Young Enterprise Trust is a charitable trust whose vision is to grow a more prosperous New Zealand through enterprise. We see our purpose as a not for profit is to inspire, educate and transform students through enterprise experience.
Dictionary.com says that the word enterprising is an adjective which means ready to undertake projects of importance or difficulty, or untried schemes; energetic in carrying out any undertaking. It then goes on to say in the definition “Business is in need of enterprising young people”. With that we agree.
Creating an enterprising spirit in young people is needed, regardless of whether they are going to set up their own company or work for someone else, whether their organisation is large or small, whether the business is a commercial business, government agency or not for profit organisation. Being enterprising is more than the process of starting a business. It is about identifying, valuing and capturing opportunities. It is about taking ownership, exercising initiative and showing leadership.
At the core of being enterprising is the ability to understand the financial situation. Unless the financial consequences of choices are made explicit the real opportunity cost of making the choice is theoretical only. Financial literacy means having the knowledge, skill and ability to make the right financial decisions, both for business decisions and personal decisions. By developing a more financially literate society we not only help to make a more prosperous New Zealand, we help to create more prosperous New Zealanders.
We know that both enthusiasm and skills are best nurtured at a young age, so we have created a range of enterprise and financial literacy programmes from primary school to secondary school that are designed to staircase knowledge and experience from year to year.
Our mission is to ensure all New Zealand students participate in experiential enterprise education and financial literacy programmes. With this focus, Young Enterprise Trust exists to:
- create awareness throughout New Zealand about the needs and benefits of both enterprise education and financial literacy education
- create programmes that are engaging, modern and in line with the New Zealand curriculum
- create resources for schools including teachers manuals and students resources
- train teachers and presenters to be able to deliver these programmes
- run national and international competitions which serve to inspire and engage students
- act as a liaison between schools and business as this real interaction with successful businesses is what makes the learning experience so transformational
- advocate in order to bring about positive change to policy and practice regarding educating students around enterprise skills and financial literacy
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