eTime Entrepreneurs Launches in Christchurch

May 11 2005

eTime Entrepreneurs Launches in Christchurch

Young Cantabrians link with business leaders to develop entrepreneurial skills out of the classroom

eTime Entrepreneurs, an innovative new programme aimed at developing entrepreneurial skills in nine to 12 year olds, launches in Christchurch tomorrow, Thursday, 12 May, during the NZ Innovation Festival.

eTime Entrepreneurs sets a series of business challenges, suitable for teams of young people, which aim to create excitement about being entrepreneurial, and channel this excitement into action in a competitive business context. The programme also aims to generate amongst participants a desire to start up a business.

Twelve schools from throughout the Canterbury region have been selected to take part in eTime Entrepreneurs, with three children and a teacher from each school making up a "team".

Faye Le Cren, director of eTime, said there was fierce competition for the limited places on the programme, however participants were selected on the basis of their leadership qualities, prior experience of enterprise and ability to behave both responsibly and productively.

"eTime Entrepreneurs provides talented young students with an opportunity to gain skills from real life entrepreneurs such as Jason Gunn.

"The 'challenges' involved in the programme are designed to develop participants' skills progressively within a competitive business environment, and the final challenge will involve creating a product, event, or service to raise funds for an "innovation and enterprise fund" for their schools."

eTime Entrepreneurs, which will be held one day each week, over two terms, is sponsored by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise through its Enterprise Culture and Skills Activity fund and by the Cookie Munchers Charitable Trust.

The launch of the programmed is one of the highlight "youth" events of the NZ Innovation Festival, a two-week celebration of Kiwi innovation and entrepreneurship in New Zealand

Faye Le Cren said she established eTime, a purposefully designed high-tech learning environment, to motivate and inspire young people.

"eTime Entrepreneurs is a fantastic opportunity for kids to learn from real-life experiences and maximise their potential. "

The launch will be held on Thursday 12 May from 6-8pm at eTime, located at 17 Armagh Street Christchurch.

ENDS

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