: Film
Fraser Grut runs a global movement called 10,000 Dreams, where every single day for 10,000 days he films a different person answering the question – “What’s your dream?”. Currently, he is on day 1393 and will finish on April 25th 2044, at the age of 50. He has captured the dreams of Prime Ministers, more than 400 celebrities, kids, elderly, people of various race, religion and disabilities, refugees, homeless people, billionaires, Olympians, Oscar winners and an astronaut.
Speciality: Hospitality & Brand Loyalty
Greg from Greater Good Hospitality Group. Owner-operator of the Goodness Gracious Cafes in Auckland which was first established in Eden Terrace in 2014, Parnell 2017 and Takapuna in 2018. Created a concept which is a hospitality focused café; a quick format specialising in Antipodean fare and quality espresso coffee and have since expanded to online retail in the face of the new covid climate.
Speciality: Commercial Partnerships, Customer Experience Design, New Business Development & Growth & Brand Strategy
Henry Matthews is an experienced Tourism & Travel sector business development professional having lived and worked in international markets including Japan, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Henry currently heads up Study Auckland, the International Student portfolio at ATEED. His work across both the commercial and public sector has seen him lead a number of game changing destination marketing projects, including the development of new premium youth travel markets in Auckland.
Speciality: Recruitment, Youth Entrepreneurship, Building & Construction
Hailing from the small city of Gisborne, Israel was brought up in a close-knit family who are at foundations of his motivation. Israel’s humble working-class upbringing encouraged within him a strong work ethic from a young age. This in turn became the key and fundamental attribute contributing to the success of his company, Auckland Labour Hire, which has developed rapidly over its two year lifespan. Israel’s mantra is ‘Hard work, works’, which is implemented throughout all aspects of Auckland Labour Hire.
Speciality: Impact Investment, Social Impact
By day, Jackson is the Director of Ākina Invest, the impact investment arm of Ākina. Ākina’s mission is to transform the economy through the power of impact, and Ākina Invest supports this by building impact investing in New Zealand so that businesses delivering positive impact can scale. By night, he is a jack of all trades. As a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, he is part of a team who are committed to initiating projects to improve Auckland.
Speciality: Software Engineering
Jacob is a Senior Software Engineer, currently working for Air New Zealand that provides various types of flight service. He has five years of Java development experience mostly around APIs and Kafka development. His role at Air New Zealand is to enable the company to provide the best service cost-effectively by developing and maintaining APIs, serverless applications and Kafka applications
Speciality: Tech / App Startups & EdTech
During Jae’s time at university, he was forced to make a decision. Whether to buy a kebab for lunch or pay to print past papers. That’s when he realised, ‘money should never be a barrier between students and their education’. Using the last $3000 in his bank, he chose to lift up a service that provided students with free printing. And that’s how the Niesh journey began. Niesh is now the largest student platform in New Zealand with over 60,000 students using the app.
Speciality: Impact Investment
Soul Capital exists to contribute to making the world a more compassionate place for humans, the planet, and the life we share it with. Our approach is to target systemic change for a more sustainable and inclusive economy. We look to address the lack of investment capital that is available to entrepreneurs and enterprises that are tackling social and environmental problems.
Speciality: Social Enterprise & Education
Dr Justin Sung is a medical doctor turned social entrepreneur. His business, JTT, works with schools, DHB’s and directly with students to support and guide those trying to become doctors. His other business, Finding Gravity, teaches students to study and manage their time more efficiently. Revenue from these create scholarships and community initiatives for students who are financially or opportunity restricted.
Speciality: Indigenous Storytelling & Proximity Tech
Founded in 2016, Arataki Systems is a Māori owned tech company that builds proximity activated cultural storytelling platforms. Our goal is to bridge the cultural gap between communities in Aotearoa NZ.
Speciality: Biotech, Healthcare, Science & Commercialisation
ESR is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute that specialises in science relating to community safety, public and environmental health. My work at the ESR’s forensic arm is helping scientists commercialise their innovative research, as well as providing recommendations to gain R&D and pre-seed funding.
Speciality: Tourism
Go with Tourism is an online platform changing the way people enter the tourism industry & also the perceptions surrounding the industry as a whole. Matt’s motto is “Simply done well”, and he demonstrates this with his incredible ability to create simple solutions for complex problems. In 2011 he helped shape Virgin Australia New Zealand by introducing their new service design methodology and establishing new ways to train the aircrew.
