Our Enterprise Programme

Our Introduction to Enterprise and Enterprise Programme have been engineered to respond to New Zealand’s unique economic, social, and cultural context and to empower young New Zealanders with an entrepreneurial mindset and enterprise skills.

We work alongside rangatahi aged 18-30 to grow their ability and vision to ‘make a living’ and value their own contribution to a thriving Aotearoa economy for themselves, their whānau, and their communities.

Enterprise Programme

The King’s Trust Aotearoa New Zealand runs a number of different programmes to assist with getting young people to where they want to go.

Before we launched in Aotearoa New Zealand, we travelled the country and asked young people what they thought about their future.

Young people told us they were concerned about their prospects, and we saw that as an opportunity to support taiohi wanting to test their ideas, and either launch a business or explore getting a job. We believe supporting young people to investigate entrepreneurship is going to make the greatest difference to Aotearoa.

The Enterprise Programme supports young people aged 18-30 and has four key dimensions; a short training workshop, mentoring, funding, and networking that sees alumni stay connected and continue to be supporting by us and each other.

Our Enterprise Programme has four distinct elements:

Training

Intensive and immersive short courses either face-to-face or online, infusing self-awareness and technical skills with design thinking, business literacy, marketing and product development, and delivered in a modular way to respond to the needs of local young people.

Mentoring

We’re building a network of experienced business experts to voluntarily offer both long-term one-on-one support and short-burst specialist advice for our alumni as they embark on their business development journeys.

Networking

Our growing network of Enterprise graduates are benefiting from linking with each other and discovering new opportunities through masterclasses and their on-going connection with The King’s Trust Aotearoa.

Funding

In May 2022, we launched our He Kākano seed grants for young entrepreneurs ready to test their business idea; launch their venture; or expand their reach.

To date 110 young people have been funded from the He Kākano seed fund. A full alumni mapping is underway and we look forward to sharing these results.