This month, the Pacific Business Trust, along with AUT and MIT, held the annual Plantation Business Challenge for Pacific students in the Counties Manukau region. TESSA PREBBLE reports.
Language would never be lost in translation if the winner of this year’s Plantation Business Challenge had her way. The Challenge gave the students a taste of the business world as well as the chance to win up to NZ$28,000 worth of tertiary scholarships and prizes.
Helen Ropati, who was part of the Tangaroa College team Vast Unlimited, proposed a piece of software which translates over 500 languages and can be downloaded straight to your phone.
The software was aimed at anyone wanting to overcome a language barrier, something which can be a problem in a multi-cultural and multi-lingual country like New Zealand.
Ropati beat students from nine other schools from Counties Manukau to win a three year scholarship worth $15,000 to study business at AUT University.
Ropati’s team mate Markus Kitione also caught the judges’ attention winning the Most Valuable Player award of a laptop from the Pacific Business Trust. The Vast Unlimited team also won the best business proposal award from the Pacific Business Trust.
The overall team prize went to a cookbook promoting healthy recipes straight from the Pacific, which teaches Pacific people about their cultural culinary history, while also helping to combat obesity.
The Flavaz of the Pacific team from Aorere College proposed a cookbook which would bring together recipes from around the Pacific Islands to re-educate young New Zealand Pacific Islanders of their nation’s traditional cuisine.
Flavaz of the Pacific took home $800 worth of book vouchers.
Pacific Business Trust CEO Richard Reid says the standard of business plans in the challenge gets better every year.
“The aim of the challenge is to ultimately increase the participation of Pasifika people in business ownership and senior management roles. Judging by the quality of this year’s business ideas, I have no doubt some of these students are going to become tomorrow’s Pasifika business leaders and role models for the future students.”
Business plans took four days from conception to presentation and were judged on marketability, research, product differentiation and financial viability. The Counties Manukau students were competing for a total prize pool of over $28,000 worth of scholarships and prizes.
Lenny Frost from De La Salle, Kirstie Lavakeiaho from Mangere College, Siauala Amituanai from Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate and Sonya Siale from The Manurewa High School, won the $10,000 worth of scholarships to study at MIT.
Losena Fatai from Otahuhu College won the second Most Valuable Player award of a laptop from MIT.
Edgewater College won the best presentation, and Manurewa High School won the best business display, both from the Pacific Business Trust.
Competition teams were hosted and mentored at MIT, AUT and the Pacific Business Trust.