Speciality: BioTech, Blockchain, AI & Hospitality
Michael is a purpose-driven entrepreneur with a variety of ventures on the go. He has experience in branding and media strategy, develops relationships with stakeholders and investors, and leads financial forecasting. He has founded two Thai eateries and is the founder of RENORM, a marketing and technology consultancy.
Speciality: AgriTech
Neil investigated the biology of the black soldier fly at the University of Auckland. He founded Hexacycle to help solve environmental problems with insects. Whilst some people might think converting organic waste into a writhing mass of insect larvae is solving a problem with a problem, Neil sees how much potential there is in the growing sector of insect protein.
Speciality: Software Development
Nicholas is a software developer who also hustles. He has worked at multiple early stage startups and founded two software based companies. He has built and led the entire product from ground zero to production with AngularJS, React, and many skill sets. Swift Home where he currently work helps real estate agents to organize open homes.
Speciality: Micro mobility, Transport & Tech
Nick co-founded Flamingo Scooters in 2018, a dockless e-scooter sharing company that operates in New Zealand’s 3 largest cities – Auckland, Wellington & Christchurch. Nick has a background in software development and a passion for startups.
Speciality: Full Stack Software Engineering
Peter is a senior full-stack engineer at Niesh. He specialises in .NET backend, react and Microsoft cloud technologies and have gone through a few software companies before joining Niesh including Vista Entertainment Solutions, where he also worked as a senior software engineer. Peter joined Niesh because of their vision of helping students and the fun company culture.
Speciality: Sustainable Architecture & Design
Atelier Jones Design is a multi-disciplinary studio that combines local manufacturing and fine craftsmanship. We celebrate the essence of high quality, honest materials and we contribute towards environmental sustainability through the mindful sourcing of our rimu timber. We design/make furniture and objects that become statement pieces in everyday spaces.
Speciality: Startups / SMEs B2B Strategy & Female Leadership
After a decade of sales and business development roles across SME and large corporates, in a wide range of industries, Ritika now engages with startups and SMEs to build their B2B strategy and grow customer bases. Described as radically innovative, she is constantly challenging the norm to enhance customer experience and build successful growth strategies. She is passionate about advancing women in leadership.
Speciality: Digital Strategy, C-Suite, Marketing & Automation
Romi is one of Australasia’s top digital strategy and execution specialists. She has spent the last 20 years in Executive and GM level roles leading high performing teams across agencies, start-ups, and corporates. Hype & Dexter replaces the mystery with mastery when it comes to Digital Transformation, Marketing Automation and Lead Generation. They have worked with databases in excess of 2 million members and generated over $120m worth of eCommerce revenue.
Speciality: Educational Experience, Global Citizenship
Sahinde’s team leads the development and delivery of the national international student experience strategy as well as shaping opportunities to enable global citizenship outcomes for all students, both domestic and international. Working with international students is a huge passion of Sahinde’s with her professional career being dedicated to international education both in NZ and internationally.
Speciality: Early Stage Startups & Tech / App Dev
Sam is a young entrepreneur and architecture graduate. Since 2019, he has already built two businesses, Gifticon and Dog on. Gifticon is a digital gifting platform that solves the problem of long-distance gifting around the world. New Zealand’s first ever company to provide product specific gifting, it provides a whole new and efficient approach to the idea of gifting digitally.
Speciality: Commercial Law, VC & Capital Investors
Sarah practises corporate and commercial law, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, joint venture and shareholder arrangements, venture capital, corporate governance and the drafting and negotiation of high value commercial contracts. She represents venture capital and early stage and expansion capital investors such as K1W1, for whom she has acted since 2004.
Speciality: Software Engineering
Sean is a senior software developer at TradeMe, he specialises in agile development methodologies, test planning & SQL.
Speciality: Software Engineering & Productivity Apps
Sunkee is a software engineer and the creator of Goalpack. Goalpack is a productive social network app that helps you find the motivation for your goal or habit when you need it most. Think of Snapchat, but instead of random photos, you send your group of friends photo proof of you working on your goal.
Speciality: Education & Youth Entrepreneurship
ASE is a social enterprise that helps develop the entrepreneurial skills of anyone aged 5 to 21 years with a passion for innovation. Delivering real and authentic entrepreneurial education for more than 30,000 students. Taj was named The Australian Young Innovator of the Year for 2014 and Young Australian of the Year for Queensland in 2017. He is the youngest recipient of the award since its formation in 1979.
