Lighting the Spark at Kepnock High
I joined a group of First Nations youth at Kepnock State High School and spoke about my journey as a local young entrepreneur, my products and small business.
I found that I was easily able to relate to these kids, as I am young, passionate about arts and culture and had similar upbringings to them. They could see I was passionate, real and rawly honest about everything I said and that definitely resonated with them. I told these kids, you need to seize every opportunity, be grateful and you will reach what success means to you.
I hope everyone could take something away or be inspired by the people in this program. The kids have had a wonderful opportunity to understand the skills involved to develop their own product and create a business. They completed the end of the program by hosting their own market stall, showcasing their products and culture to the school and community. They were very energetic and proud to show me their final products.
The best part was that all business ideas centred around their First Nations identity, culture, symbolism and art, respectively. I wish I had this sort of opportunity in Kepnock State High School , thank you for making Bundaberg a better place for these First Nations kids! Other schools need to implement and create more opportunities for their students.
It was amazing to be apart of this program. I see great changes coming in the future for Australia with our youth, specifically our First Nations youth.
They Wrote
Lighting the Spark Day 3 and 4 workshops– our First Nation students are creating business models, prototypes, pitch events, validation and preparing for October market night. We were inspired by ‘Wattle Woman’ Lili Jacobsen, a local indigenous female entrepreneur, and her journey in to business. Peter Brockhurst, Taribelang Aboriginal Corporation, provides innovative mentoring to our youths. We were joined by educators in our community at a Young Change Agents information session led with Aruna and Shelene. Brad Marsellos, ABC Widebay, also turned up to interview our emerging business leaders. Huge shout out to all involved in Lighting the Spark Entrepreneurial Capability Programme especially our KSHS educators Mr Collins, Mr Currie, Mrs Hill and Mrs Amey.