May 17, 2026 • 8 mins
Jess Black looks at the "Young Enterprise" scheme and what it is all about.
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Jess Black joins us next on the muster. She is
the Ottago Southland regional coordinator for YES, which stands for
a Young Enterprise Scheme. It's all about people in years
twelve and thirteen in secondary schools, kind of like a
dragon's den situation, putting something together. And yeah, it's a
competition nationwide, I believe. So Jess is going to give
(00:32):
us a bit of a rundown on what this involved
in some really cool initiatives that are underway. Jess, good
afternoon and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah sure, anyhow are you going pretty good?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Can't complain blue sky in the south. It's cool and crisp.
But look, you think about young people and the way
they want to get involved with enterprise as such, this
sounds really neat.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah. Yeah, it's a fantastic program going enterprise as a
national sort of competition run across the country. And yeah,
it's loving getting out and about and seeing all their
students participay.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, in a nutshell, how did you get involved with it? Boy?
How did it come to fruition?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah? So I've recently come on board as the coordinator
looking after Otago Southland, just been in the role a
couple of months. I was actually a year student myself
about maybe about twelve years ago now, so we've been
through the program, understand what it's like being in the
student's role, and now I'm year back on board with
(01:36):
the stuff and helping to see these young people thrive.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So this has been going for a while obviously.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yes, yes, Young Enterprise is actually celebrating forty five years
this year.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Well there you go, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Which is pretty cool. We've got a you know, it's
definitely had a what we say, yes, affect. There are
a lot of people who resonate with Young Enterprise and
the impact it's had on their lives. So yeah, that
that impact continues.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So coincidentally, what were you doing for the part when
you did this?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Oh gosh, I don't seem nearly as clever of those
young people now, but I had a couple of products
and cool teens. The first year was a liquid seaweed
concentrate for your garden that was pretty stinky in the
back shed, but that was awesome. We made it to
nationals with that, representing Southland. And then the year after
(02:31):
that was a gift box, a personalized gift box. We
called it Sender Smile, But yeah, no, compared to what
these young people were doing. Now the embarrassing to be honest,
but all great learnings for me. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So there's great buy and by Southern Regent, by Southern
secondary schools, particularly amongst the rural FuG Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, absolutely. We've got four schools that are participated in
the program this year up at Ema College, Dathan Boys High,
Dan Targus and Saint Peter's College and Gore and many
of those schools have a rural bent. You know. The
young people come in and they're full of ideas of
(03:15):
challenges and opportunities that they see in their rural life.
So yeah, it's incredible seeing how that translates into the
businesses they come up with.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
And I'm just looking at what's what they've done this year.
For example, you're talking eel pesse, a bird nesting strategy
to stop birds getting inside the tractor in springtime. So
I suppose you've got to be involved with your sector.
Do you understand what they're talking about? But yet again
you've got to think outside the square as to what
you think is going to work on the farm.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh absolutely, yeah, No, the ideas that these teams have
come up with an incredible. Here we have a couple
of standouts I think in the from the rural kind
of sphere and those two teams you mentioned here, we've
got million from the Lost Larder. She's developing an ill
pet hay which is a really unique product and it's
(04:07):
because she's in her second year of the challenge, so yeah,
she's really all about the Southland food scene and bring
a unique product from the farm to the plate. It's
pretty cool. And then no mis Tech they are developing
a product that goes within your tractor cad or inside
(04:29):
the engine bay of your tractor to scare off birds.
So all fantastic ideas and products that are these young
people got under development, solving real challenges for and opportunities
for farming.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
So how many of these ideas do you actually go
through to the production stage if that's required.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, most teams. So they complete a series of force
sort of challenges through yes, and the first one around sales.
So the first one is around their business ideas validating
that second one they go to Mendia Pictures. Third one
is sales and marketing, and the fourth one isn't in
(05:11):
your review sort of it's a really condensed period of
time for them running their business. You know, it's only
a school year. Some of them do go beyond that.
They definitely want to scale, so most of them get
to that production, basic sales and marketing by about term three.