Speciality: EdTech
Victor is an experienced edtech entrepreneur. ValidApp verifies applications to schools by testing the authorship of submitted essays and recommendation letters using forensic linguistics and natural language processing. Our software utilises advanced stylometry to test submitted writing and our system constructs a writing profile unique as a fingerprint to each and individual student. We want students who are the most deserving, not the most resourced, to get a fair shot at entry into and graduating from the world’s top educational institutions.
Speciality: Recruitment Tech & Strategy
Vincent has consulted extensively on strategy and delivered large scale transformations across multiple industries and sectors globally, having been with McKinsey & Company for a number of years before moving into the Corporate sector, where he specialised in strategic capabilities and the future of work. As an officer in the French Armed Forces, Vincent also spent more than a decade leading teams in challenging situations across many parts of the globe. He is a global faculty expert on future of work for Singularity University based in Silicon Valley.
Speciality: Startup Implementation, Capital Raising & Digital Marketing
Wynona thrives when she’s fulfilling her mission to help people grow; connect to values, other people, and information. Caelum Consulting works with entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to market; specialising in strategic implementation, raising capital, and digital marketing. She has consulted startups utilising technology to disrupt the mental well-being, aged care, and marine industries, amongst others.
Speciality: Digital Marketing, Fashion & Lifestyle & Online Sales Optimisation
Zayyar works with small to medium sized businesses scaling their digital landscape and online growth. Mainly working with brands within the fashion and lifestyle industries, Zayyar works with clients across marketing, online optimisation, business development and long term growth.
Speciality: Software, Psychology & Human-Centred Design
QuickSense’s mission is to make learning like the matrix – faster than anyone else in the world. They do this through understanding neuroscience and technology. Vivek has spent years perfecting copy so that students can learn as fast as possible. Understanding how people work and why they act in the way that they do drives him.
Speciality: Music Production & Nightlife Entertainment
TJ has been in the heart of the New Zealand dance music industry for the past 8 years. His belief of always striving to bring a point of difference in everything he does along with a ‘let’s get this sh*t done’ attitude unintentionally turned his hobby into a business
Did one of our mentors suit your needs? RSVP so we know you’re coming HERE! Get prepped by reading this 10 step guide for networking, some of these tips are still relevant even for virtual sessions.
The ON: Entrepreneurship Series is proudly brought to you by Niesh and Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development.
Thank you to our sponsors Icehouse Ventures, Amazon Web Services, Lowndes Jordan, Red Bull Basement, CO.STARTER AUT, MYOB, NxtStep, Storytech, Collectively NZ, B:HIVE, GridAKL, Kea New Zealand, Archie Brothers, and Gong Cha.
]]>All YOU need to do is submit an idea that solves a real problem for real people. We are looking for ideas, prototypes and even companies that are already commercialised. As long as you meet our T&C’s we encourage you to use our quick apply form to get started!
Let’s kick it off with the finalist prizes before moving into the ULTIMATE PRIZE PACKAGE!
Are you getting intrigued? Submit your business idea here.
ON: Pitch Finalist Prizes
Our three finalist teams have an array of prizes that are made to get them through the tough late nights, and help build better teams! With accounting packages and career coaching, we also intermix practical & skill based prizes to help supplement their career journey.
The Ultimate Startup Prize Package
This is our BIGGIE! Worth over $28K, this prize package not only includes everything above but also the following. You’ll notice a lot more business business items are included.
Niesh curated this prize package by evaluating what we needed the most when we were just starting off, this includes mentorship, legal advice, office space, & up skilling opportunities.
Application Bonus
ALL teams who submit before the 1st September will receive a $5K USD Amazon Web Services Activate Credit Package!
AWS Activate provides startups with a host of benefits, including AWS credits, technical support and training, to help grow your business. Activate benefits are designed to give you the right mix of tools and expert support so you can succeed with AWS while optimising performance, managing risk, and keeping costs under control!
*AWS Activate Credits are subject to the AWS Promotional Credit Terms & Conditions (https://nie.sh/AWS-TCs)
If you are thinking of applying for ON: Pitch, we only have a few more weeks till applications close. For a sneak peek at our application form, take a look at the questions here. Let’s get ittttttt.
