Palmerston North company The Brave Venture has won an award for its work in unlocking entrepreneurial skills in young people.
Palmerston North company The Brave Venture has won an award for its work in unlocking entrepreneurial skills in young people.
A Palmerston North-based company unlocking entrepreneurial skills in young people has been recognised with a major New Zealand award.
The Brave Venture, which started engaging with schools in Manawatū in 2019, won Best Youth Programme in New Zealand for 2023 at the Global Entrepreneurship Network New Zealand (GEN NZ) awards in Auckland last week.
The Brave Venture won Youth Programme of the Year for its Ripyl programme, which competition judges said recognised “unwavering commitment to nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit in our youth”.
Founder Dave Craig said the team was humbled to be nominated and proud to have their work recognised with the award.
The Brave Venture founder Dave Craig (bottom right) with the award winners from the Global Entrepreneurship Network Awards.
“We’re on a mission to change a generation of learners, and to be acknowledged alongside finalists Young Enterprise and Flying Geese as organisations that are making a difference to the lives of our ākonga, is truly awesome. We couldn’t believe it when we heard our name as the winner,” he said.
The venture was growing. More than 1200 students had participated in the Ripyl programme, many in the Manawatū and Whanganui areas. Craig said plans were now under way to more than double the number of students involved New Zealand-wide in 2024.
“We have a clear pathway to help develop our youth, creating vibrant young people excited and equipped to take on the world.
“We try and instil in youth skills we need and learn in adult life. We basically take technology completely out of the classroom and encourage the use of pencil and paper - and brain - to free-think creatively and problem solve.”
Amazingly, a fundamental difference encouraged by The Brave Venture is to step back from the use of technology to allow good old-fashioned brainstorming and discussion.
“That’s where the magic happens.”
Craig said it was the type of model that had the potential to change the business landscape in New Zealand and students engaged with business people to put together plans and presentations.
He said many of the students could carry the skills and critical thinking they were learning into their adult working life. It focused on developing practical skills that would lead to success in any field.
The Brave Venture CEO Lance Bickford said the programme took students on a journey, taught essential skills, and complimented the school curriculum.
“We get back to basics. Students traditionally use three items: a pencil, a piece of paper, and their brain. In the start-up world, we call that our competitive advantage.”
Students participate in a brainstorming session.
Meanwhile, GEN NZ chair Dave Moskovitz said judging was tough and New Zealand was experiencing an explosion of diversity among young entrepreneurs.
“Most of our ventures have a social bent to them, trying to improve society and the world that we live in with new products and services...our entrepreneurs give us hope that our children and grandchildren will live in a fairer, healthier, exciting, human-centric and sustainable world.”
GEN NZ’s mission was to “connect entrepreneurs to the people and resources they need to thrive locally and globally.”
