Members of the Dannevirke High School Year 11, Chandle, Mai Biz company at their presentation last Friday.
Members of the Dannevirke High School Year 11, Chandle, Mai Biz company at their presentation last Friday.
A toilet seat lifter and a Wi-Fi wizard were two of the diverse and innovative ideas marketed by Year 12 students at Dannevirke High School last week.
The annual Mai Biz programme, sponsored by the Maori Women's Development group, created a buzz among students who had just three days to come up with a concept and market it to the judges.
The Code Red team, with their Wi-Fi wizard, were the winners of the Dannevirke High School Mai Biz competition.
"This is life-changing stuff," high school teacher Diane Sandbrook said.
"We're so proud of our students. We under-estimate what our kids can do and this programme is a delightful opportunity for them. I would like to see some of the ideas picked up commercially. We really should have employers here seeing what our students have to offer."
The students are placed randomly into their groups, but all work well together to bring their ideas to fruition, Mrs Sandbrook said.
Cameron Hutchings and Same Morgans, designed and welded together OEngineering's toilet seat pedal lifter.
"Students never think about business and enterprise as something which is important and this programme is the best kept secret. It's all about learning and we see our kids grow 10 feet, even though they've had to face all sorts of challenges."
Judges, dairy farmer Vince Payne, Dannevirke business owners, Bill Taylor and Erana Petti-Webber and Wairarapa MP Alistair Scott had a difficult job deciding on a winner.
"They are a great bunch of kids and there's definitely some leaders amongst them," Mr Taylor said.
The Code Red team, with their Wi-Fi wizard were the winners, with the strength of their business plan and team work putting them ahead of their rivals.
"There were a number of innovative business ideas, but judging is based on a number of criteria," Mrs Sandbrook said. "And although there were other teams who had more innovative ideas, their paperwork and teamwork didn't stack up against the winning team."
Mr Scott had never heard of the programme before and was astounded by the quality of products on offer.
"There are simple, but really powerful ideas here and all the kids are engaged with their innovative ideas," he said.
With the success of the programme, the high school will keep Mai Biz rolling Mrs Sandbrook said.