And those who don't, you know, they had pretty grand
(05:33):
visions for their company, so they're on a big, big,
dreaming brick scale. And so sometimes we just we'll see
them produce at a small scale, do local sales, pre sales,
and then they'll get up to a you know, actually
mass producing and getting into the full business structure. And
(05:53):
we love seeing them take that from just you know,
running a business at high school to actually being young entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Can you name of anything off the top of your
head the weekend that's actually got a mess production now commonplace?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Good question. We've had some local actually a good local
example of that was a young team from Southland. They
were upadhem A College and they won nationals a couple
of years back, and they have a sort of tree
planting business which is possibly quite handed, you know after
(06:28):
a storm damage around the place. But I've heard that
they've done in the hundreds of thousands of dollars of
sales and they continue to run their business while attending university.
So yeah, so this.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Is bringing agribusiness into the mainstream more or less for
these students.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh yeah, absolutely, Yeah, it's a cool way for them
to take, as you say, you know, a challenge or
an opportunity they see and translate that into the class
into a real world business scenario. You know, they really
have to test their idea. But it is a perfect
(07:10):
combination for business, egro business and just getting that kind
of great entrepreneurial experience.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, it's coro fascinating. I just finally, if people want
to learn more about what's going on, where do they kid?
Where do they go to?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, if you're keen to follow along and hear more
about the Young Enterprise program, google Young Enterprise Yes and
he along to the Yes website. There is a little
bit more about the program there. That's sort of the
best way to follow along.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Just Black I Tago South and regional coordinator for the
Young Enterprise Scheme. Thanks your time on the muster. Some
really cool space, some really cool things happening in the
secondary schooling space for students regarding any culture. Thanks to
your time.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Thanks Eddie Half out Loud with agg proud because life
on the land can be a laughing matter. Brought to
us by Sheerwell data working to help the livestock farmer.
So a lady goes to the dentist and asks how
much a pull to wisdom teeth. Dentist says five hundred bucks.
(08:15):
She replies us, too much? Can't you do it for less?
The dentist says, I can do it for two hundred
and fifty if I skip the anesthetics. Still too much?
Can you do it any cheaper? So the needa just
keeps going on. I can let my trainee do it
for fifty bucks, but she's never pulled a tooth before
and it's going to be painful. Perfect, the woman says,
schedule my husband for next week and we'll leave it
(08:38):
there for the afternoon. The podcast will be apt surely.
I'm Andy Muller. The muster is brought to you by
Peter's Genetics Joy the Afternoon see Tomorro
Jess Black joins us next on the muster. She is
the Ottago Southland regional coordinator for YES, which stands for
a Young Enterprise Scheme. It's all about people in years
twelve and thirteen in secondary schools, kind of like a
dragon's den situation, putting something together. And yeah, it's a
competition nationwide, I believe. So Jess is going to give
(00:32):
us a bit of a rundown on what this involved
in some really cool initiatives that are underway. Jess, good
afternoon and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah sure, anyhow are you going pretty good?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Can't complain blue sky in the south. It's cool and crisp.
But look, you think about young people and the way
they want to get involved with enterprise as such, this
sounds really neat.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah. Yeah, it's a fantastic program going enterprise as a
national sort of competition run across the country. And yeah,
it's loving getting out and about and seeing all their
students participay.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, in a nutshell, how did you get involved with it? Boy?
How did it come to fruition?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah? So I've recently come on board as the coordinator
looking after Otago Southland, just been in the role a
couple of months. I was actually a year student myself
about maybe about twelve years ago now, so we've been
through the program, understand what it's like being in the
student's role, and now I'm year back on board with
(01:36):
the stuff and helping to see these young people thrive.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So this has been going for a while obviously.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yes, yes, Young Enterprise is actually celebrating forty five years
this year.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Well there you go, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Which is pretty cool. We've got a you know, it's
definitely had a what we say, yes, affect. There are
a lot of people who resonate with Young Enterprise and
the impact it's had on their lives. So yeah, that
that impact continues.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So coincidentally, what were you doing for the part when
you did this?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Oh gosh, I don't seem nearly as clever of those
young people now, but I had a couple of products
and cool teens. The first year was a liquid seaweed
concentrate for your garden that was pretty stinky in the
back shed, but that was awesome. We made it to
nationals with that, representing Southland. And then the year after
(02:31):
that was a gift box, a personalized gift box. We
called it Sender Smile, But yeah, no, compared to what
these young people were doing. Now the embarrassing to be honest,
but all great learnings for me. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So there's great buy and by Southern Regent, by Southern
secondary schools, particularly amongst the rural FuG Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, absolutely. We've got four schools that are participated in
the program this year up at Ema College, Dathan Boys High,
Dan Targus and Saint Peter's College and Gore and many
of those schools have a rural bent. You know. The
young people come in and they're full of ideas of
(03:15):
challenges and opportunities that they see in their rural life.
