Young Enterprise Scheme Winners

WelCom February 2019: Congratulations to 12 ‘The Final Straw’ team members from St Mary’s College Wellington who won the National Award for Social Enterprise with their entry in the 2018 Lion…

WelCom February 2019:

‘Final Straw’ team members Madison Crisp, Jessica Reiher, Rosie O’Hagan and Zoe Barrot, pictured in October last year after receiving the Financial Management Award, the Social Impact Award, and being named the YES Company of the Year for the Wellington region. Photo: Supplied

Congratulations to 12 ‘The Final Straw’ team members from St Mary’s College Wellington who won the National Award for Social Enterprise with their entry in the 2018 Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES). The award was presented in Wellington last December.

The YES programme requires students to create and run a company to help them learn about business and entrepreneurship. Over 4000 senior students from 900 secondary schools competed throughout 2018 for their team to be amongst the winners of the prestigious awards. Just 21 of those companies made it to the National Final.

Jess Reiher and Rosie O’Hagan accepted the award on behalf of their team in front of an audience of 400 including the Governor General, politicians and other dignitaries at a gala dinner at Wellington’s TSB Arena, on 6 December.

‘The Final Straw’, supplies environmentally sustainable paper straws to the hospitality sector. The team’s next goal is to look into creating a straw made from sugarcane fibre.