Tauranga Girls' College students Jacqui Morgan (left), Emily McCarthy, Shannon Lee and Lauryn Hill of Perpetuum Enterprise won the top Young Enterprise Scheme regional award. Photo / John Borren
Tauranga Girls' College students Jacqui Morgan (left), Emily McCarthy, Shannon Lee and Lauryn Hill of Perpetuum Enterprise won the top Young Enterprise Scheme regional award. Photo / John Borren
A mobile app designed to help students with their finances when moving out of home has won six Tauranga Girls' College students the Young Enterprise Scheme top regional title.
The young enterprise team, Perpetuum, took the 2014 Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) Regional Awards.
The team of Jessica Corkery, 18, KaylieHunt, 18, Emily McCarthy, 17, Lauryn Hill, 17, Shannon Lee, 17 and Jacqui Morgan, 17, designed a financial literacy cellphone app.
Chief executive Emily said they came up with the idea so youth could make the most of life's opportunities without financial barriers. They wanted to make the app free so it would reach many people.
Realising young people leaving home for the first time were probably not up to speed with what was necessary or what was on offer, Perpetuum saw a gap in the market. The app appealed in look and feel to the young market, then pitched it first to Westpac and then to the senior management team at ASB in Auckland.
The team said they had obtained "intangible but priceless business experience and knowledge".
"Theoretical business knowledge has taken on a whole new meaning for us, with real applicability in the business world.
"This is far more rewarding than any profit could ever be, as it provides us with the ability to succeed for our entire lives, both in a business context or any other pathway we may choose to pursue."