]]>Applications are now open HERE (Closes on September 10th 11:59PM)
History Lesson
In 2019 Niesh launched ON: Pitch with the vision of creating a barrier free entrepreneurship competition. The Niesh team has experienced the joys & thrills of entrepreneurship, and we wanted to see more students creating businesses. Solving real problems for real people.
Teaming up with Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) we’ve seen over 100 teams bring their ideas to life and we can’t wait to see fresh new ideas in 2020
Application Questions
All ideas are welcome, if you and your friends think you’ve got a business idea that will revolutionise the industry, we want to hear from you. Applications open on August 10th 2020 and the form will be available through our website and Facebook.
What do you stand for? (150 characters per question)
- What problem are you solving?
- State the vision of your idea or business.
- What does success look like for your team?
- What makes your team the right team for this business.
Get into the nitty gritty (700 characters per question)
- Describe your idea or business, and how you are going to solve the problem.
- What makes your solution unique to the other existing solutions in the industry?
- Describe your business model.
- How will technology be used in your business?
Optional items we’ll ask for
- Any achievements, awards, or recognition you have received, both individually and made by the team
- Business website link
- Business social media links
- Submit a 1 minute video introducing your team and who you are. Begin the video with “Hi, we’re team ___________ .”
We look forward to receiving your ON:Pitch submission on the 10th August! Take a look at our terms & conditions + eligibility criteria here and apply HERE. If you have questions, email me here ([email protected])
ON: Pitch is part of The ON: Entrepreneurship Series by Niesh and Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development. Take a look at Lunch with an Entrepreneur, a workshop series dedicated to helping students develop their entrepreneurial mindset.
]]>Below we’ll give you his backstory and reveal two key lessons he’s learnt along the way.
Background
Vincent is a future thinker who believes the future of work is going to change rapidly with more freelancing and agile firms taking the lead. His company FutureWork Studio has developed three platforms that helps their clients pivot fast, make better decisions and find talented individuals.
Like most students, Vincent began studying engineering because “it was the thing to do”. He didn’t enjoy it and got bad marks, “it didn’t excite me”.
Not seeing himself as an office man, he graduated and spent the next 10 YEARS in the French Navy. From doing tours in Afghanistan, Libya and Somalia, he has experienced it all.
Later on, he discovered the world of business and worked at Fonterra (Director of Strategic Capabilities & Organisational Health) & McKinsey & Company (Vice President of Recovery & Transformation Services). Despite his experience working with large corporates before venturing into the entrepreneurial space. His most valuable experience lies in 10 years with the French Navy.
Lessons You Learn In The Navy
Lesson Number 1: Embrace the uncomfortable to expand your limitations
From juggling tight assignment deadlines, bad grades or getting rejected for a job. How many times have YOU wanted to give up?
Training in the French Navy includes getting dropped in a forest for 9 days. You sleep for two hours a night, run around wet and cold… after two days you want to give up.
Reality check? You can’t.
In the army, you are stretched beyond your limitations to accomplish MORE and achieve MORE.
Why? In the army you cannot fake it. If you do, you might not go home OR you’ll get others killed. From trainings in France, the Navy helped Vincent stretch beyond his limitations and embrace the positives of being uncomfortable. There is always growth and learnings you’ll get in a bad & uncomfortable situation. He became a better leader and entrepreneur because of it.
Successful business leaders and entrepreneurs ALWAYS conquer challenges by thinking “things are never too hard”. So next time you are struggling, try change your perspective and view it as a growth experience. Be persistent and resilient.
Lesson in practice: Practice placing yourself in an uncomfortable position and stay there. Never be complacent or comfortable.
Other Accomplished Ex-Military Entrepreneurs
- Fred Smith (FedEx Founder)
- Sam Walton (Walmart Founder)
Lesson Number 2: Teamwork makes the dreamwork
Teamwork makes the dreamwork sounds like a cliche you’ll hear your dad say.
Being dropped into a forest with little to no supplies makes you quickly realise how good it is to have a reliable team. Your team creates the building blocks to support skyscraper dreams. You become more appreciative for the ability to rely on others. You’re less likely to give up and this shapes GREAT businesses.
An entrepreneurs team will make or break a start up, you must have people who are:
- Reliable – dependable in tough situations
- Diverse – diversity within a team leads to better solutions
- Not afraid to go against the grain – willing to challenge your ideas
Lesson in practice: Practice empathy with team mates and begin surrounding yourself with people who fit the three criteria.
