On hope and pots.

This is Elisa Harley. Elisa has just finished Year 13 at Wellington Girls’ High School. She’s just turned 18. She’s off to Canterbury University next year to study Product Design. She used to think she had to be a doctor or a physio because she’s good at science.

Then, a couple of years ago, she came across the Young Enterprise Scheme. For those (like me) who were unaware of the Young Enterprise Scheme (‘YES’) when they were at high school (or since), it’s a programme taught in New Zealand secondary schools to year 12-13 students, who learn real-world business capabilities like how to set up and run a business, how to speak in public, how to write a marketing plan, work-ready skills like interviewing and presentation, and validating, pitching and promoting a real-life business idea. It’s been running for over 40 years in Aotearoa-New Zealand, and boasts such alumni as Jacinda Ardern, Rod Drury, and Brooke Roberts. The scheme is now taught in 90% of New Zealand secondary schools, and is impacting 5,000 rangatahi every year. An impact report commissioned by YES last year found that 72% of students who’d participated in the programme felt more confident about what they can achieve in the world, and had the resilience, skills, and networks to go on to great things. Which they have.

As Elisa says herself: “YES has changed my life, and the lives of every single person who’s been through that programme. And they didn’t pay me to say that”. As a result of having gone through the programme, Elisa’s business, Enivo Pots, is on a fast-track to success. She’s received grants from the King’s Trust He Kakano fund, Scion, and the Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust, for her world-leading product, which is a range of?biodegradable plant pots, made from forestry slash, intended for wholesale to nurseries to tackle plastic waste. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Elisa is on-track to make a significant impact on a global scale with both her product, and her influence.

But she’s not the only one. Alongside Elisa, who took out the HSBC Award for Environmental Sustainability, the Te Arahanga Primary Industries Award, and third place overall in the Company of the Year, the other winners were also deeply-rooted in sustainability. The overall winners of the Young Enterprise Scheme Company of the Year were a couple of extraordinary kiwis from Riverton’s Aparima College in Southland. Brodie Murdoch and Caleb Diprose formed Treet Yourself Contracting? with a mission to restore New Zealand’s natural landscapes by focusing on planting native trees on farms. The boys work with farmers and use AI tools to picture degraded land before and after native-forest regeneration, and use under-employed local workers to do the planting themselves. Its turnover boosted from $6000 in 2023 to $22,000 gross profit this year and the pair already had $60,000 of sales lined up for 2025. Yes – while they’re still at school. This was a huge deal for the boys, their school, and their region. As Brodie said: "It was surreal. I texted Mum straight away.” Bless.

Coming in second place was another world-leading initiative, Seadown Road?from Timaru Boys' High School and Timaru Girls' High School?who are transforming South Canterbury's primary industries by repurposing waste carrots to create Rejuiced, a natural carrot-based sweetener. ReJuiced is a clarified carrot juice concentrate and is a versatile product to be used in place of sugar or artificial sweeteners. (And, I can attest, is absolutely delicious). The team have gone from producing 1-litre bottles for baking and home use, to identifying a gap in the market for natural sweeteners in the brewing process, and are now in hot demand from local breweries for their 20-gallon drums of product. Taking on the sugar industry, one waste carrot at a time. So brave.

The point is, these kids, while all showing extraordinary grit, determination, creativity, innovation and smarts, all had one thing in common: a profound, integral and very real commitment to sustainability. All of the winning products and ideas, from apps to clothing to new and innovative technologies, all were fundamentally premised on the basis of environmental and social sustainability. These kids are quite literally taking on the world with their ideas. And they’re winning.

I was beyond humbled to be asked to be on the judging panel at this years’ awards, alongside some far more qualified and experienced judges. The judging day, on Thursday, involved evaluating 24 five-minute pitches, with two minutes for judge’s questions afterwards, in a dragons-den style setting. The kids had their support crews (parents, teachers, and whanau) there with them, and the atmosphere was electric, to say the least. These teams had each won their regional competitions, and had been flown to Wellington to vie for the national title. For most of them, it was their first time on a plane, and first time to the Capital. They all showed up with stunning professionalism, moxie, and energy. Every single one of the pitches was flawlessly delivered, with passion, chutzpa, and absolute resolve. It was absolute honour and a privilege to be in that room. I was utterly blown-away (and remain so) with the quality of the products and the unbridled possibility to stack-up at a global scale. And throughout it all, I was conscious that this was just one day in the life of YES, with thousands more young geniuses out there having been through this, and previous year’s programmes, all of whom were capable of doing the same.

In a year of seemingly bad news after worse, facing down public spending cuts, missed (or eliminated) targets, deflating political will and inexorably increasing climatic threats, these kids brought hope. Whether they knew it or not, their unerring commitment to sustainability just being the right way to do business, was outstanding. It was inarguable and self-evident. From a life-long and increasingly jaded sustainability practitioner, I can’t begin to describe how welcome this is.

My heroes Sir David Attenborough and Jane Goodall have long preached hope in future generations. I’ll admit now I’ve always related to this as a kind of slightly depressing sidestep of our own accountability. But I get it now, I get it. These kids have something we just don’t. They don’t feel the need to argue for sustainability being at the centre of everything we do, every decision we make, every new path we tread – it just is.

Our future is in the hands of the Elisas of this world. And I for one couldn’t be more hopeful for it.

Elisa Harley Alexandra Bullot Kristen Waters Sarah Holden Oxygen Consulting Ian Musson MBA David Steele