Enterprise North Shore
14 June 2006

Media Release: North Shore businesses host Global Challenge teams

North Shore and Auckland businesses have been enthusiastic in volunteering to host 80 New Zealand secondary school students for an international student enterprise challenge next week.

The Global Enterprise Challenge, previously the Enterprise Olympics, takes place on the North Shore on 19 & 20 June 2006. Forty students from across the Auckland region will join 40 students from the rest of New Zealand, to work on solving two separate business challenges.

The 80 students will be divided into ten teams of eight to work on a New Zealand business challenge, announced on the morning of Monday 19th June at Massey University’s Albany campus. The teams will report back with their response by 6pm, Monday evening. This will be preparation for the main event, the Global Enterprise Challenge, that starts later in the evening.

The Global Enterprise Challenge is an international event that brings together student teams from 15 countries. NASA Astronaut, Bill McArthur, will announce the challenge to all teams from around the world via a video satellite link-up from the Glasgow Science Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, at 10.45pm (NZT), 19th June.

Ten North Shore and Auckland businesses have confirmed their participation in the Global Enterprise Challenge. Each business will host a student team as they work to prepare their response to the Global Enterprise Challenge. North Shore-based businesses include:

- Sony New Zealand Ltd

- Ecom Group Ltd

- Ancare New Zealand Ltd

- Swiftlink (NZ) Ltd

- BDO Spicers

- Actionmail Ltd

- Action International

Three other businesses from across the Auckland region involved in hosting the student teams are:

- Fonterra

- CSL (NZ) Ltd

- Genesis Energy

The student teams will report back to Massey University, the New Zealand host venue for the Global Enterprise Challenge, by 6pm, Tuesday, 20 June. They will then present their response to the challenge to three judges who will select the winning New Zealand team. New Zealand’s best team will then present to international judges via video satellite link-up back to Glasgow, from 10pm, Tuesday 20 June. The winning team from around the world will be announced via webcast to the New Zealand audience on Wednesday, 7.30am.

Enterprise North Shore is assisting in the hosting of the Global Enterprise Challenge with Enterprise New Zealand Trust, which manages the New Zealand programme. And while this is the first time North Shore has hosted the Global Enterprise Challenge, New Zealand teams have won the event on two occasions in the five years the event has been operating.

“The Global Enterprise Challenge is effectively the international arm of the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) that we host for nine North Shore and Rodney schools, on behalf of Enterprise New Zealand Trust,” explained Enterprise North Shore’s co-ordinator of the YES programme, Judy von Weichardt.

“We’re particularly pleased that North Shore has been chosen as the host for New Zealand’s Global Enterprise Challenge,” says Ms von Weichardt. “As the pinnacle of the Young Enterprise Scheme that we host locally, it’s a tremendously exciting event for our students to be involved in. It is also a great opportunity for all our teams to compete on an international stage.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media