Esmond mentoring a student at i48

Esmond giving an opening address at final pitch night

Dear entrepreneurs, guardians, teachers, mentors and partners:While the beginning of a new year often brings hope, we witnessed the continued effects of a public health and economic crisis.These are the times when optimism, hope and action are required. Our mission remained the same throughout 2021: to empower high school students across Australia to find solutions to problems they care about through entrepreneurship. With this year’s state of affairs, we were moved by the students behind ‘Coda’: a safe space for young women to share and open up about their experiences of domestic violence and sexual assault. We were inspired by the students behind ‘Preemo’: a specialised platform to help businesses connect and promote each other amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. And we were humbled by the students behind ‘Anytime Anywhere’: an organisation that aims to provide educational resources to schools in developing countries to close the education gap. The students behind ‘Coda’, ‘Preemo’ and ‘Anytime Anywhere’ were just 9 of 500 high school entrepreneurs we had the opportunity to work with throughout 2021.I’m also proud of this team. Proud of what we’ve been able to achieve this year for our students and our wider community. On top of delivering ‘Initiate 48’: our flagship 48-hour hackathon, and ‘Startup 101’: our in-school entrepreneurship program; our pursuit of democratising entrepreneurial education led to the creation of ‘School Entrepreneur of the Year’ alongside Finder: our nation-wide business building tournament, ‘The Entrepreneurial Mindset’: our original podcast, and our online clothing store. Each initiative’s purpose and impact are outlined throughout this report.The world is at an inflection point. How we plan and deliver secondary education will be instrumental in defining what comes next. Over the next decade, the growth of Australia’s start-up and technology ecosystem is projected to double. We are well-positioned to drive this growth by building and delivering the services that empower every Australian high school student to find solutions to problems they care about through entrepreneurship.Esmond Ye
Chief Executive Officer
November 25, 2021

UTS STARTUP AWARDS: WINNERS!

We are proud to announce that this year, Generation Entrepreneur won the 2021 'Best UTS Startup' award for Social Impact!UTS Startups is currently home to over 300 technology-enabled startups and is fast becoming the most well-recognised and collaborative community for Australian entrepreneurs and founders. The UTS Startups Awards are an annual celebration of the incredible technology-enabled startups at UTS specialising in areas of health tech to product innovation.A big thank you to the UTS Startups team (Murray Hurps, David Lt, Emma Earley, Phoebe Gee and Katherine O'Donoghue to name just a few) and the judges (Attila Brungs, Peter Ralph and Joanne Jacobs) for providing us with this empowering opportunity and platform to showcase our impact and our community to a global audience.Our mission is to one day empower high schoolers all around the world, through entrepreneurship, to say, "I have the power to change this world for the better".

WE LAUNCHED OUR OWN PODCAST

This year we launched our very own podcast, The Entrepreneurial Mindset! This is a place where young aspiring entrepreneurs can explore all the characteristics that make a quality entrepreneur. Season 1 featured current and alumni Generation Entrepreneur members including, Esmond Ye, Gabriel Guedes, Hannah Ahn and many more focusing on the values of an entrepreneur and how to build a business venture. The Entrepreneurial Mindset journey will continue in 2022 and beyond with new and exciting phenomenons!

• Listen to our podcast

WE LAUNCHED OUR MERCH STORE

2021 also marked the launch of the Generation Entrepreneur Merchandise store. Through our merch store, we hope to spread our values and beliefs of living passionately, serving others, and performing with high standards. We also aim to inspire the youth in supporting young entrepreneurs. The 1st Collection, “The Initiative” is about empowering the next generation of creatives and changemakers to solve problems they care about. 2022 will bring additional collections that will further help foster the next generation of entrepreneurs.

• Check out our merch

WE WERE FEATURED ON LIVE TV

We had the pleasure of talking about our mission on live TV on Startup Daily. Check out a segment of the interview on the right!

Social Impact Winner

The Entrepreneurial Mindset

The Generation Entrepreneur Merch Store

Our Head of Programs, Mehak Bokhari, on Startup Daily

STARTUP 101

Startup 101 is Generation Entrepreneur’s one-day entrepreneurship program for high school students, capable of being delivered in both an in-person and online setting. The program is designed, and frequently updated, to inspire, excite and empower students to find solutions to problems they care about solving.During the program, students work in teams to create their own start-up by brainstorming, researching, designing and pitching their ideas throughout the day. Startup 101 provides students with the learning opportunity to develop and apply creative thinking and critical thinking skills, leadership and public speaking skills within a high-pressure environment - all within a day!In 2021, we expanded program delivery to high schools across Australia, with the majority of our workshops held online outside of NSW - taking us one step closer to our mission of empowering high school students across Australia to find solutions to problems they care about through entrepreneurship.

