This week, Startup Dunedin popped along to the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) Regional Finals to cheer on the latest secondary-student-led startups coming out of Ōtepoti!
YES provides an opportunity for Year 12-13 students in New Zealand to develop and run their own businesses, hands-on. This year’s regional winners will travel to Wellington to compete in the national finals.
Previous Dunedin-based winners include Abalro Health (who are also Distiller Incubator alum) in 2021 and Sole Haircare in 2022. We were also lucky enough to hear from last year’s regional winner, Abloom Tea, who shared insights on how the YES program has supported their business journey—including their amazing trip to Japan to learn about entrepreneurship overseas!
The judging panel for the finals included representatives from each major sponsor this year; Maree Thyne from Otago Business School, Nigel Smellie from Findex, Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich, David Young from Polson Higgs, and Mike Collins from Business South. They certainly had their work cut out for them this year—keep reading to learn more about the emerging Dunedin startups that crossed the YES stage.
Tubie Time – Queen’s High School
Tubie Time is Olivia Adie’s social enterprise creating fun, patterned medical-grade hyperfix tape designed for people who need nasal tubes!
They operate on a very cool "buy one, donate one" model, where if you purchase one, Tubie Time will make sure another one is donated to a NZ hospital for someone else who needs it. The inspiration came when Olivia noticed a toddler in hospital who was having absolutely none of his tube and kept ripping it out. Olivia popped a sticker on top, which stopped him from pulling his tube out!
Tubie Time has already sold 207 units, offering both pre-set designs and custom options, and are collaborating with four hospitals across the motu. Olivia won Business South’s CEO of the Year award at the YES regional finals - we can’t wait to see the next step in her journey.
Pamper Princess – Otago Girls’ High School
Pamper Princess offers fully mobile birthday party services, targeting parents who want a stress-free celebration for their children.
Their services include party setup, decorations, and pamper products; eliminating the hassle of transporting kids to and from an outside venue.
With a focus on reducing single-use waste, they only dispose of items when hygiene is a concern! Pamper Princess has secured six sales so far and is carving themselves a great local niche - watch this space.
Culcards – Cromwell College
Culcards has developed a unique deck of standard playing cards, with each suit representing a different culture: Philippines (Clubs), Samoa (Spades), Fiji (Hearts), and Māori (Diamonds).
Each card in the deck features a phrase from its respective culture, complete with a dyslexia-friendly font, phonetic pronunciations, and translations.
The aim is to improve language skills while celebrating cultural diversity. So far, they’ve sold 46 decks of these educational cards. Mahi pai, vinaka vakalevu, magaling, malo lava!
Second Harvest Sips – Cromwell College
Second Harvest Sips have been taking on a massive challenge - addressing the 6,165 tonnes of waste fruit from local orchards from fruits that don't meet commercial standards!
They’ve created healthy, delicious and easy-to-use smoothie packs using this "rejected" (but still perfectly fine to eat) fruit, helping to reduce environmental impact.
Not only that, but any leftover produce goes to local worm farms, further minimising waste. They’ve already been a smash hit, too; their smoothie packs completely sold out at their very first market test! Since then they’ve sold 166 packs and are looking into partnering with Wonky Box.
Purei Learning – Bayfield High School
Purei Learning creates educational resources for teaching te reo Māori, including a charades-style game called Whakaari. Their products are engaging, fun, and easy to access - most of us already know the rules, after all!
Toitū Museum has officially stocked them (then sold out and re-stocked them!), and they’ve received a $5,000 grant from the King’s Trust. They’ve made a massive 181 sales so far and are now looking into expansion alongside Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Impressive stuff!
Sea Sensory – Otago Girls’ High School
Sea Sensory creates handmade sensory boards designed for neurodivergent individuals.
These boards come with a QR code linking to a free soothing playlist, and are all made locally to minimise their carbon footprint! They’ve been really involved with their local community too, partnering with local organisations like Cargill Enterprises to support their mission.
Sea Sensory is active on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and their website.
The standard of pitches this year was exceptional and the range of ideas was amazing, with each team putting in really clear amount of effort and hard work.
So… the winner for the evening, and the team going off to Wellington for the National finals? Congratulations are in order for Second Harvest Sips from Cromwell College!
Their pitch stood out for its strong focus on sustainability, ease of use, great pitch, and the team’s excellent initiative in seeking out partnerships with national businesses like Wonky Box! Second Harvest Sips will be representing Dunedin on the national stage soon, so make sure you keep your eyes on them.
A big thanks to all the teachers who supported student entrepreneurship in Dunedin. A huge congratulations to all the students for their hard work and achievements—We’re excited to see where this journey takes you next!