Do you think the military creates better leaders? If you enjoyed reading this article, take a look at our next Lunch with an Entrepreneur workshop here. We will be continuing our summaries of the workshops through our blog.
The ON: Entrepreneurship series aims to create a network of businesses, individual leaders, and talented students to help young New Zealanders progress to their next destination. Proudly brought to you by Niesh & Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED).
]]>Jae Yoo (Founder & CEO of Niesh) presented at the exclusive ‘Lunch with an Entrepreneur’ workshop at GridAKL. He discussed two critical skills that aspiring leaders MUST HAVE.
Lunch with an Entrepreneur is a FREE workshop for students that will up-skill & develop your industry and peer to peer network. Connecting you with CEO’s and entrepreneurs, join us at our next workshop here!
Background
In 2015, Jae had $10 in his bank account. A struggling student and a firm believer in C’s get degrees, he had the choice between buying a Kebab or printing his past papers. He chose the kebab and nearly failed his exams.
5 years later he has used his own money to start Niesh, New Zealand’s largest student platform hosting over 60,000 students. Equipping them with discounts, valuable events and jobs.
A man of few words and many beers, Jae is also the co-owner of popular Auckland CBD bar Seoul Night.
Two Critical Skills For Future Business Leaders
Skill 1: Problem Thinking
What Is Your Problem?
Three years ago, Jae attended a start up event and everyone asked him, what is your problem? At the time, he didn’t understand why problems were important. Do restaurants solve problems? They just provide great food and that’s good enough, a great idea is all you need to start a business.
Boy was he wrong.
Innovation Starts With A Problem
Everyone has great ideas, but if it doesn’t solve a BIG problem, it won’t grow.
Jae has always been passionate about start ups and researched the BIG DOGS (Uber, Facebook and Airbnb) and realised they all solved HUGE problems. They didn’t start with an idea, they started with a customer problem.
- Uber started as a private taxi company, they identified that businessmen who worked in busy cities did not have fast transportation options.
- Facebook began because Harvard students could not connect outside of class.
- Airbnb launched during the financial crisis of 2008 when people needed cheaper accommodation options than hotels.
After 5 years of growing Niesh, Jae has used student problems to make BIG pivots in the business. From free printing to solve high printing costs at University, to a discount app that solved a growing living cost in Auckland.
Jae figured out “the more relatable your problem is, the bigger your business will be.”
Expanding & Growing Businesses Through Problems
Jae described start ups as an organisation of problem solvers. That’s how all the big companies grew into the giants they are today. He goes into depth on how you can use ‘problem thinking’ to nail your career.
1) Pitch In Problems
If you want to do a business pitch or present an idea to your boss, you should always pitch in problems. “Find your drivers” as Jae would say.
Jae ALWAYS writes down the problems that customers have, he then pitches these problems to the customer. If the customer agreed with the problems, he has found his first customer. Pitching ideas is not necessary.
2) Find Product Market Fit (PMF)
Achieving PMF is an entrepreneurs dream, it gives you the ability to expand and grow into your market.
PMF happens when you’ve developed a product after you’ve spent 90% of your time researching the nitty gritty details of your customers problems. If you find PMF, you will have demand and your next problem is how to maintain and gain investment.
At work, you should think PROBLEM FIRST, this will allow you to grow into leadership positions and provide you the edge over other employees.
Skill 2: Make Better Decisions
Every day you constantly make decisions, even when you’re driving and judging the distance between you and the car in-front.
But how do you make a better decision?
1) Process Over Solution
At Niesh, Jae will always ask himself “how should I make a good decision?” This is very different to “what is a good decision?”
Jae believes that trusting the process will increase your chances of creating a better solution. What is the right process?
2) Goal -> Problem -> Goal -> Solution
- Ask yourself, what is your goal for your business or job in 6-12 months?
- Once you’ve identified the goal, list the problems or barriers that you’ll face to reach your goal.
- Go back to your goal and think about your solutions to your problems in step 2.
- Choose the BEST solution that will allow you to reach the goal the FASTEST.
These two steps will help you make better decisions in your career or start up. Why settle for good decision making when you can make BETTER DECISIONS?
Complimentary Reading Suggestion from Jae Yoo
Lunch with an Entrepreneur aims to teach students valuable soft skills. By bringing talented students and entrepreneurs into ONE room, we will help students reach their potential as a future leader.
