Search on for young Kiwi superheroes to create a better NZ

Search on for young Kiwi superheroes to create a better New Zealand

AUCKLAND, WELLINGTON, AND CHRISTCHURCH - Young New Zealanders who want to change the world are urged to apply for a free place in a summer programme to help them do just that.

The Live the Dream social entrepreneurship accelerator, now in its third year, will kick off in Auckland, Wellington, and for the first time, Christchurch, on November 30 2015. Run by the nationwide charity, Inspiring Stories, which is led by 2015 Young New Zealander of the Year Guy Ryan, Live the Dream supports 18-30 year olds develop an idea to change the world.

Places are free to successful applicants, with the $3000 cost to put a young person through the programme covered by Government and corporate funding.

Guy Ryan created Live the Dream on the basis that young Kiwis are creative, innovative, and perfectly placed, at the age and stage of life they’re at, to take a leap and throw everything at trying to tackle one of the big problems our planet faces. Ryan said, “Social entrepreneurship - the idea of using traditional business models to solve social problems, with a responsibility to purpose before profit - is an invaluable skill set for our young people to develop.

“Employers are increasingly valuing jobseekers who know how to innovate in response to problems, and can help business become more ethical, transparent, and beneficial to society. Consumers are demanding better practice and more social good from our businesses, and this summer, a new crop of young Kiwis will learn, in depth, how to create that social good.

“They will also leave the programme with an idea that could benefit their communities, country, or even world.”

Up to 30 applicants will be accepted to Live the Dream in each of Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch - and are encouraged to apply as part of a 2-4 person team. Applicants simply need a strong sense of the social or environmental problem they want to tackle - they don’t need to know what the solution is yet. Successful applicants will be taken through a nine-week process to explore the issue in depth, come up with a venture model to help solve it, validate and test their idea, and look to launching it at the end of the programme.

Mentors and guest speakers on the programme include social enterprise trailblazers, captains of industry, and other New Zealand leaders in the for-profit and not for-profit sectors.

Past participants in Live the Dream are still working on the ventures they created to do social good - and some are even running them full-time, such as Bonnie Howland, an alum of Live the Dream whose Mascara for Sight will help cure treatable blindness in the Pacific Islands.

The programme runs from November 30, 2015 until February 19, 2016.

Applications close on Sunday October 4, 2015.

More information and application details can be found at: http://livethedream.org.nz

Interviews are available with Live the Dream creator Guy Ryan, past participants in the programme, or applicants for this year’s intake.

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