So yeah, it's incredible seeing how that translates into the
businesses they come up with.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
And I'm just looking at what's what they've done this year.
For example, you're talking eel pesse, a bird nesting strategy
to stop birds getting inside the tractor in springtime. So
I suppose you've got to be involved with your sector.
Do you understand what they're talking about? But yet again
you've got to think outside the square as to what
you think is going to work on the farm.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh absolutely, yeah, No, the ideas that these teams have
come up with an incredible. Here we have a couple
of standouts I think in the from the rural kind
of sphere and those two teams you mentioned here, we've
got million from the Lost Larder. She's developing an ill
pet hay which is a really unique product and it's
(04:07):
because she's in her second year of the challenge, so yeah,
she's really all about the Southland food scene and bring
a unique product from the farm to the plate. It's
pretty cool. And then no mis Tech they are developing
a product that goes within your tractor cad or inside
(04:29):
the engine bay of your tractor to scare off birds.
So all fantastic ideas and products that are these young
people got under development, solving real challenges for and opportunities
for farming.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
So how many of these ideas do you actually go
through to the production stage if that's required.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, most teams. So they complete a series of force
sort of challenges through yes, and the first one around sales.
So the first one is around their business ideas validating
that second one they go to Mendia Pictures. Third one
is sales and marketing, and the fourth one isn't in
(05:11):
your review sort of it's a really condensed period of
time for them running their business. You know, it's only
a school year. Some of them do go beyond that.
They definitely want to scale, so most of them get
to that production, basic sales and marketing by about term three.
And those who don't, you know, they had pretty grand
(05:33):
visions for their company, so they're on a big, big,
dreaming brick scale. And so sometimes we just we'll see
them produce at a small scale, do local sales, pre sales,
and then they'll get up to a you know, actually
mass producing and getting into the full business structure. And
(05:53):
we love seeing them take that from just you know,
running a business at high school to actually being young entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Can you name of anything off the top of your
head the weekend that's actually got a mess production now commonplace?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Good question. We've had some local actually a good local
example of that was a young team from Southland. They
were upadhem A College and they won nationals a couple
of years back, and they have a sort of tree
planting business which is possibly quite handed, you know after
(06:28):
a storm damage around the place. But I've heard that
they've done in the hundreds of thousands of dollars of
sales and they continue to run their business while attending university.
So yeah, so this.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Is bringing agribusiness into the mainstream more or less for
these students.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh yeah, absolutely, Yeah, it's a cool way for them
to take, as you say, you know, a challenge or
an opportunity they see and translate that into the class
into a real world business scenario. You know, they really
have to test their idea. But it is a perfect
(07:10):
combination for business, egro business and just getting that kind
of great entrepreneurial experience.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, it's coro fascinating. I just finally, if people want
to learn more about what's going on, where do they kid?
Where do they go to?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, if you're keen to follow along and hear more
about the Young Enterprise program, google Young Enterprise Yes and
he along to the Yes website. There is a little
bit more about the program there. That's sort of the
best way to follow along.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Just Black I Tago South and regional coordinator for the
Young Enterprise Scheme. Thanks your time on the muster. Some
really cool space, some really cool things happening in the
secondary schooling space for students regarding any culture. Thanks to
your time.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Thanks Eddie Half out Loud with agg proud because life
on the land can be a laughing matter. Brought to
us by Sheerwell data working to help the livestock farmer.
So a lady goes to the dentist and asks how
much a pull to wisdom teeth. Dentist says five hundred bucks.
(08:15):
She replies us, too much? Can't you do it for less?
The dentist says, I can do it for two hundred
and fifty if I skip the anesthetics. Still too much?
Can you do it any cheaper? So the needa just
keeps going on. I can let my trainee do it
for fifty bucks, but she's never pulled a tooth before
and it's going to be painful. Perfect, the woman says,
schedule my husband for next week and we'll leave it
(08:38):
there for the afternoon. The podcast will be apt surely.
I'm Andy Muller. The muster is brought to you by
Peter's Genetics Joy the Afternoon see Tomorro
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