More than 130 students from six Bay of Plenty high schools gathered in Rotorua to be introduced to the first stages of starting their own business.
They took part at the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme Enterprise Day (E-Day) on Tuesday.
The first event of the YES year kicked off at Toi Ohomai's Mokoia campus, where the focus was on introducing the programme, building a team and developing a real-life business idea.
The schools taking part were John Paul College, Rotorua Boys' High School, Western Heights High School, Tokoroa High School, Taupo-nui-a-Tia College and Tauhara College.
Head of YES Leah MacDonell said the ideation stage was crucial, as the student-led teams learnt the process of starting a business, researching their respective industry, developing the product and launching their idea into the market.