The ON: Entrepreneurship Series is proudly brought to you by Niesh & Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development.
Join us at our next Lunch with an Entrepreneur workshop here!
]]>Do YOU believe that you’re a future leader and change maker? If yes, we are looking for YOU.
Our Vision for ON: Entrepreneurship Series
ON aims to create a network of student leaders and change makers with an entrepreneurial spirit. Our goal is to help students tap into crucial skills and networks to further their career.
In 2020, Niesh & Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development is proud to present our ON: Entrepreneurship Series which will give YOU the chance to join our Lunch with an Entrepreneur Workshops and our annual Gen Z startup competition, ON: Pitch.
Information
What will happen at the workshops?
Joining 50 other inspired students, the Lunch with an Entrepreneur workshop will see you enter a fun filled day at a collab working space in Auckland.
You can expect:
- A half day workshop that will give you an insight into the skills that are highly sought by employers across the globe. With engaging workshop activities inspired by rapid growth companies such as Amazon and Google, this is not your typical workshop.
- 1 lucky student will have the opportunity to pitch their business idea and receive feedback from the entrepreneur.
- The guest entrepreneur will give you a look into the highs and lows of their career journey. The day will be wrapped up with a fully catered lunch, giving you the chance to network with the entrepreneur in an intimate environment.
Who are we looking for?
We only have 50 limited spots per workshop! In your application, show us you’re a student who has a passion for searching for opportunities with the mindset of constant learning and growth.
The Entrepreneurs
Jae Yoo, CEO and Founder of Niesh
Friday 21st February (9AM – 1PM), Grid AKL / John Lysaght
The man, the myth, the legend…
In 2015, Jae had $10 in his bank account. A struggling student, he had the choice between buying a Kebab or printing his past papers to pass his exams. He chose to eat and nearly failed his exams… He decided at that moment, “money should never be a barrier between students and their education.” Using his own money he launched FRINT which later re-branded into Niesh, New Zealand’s largest student platform hosting over 60,000 students.
A man of few words and many beers, Jae is also the co-owner of popular Auckland CBD bar Seoul Night. Jae rarely does public speaking and will be sharing his experience as a young entrepreneur with no degree under his belt.
Vincent Vuillard, Co-Founder of Futurework Studio & Teamed
Friday 21st February (9AM – 1PM), Grid AKL / John Lysaght
Vincent is a future thinker who believes the future of work is going to change rapidly with more freelancing and agile firms taking the lead. With a background at Fonterra (Director of Strategic Capabilities & Organisational Health) & McKinsey & Company (Vice President of Recovery & Transformation Services). Vincent has had avid experience working with large corporates before venturing into the entrepreneurial space.
At the workshop we’ll see him explore key skills that made his success achievable.
Simon Watson, Co-Founder & Director of Urbanaut Brewing
Thursday 16th July (9AM-1PM), B:HIVE Smales Farm
Urbanaut brewery lies in the heart of Kingsland, making craft beers in the epicentre of hipster culture. Made for global citizens who have a lust for travel, Simon and his two Co-Founders take inspiration from cities across the globe and have made landmark decisions such as ditching glass bottles for canned beer (a much more eco-friendly option). Creating delicious concoctions, Urbanaut will make you feel like you’re globetrotting in Bogota or Copacabana.
Prior to settling down with Urbanaut, Simon was also the Director at Evoke Developments. A firm that specialised in the renovation and development of high quality residential homes. In addition to dabbling in the sports hospitality industry with Experience Group, one of New Zealand’s largest hospitality providers for major sporting events.
Angela Lim – Founder & CEO of Clearhead
Friday 7th August (9AM-1PM) – Grid AKL, John Lysaght
How many people can say they’ve talked to British royals about the future of mental health?
Angela can.
Dr Angela Lim is a serial health tech entrepreneur focused on improving wellbeing and access to mental healthcare. Before Clearhead, she was already sitting on multiple healthcare boards and visited Harvard as a research scholar. Using her AI chatbot Clearhead, she’s been making sweeps around the nation for her work during COVID-19. Featured in The Spinoff, RNZ, & Denizen, you won’t be surprised when you see her name in the headlines.
A big believer in making change through governance, she’ll be sharing her advice on how students will be taking the future in their own hands.
Does this opportunity intrigue you? Keep up to date with our Facebook and Website for our upcoming launch!
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