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TOMORROW’S ENTR EPRENEURS Young Enterprise Terry Shubkin, CEO YOUNG ENTERPRISE TRUST W e are getting down to the business end of the year for our Lion Foundation Young Enterprise students. A champion company has been named in each region around the country and those teams will descend on Wellington next month to compete for the National title. There are some amazing business ideas in the mix. INCYT, from Westlake Boys’ High School are the Auckland North champions and their Chalk-Me T shirts allow users to draw or write on their t-shirt. The company was featured on the Erin Simpson TV show and are in discussions with a large New Zealand retailer whom they are hoping will stock their product from early 2014. Tauranga Girls’ College team, Soar, were named the Bay of Plenty regional winners after creating a product called Collide - a crunchy peanut butter and chocolate hazelnut spread. The group worked in collaboration with Ceres Organics based in Auckland to create the product. Then there’s Nelson/Marlborough champions, Reverb, who have created The Little Thrift Dress; a t-shirt dress that is made using handpicked material which has been donated by thrift shops or local sewing fans. Each material is used in only 3 dresses (small, medium and large) so customers are guaranteed to have a unique outfit. The companies will each compete in the National Final for the supreme title, The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Company of the Year. Each team will have just five minutes to pitch their business idea to a panel of New Zealand business leaders. The winners will be announced at the National Awards gala dinner on Wednesday 11 December – tickets are $110 each and can be purchased from the Young Enterprise website. If you’re in Wellington that day and want to check out our next generation of business supremos, you might want to come along. ChalkMe directors Daniel Surkalim, Adam Qi, Guy Hermanoche, Jake Jiang, 22 Jason Yan, Eugene Fong with their teacher Keryn Wright.