Rees Vinsen and Harry Fergusson were recently selected to represent themselves in Auckland at a business summit. The annual Enterprise in Action weekend is run by Young Enterprise Trust, a charity which helps students develop their entrepreneurial skills.

The 80 students formed ten teams and were mentored by volunteers from corporate organisations including Xero, Telecom and The Icehouse. Harry was lucky enough to represent Team NZ Trade and Enterprise while Rees lead Team Xero.

The weekend contained 2 challenges, the first being The Global Enterprise Challenge. This was a 12-hour challenge which focuses on global issues or problems. Countries from all around the world take part, and teams must answer the challenge via a three-minute presentation. This challenge was followed up with the NZ heat of the FedEx Express/Junior Achievement International Trade Challenge (ITC) in which student teams were asked to develop a market entry strategy plan to export a fish based product to Japan.

Rees was selected to lead Team Xero over the weekend. This involved delegating and coordinating the challenges to the team, which amounted to a great deal of pressure. During the challenge, Rees still had to run his marketing consultancy business and conduct radio and press interviews. Rees was clearly exhausted from the weekend, saying “The pressure and stress on me was incredible. The rate of which you had to plan and produce strategies was a huge step above anything else I have ever experienced. After the two challenges, Rees was selected to progress to the final selection to represent NZ. Unfortunately Rees missed out on the selection by a narrow margin.

Harry was selected in a very strong team of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise for the weekend. His role in his team was to take charge of the marketing and the strategy to enter the market in the two challenges. Harry also agreed that the pressure they were put under was intense as they both had limited time to complete their challenging tasks.

The trip didn’t only add immensely to their business knowledge but also provided a solid ground for networking and boosting the exposure of their own businesses. Harry said “It was good to get some extra awareness for Bosh, my menswear fashion label, which will soon be launching”.

Both Rees and Harry agree that the Nelson College business program has provided them with incredible opportunities and knowledge to succeed. They both mention that they are appreciative of the amount of work and effort put into the program by teacher, Jarrod Aberhart.

You can find out more about Rees and Harry’s businesses at
www.nextsmc.co.nz / nextsmc@icloud.com / 02102847944
www.boshmenswear.com / info@boshmenswear.com / 0278449336

 He was interviewed this morning on Radio Live Business, and was picked from the 80 students to represent the scheme.  Following this the link for full radio broadcast. 

Rees Vinsen Team Xero

Harry Fergusson NZ Trade and Enterprise team