Young Enterprise Scheme National Awards

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E nga mana, e nga reo, e kui mā, e koro mā, e tama mā, e hine mā, nga mihi māhana ki a koutou.  Kia ora tātou katoa.  Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, young men and young women warm greetings to you all. 

I specifically acknowledge: Tony Caughey and Terry Shubkin, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive of the Young Enterprise Trust respectively; Hon Hekia Parata, Minister of the Crown; and Simon Whyte, Trustee of the Lion Foundation.

As Patron of the Young Enterprise Trust, it is a great pleasure to join you this evening for the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) National Awards.  YES has a certain quality about it, especially with tonight’s celebration of Young Enterprise Scheme students, young Kiwi entrepreneurs, who have worked for and achieved excellence.

Last year my wife Janine and I hosted a reception at Government House to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Trust and the rollout of the Young Enterprise Scheme in 1981.  The evening celebrated the contribution that the Trust, the Scheme and its alumni have made to New Zealand since 1981.  I spoke of what I regard as the importance of the Scheme – that it “enables young New Zealanders to grab innovation, enterprise, giving things a go and taking a risk as the basis for success.” 

This evening we celebrate the achievements of the 2012 batch of YES students who have done exactly that.  There are a variety of awards to be presented this evening.  All of them recognise excellence, and celebrate innovation, dedication, determination and hard-work.  I look forward to presenting the Lion Foundation YES Company of the Year later this evening.  However, there are a few things that need to happen before we reach that point!

The word that is central to the Trust and to the Scheme is enterprise.  When we think about enterprise we associate it with initiative and words like creativity, motivation, passion and adventure.  Enterprise starts with the creativity to generate an original business idea.  From that comes the motivation to develop and implement that idea, and the passion to champion the idea through good and difficult times.  Then there is the spirit of adventure - looking for opportunities, assessing and taking risks and going for it.  Along the way new discoveries are made.

There are 18 regional teams represented here this evening.  Most, if not all, have experienced these things during the past year, both collectively and individually.  Their journeys will have undoubtedly had their challenges.  Central to their successes, their being here, and indeed all successful endeavours, has been a combination of teamwork, dedication to a shared vision and diligence in carrying out individual roles within the team.  

In doing so, these young Kiwi entrepreneurs will have grown individually, and as a team.  Individual strengths, talents and effort have been capitalised upon, ensuring their success as a business enterprise.  And, it seems to me that their success is our success. 

In a chapter called Unimagined Futures, from the book The Organization of the Future, the author Charles Handy had this to say:  “One thing is sure. The organizations of the next century are going to be very different from the ones which we knew in this one…I have no doubt that the new organisations will be less easy places than they have been.  [W]e cannot reject the future just because it is uncomfortable.  What we have to do is find a way to understand it so that we can make the new organizations work for us.”  Well we are now in the next century that Handy spoke about.  YES is helping young New Zealanders to be comfortable and understanding of what and how enterprises can work for us in the future.  I have a view, which I shared in the foreword to Dr Ian Hunter’s book The Young New Zealander’s Guide to Entrepreneurship: that

“Innovation, hard work, the willingness to give things a go - these traits have always been part of our national character.  And as a new generation takes the baton of enterprise, it is my hope that we will create a truly great country: a country that encourages Kiwi talent, and whose enterprises, across all forms of endeavour, continue to transform our society, and its economy, for the better.” 

As Governor-General, I take great pride in the achievements of all New Zealanders and none more so than the ambition and success of our young people – the future of our nation.  So, congratulations to all of the regional winning teams represented this evening.  Making it to this point is a substantial achievement in itself. 

Our economic success will rely heavily on individuals like those here this evening; New Zealanders with a passion and a desire to succeed, and energetic endeavour creating and growing businesses in all sectors of our economy.  And YES does have a certain star quality that we will hear and see more of tonight! 

Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.