P3 Foundation Media Release July 1 2013

P3 Foundation’s Social Enterprise Competition gets support from Save the Children

P3 Foundation’s Social Enterprise Competition is now able to offer a new prize of $1500 for the best New Zealand-focused social innovation thanks to Save the Children New Zealand.

P3 Foundation is a New Zealand development organisation, led by youth and focused on eradicating extreme poverty. The competition develops social entrepreneurship in New Zealand high school students.

Social Enterprise Competition national project manager Simran Poonia says the prize, which will be presented yearly from now on, is a huge boost.

“We’re very excited to be able to offer an additional prize for a business idea that best addresses a social issue here in New Zealand.

“Last year’s winners, Lunches4Less, designed a programme to teach kids how to make cheap yet healthy lunches. The first programme ran successfully in Mangere in April and the team are planning to do more programmes in South Auckland. Save the Children’s prize will specifically recognise this type of local social entrepreneurship.”

The Lunches4Less participants say the competition gave the group a chance to make a change at home.

“The families in our community inspired us to make a change. As young primary school kids, Lunches4Less would definitely have helped not only ourselves, but our families too.”

The competition gets groups of four students from years 11, 12 and 13 to identify a social issue relating to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. They are mentored as they come up with a practical solution. Regional winners go on to the national finals conference, where they can win one of two prizes up to $1500 to implement their idea, as well as ongoing support to make it happen.

Registrations are open until July 5 2013. Registration forms for participants and mentors, as well as further information, can be found on the P3 Foundation website: http://www.p3foundation.org/sec.

ENDS

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