WHAT WE'RE PROUD OF

- Startup101 Workshops held across 3 states
- More than 75% of students are interested in pursuing startups
- Startup101 programs impacted 374 students & 19 high schools

Startup 101 at St George Girls High School

hear from students about their experience

INITIATE 48: APRIL

One of the first events held in 2021 was our flagship hackathon, Initiate 48, at Canva in Sydney, NSW! Starting Friday afternoon and running until Sunday night, we had 52 participants who built their business ideas in teams from the ground up, many of whom had never met their co-founders before the event. On Sunday night, the participants presented their business ideas to our judges: Jacqui McAleer (Head of Delivery, GMS Technology at American Express), Jack Leung (M&A at Finder) and Victor Zhang (Director of FloorVenue, Co-founder of Jellybean Lab) in the Final Pitches.Participants began Initiate 48 with an elevator pitch of potential start-up ideas and formed teams with other like minded individuals. Following this, we held a series of workshops:
- Problem Identification to help students identify their problems
- Customer Development to help students understand who they are targeting within their identified problem space
- Product Development to provide students with the tools to solve the problems they’ve identified for their end users through the development of their solution
- Lean Business Canvas to walk our students through the different components to be considered when running a business, including costs, distribution channels and revenue
- Pitching to prepare teams to pitch their business ideas at the end of Initiate 48, with presentation advice and practice pitch sessions.Over the course of 48 hours, students received feedback and advice during mentor sessions with industry experts from companies including Finder, Canva, Westpac, Uber, DigitalMaas, and Talent 100 among many others.The winning team was Q Vault - a start-up dedicated to digitizing how lockers are used at large events! Customers are able to book lockers ahead of time and enjoy the event/venue without the hurdle of finding a locker in a suitable location on the day.

WHAT WE'RE PROUD OF

- Over 50 student participants
- First event at Canva
- 12 mentors from 9 different companies
- 9 amazing startup ideas

The winning team from Initiate 48 April

i48 at Canva Event Space

Student pitching practice

i48 April 2021 cohort

ABOUT THE EVENT

In 2021, we partnered with Finder, Australia’s largest comparison site, to launch and deliver School Entrepreneur of the Year, Australia’s inaugural nationwide high-school entrepreneurship tournament. Our event saw students from all over Australia competing for the chance to be crowned School Entrepreneur of the Year 2021.

Round 1: Startup 101

The first round of School Entrepreneur of the Year consisted of our face-to-face Startup 101 workshops and our virtual Startup 101 workshops at different schools around Australia. In these Startup 101 workshops, teams created their start-ups by learning about problem identification, market research, product development and pitching. Top teams from each Startup 101 workshop were selected to progress to Round 2.

Round 2: Qualifiers Competition Day

In Round 2, the nominated teams from Round 1 participated in a one-day virtual competition. In this round, teams were guided through additional workshops designed to build on Round 1, focusing on further product development, financials, and traction. Industry mentors from Finder and Generation Entrepreneur provided guidance, support and valuable feedback for each team. Teams ended the day by pitching their new and improved start-up to our panel of judges.

Round 3: The Finale

The top 10 teams from Round 2 were invited to a 2-day immersive event to take their start-up to the next level whilst battling it out to be crowned School Entrepreneur of the Year 2021. Teams were presented with personalised ‘crisis statements’ to reflect and replicate circumstances and obstacles they may face as their start-up builds traction. Teams were guided by industry experts from Finder throughout the 2 days to assist them with their solutions before presenting their final 10 minute pitch to the CEO of Finder, Frank Restuccia and Head of Program Management, Shirley Liu. Congratulations to Team Gilgamesh from Girraween High School, Sydney, NSW for being crowned School Entrepreneur of the Year 2021!

Virtual Startup 101 recap

Virtual Startup 101 participant interview

School Entrepreneur of the Year Round 3

Key Achievements

- First Australia-wide School Entrepreneurship tournament
- Finder's Innovation Fund provided access to underprivileged schools and participants
- Prize pool of $1.5K, Generation Entrepreneur & Finder merchandise, and industry level mentoring
- Over 30 teams in Round 2
- 374 students in total
- 10 incredible startup pitches in Round 3