Praise our youth, and teach them too

Karl Butler from ANZ at the Young Enterprise Scheme speed mentoring event. PHOTO/ Michael Cunningham

Northland's Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) reminds me of the Irish proverb "mol an oige agus tiocfaidh siad". It means "praise the youth and they will blossom".

One out of every five youths in Northland is not in employment, education or training (NEET). Our NEET rate is the highest in New Zealand, while our overall unemployment rate is also sitting above the national average.

One quarter of Northland students left education before their 17th birthday in 2013, compared with the national figure of 17.3 per cent.

Northland has a mass of disengaged young people.

We need to do more than just praise the youth -- high school students need to be encouraged to think, create and invent. YES does this and teaches them the skills to make business ideas a reality.

I was one of the mentors invited to a recent YES speed mentoring event in Whangarei.

Business ideas came straight from students' desires to brighten up their region, and country.

Some web-savvy teens talked about the global market.

Many shared stories revealing their personal motivation for wanting to start the business. The reasons were heartfelt. The passion was real.

Some students had just come alive with the programme -- students who may not have been achieving in other subjects.

There have been lots of millionaires who didn't complete mainstream education but had a spirit of innovation: Thomas Edison, Richard Branson and Simon Cowell.

Walt Disney, who coined the phrase: "If you can dream it, you can do it", dropped out of school at 16 and turned out just fine.

So, what about those students who did finish school and went on to successfully run their own business?

Over the next four weeks, the Business Advocate will feature young entrepreneurs -- their motivation, innovation and inspiration.

Our first entrepreneur, Ashleigh McCaw, was just 18 when she started her sports-coaching business, Active Attitude.

If you know of a young entrepreneur in Northland, why not get in touch with us at biz@northernadvocate.co.nz -- we'd love to feature them.