By Charlotte Avery
How does New Zealand build a stronger, more productive economy? We need successful, innovative enterprises – and we need smart, resilient people to initiate them. Entrepreneurs are essential to a competitive economy; they innovate, accelerate change and create jobs.
The number of women starting businesses has increased significantly over the past 25 years but a lack of entrepreneurship education focused on girls remains a barrier to their success.
We’re breaking down that barrier for our girls with our new Enterprise Hub, located in the heart of the Commerce and Business area at our Market Road campus. It will be a classroom for some of our senior classes, and an open space for younger students to explore ideas of entrepreneurship. The Enterprise Hub represents a safe place for girls to think creatively and innovatively. It’s designed specifically for this purpose, with write-on-wipe-off desks, whiteboards, and flexible spaces. It will be a place for collaboration, design engineering and tinkering.
Fostering an entrepreneurial mindset
School is about more than simply cerebral learning for academic achievement and passing exams. It’s also about wider personal and social growth through experiential learning, developing character and grit. The Enterprise Hub is a resource for our girls to grow their wider skillset, find their own voices and get exposure to non-traditional employment options.
An entrepreneurial mindset means being resilient, resourceful and focused on finding solutions even in challenging conditions. Research has found that teaching entrepreneurship to high school students leads to improved skills across these areas:
- collaboration
- opportunity recognition
- critical thinking
- problem-solving
Having an entrepreneurial mindset is a powerful tool for anyone, regardless of whether they start a business. In a VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous), how we work and do business is constantly changing. Our girls need to be ready to evolve, to consider new opportunities and to keep pushing forward when conditions become challenging. By building resilience and fostering collaboration, the Enterprise Hub fits perfectly with our SERVICE values: spirit, excellence, resilience, valour, integrity, collaboration and empathy.
Entrepreneurship improves outcomes for girls
The Hub and everything in it have been funded through the extraordinary generosity of our parents, via our Gifted and Amazing Fund. And not only have parents funded the Hub, they will also be one of its most valuable resources. We will be inviting successful parents, alumni and business owners to inspire our girls.
This is a proven strategy for improving girls’ outcomes: a Dutch study found that girls aged 13 to 16 who had exposure to entrepreneurs stayed in the education system longer and were less likely to have a low-paying job in the future. An entrepreneurial mindset has also been found to help students feel more positive about their future career success.
We launched the hub with an incredibly inspirational business leader, Anna Mowbray, whose success highlights the positive impact entrepreneurs can have on our economy. As the Co-Founder of the billion-dollar company ZURU, her achievements enabled her to play a pivotal role in supporting New Zealand during the pandemic by importing essential PPE. She is now the CEO and Founder of ZEIL shaking up the recruitment industry and a founding co-owner of Auckland FC.
Anna said “It was awesome visiting the school, meeting the students, and opening the Enterprise Hub! The girls are super lucky to have a resource like this. Learning skills like problem-solving and creative thinking are key in today’s world. I’m excited to see these students grow into women who thrive globally, start their own businesses, and bring fresh ideas to life!”
Going for growth
In his first speech of 2025, the Prime Minister emphasised the significance of growth and competition. “We need a lot less no and a lot more less”, he added, noting that he wants Aotearoa New Zealand to be a place where kids can create cutting-edge companies and commercialise brilliant ideas.
The Enterprise Hub is a safe space for girls to try out not only their brilliant ideas, but their bad ideas too! It’s the perfect place for them to innovate and problem-solve without judgement, honing their ideas and skills in a wholly supportive environment. Thanks to support from our fantastic parents, we now have a dedicated space for fostering an entrepreneurial mindset – one that will set our girls up for success in their tertiary education, workplaces and communities.
Here are some thoughts from our Year 12 and 13 students about the Enterprise Hub:
When I found out I was going to be one of the commerce students lucky enough to utilise the new Enterprise Hub in 2025 I was very excited! Sure enough, the Enterprise Hub has proven to be a great place for collaboration and innovation. I have two classes here per day, and in each I’ve felt more connected to my peers, plus, the open environment makes it easy to collaborate and share ideas. As I continue to take a keen interest in commerce this year, I expect the Enterprise Hub will be a great place to host Young Enterprise meetings and case competition discussions! I can’t wait to see what this space helps to create this year and beyond.
Shanaiya Singh-Ali (Year 13)
The Enterprise Hub is a new addition to the school and has been truly beneficial for me. We have our IB business management class in the Enterprise Hub, and the bright and open layout has made it a great environment for both individual work as well as group projects. I’m also incredibly looking forward to making use of this space as Young Enterprise starts up for the year. It will be good to be in an environment specifically designed for such activities and surrounded by others with similar interests!
Zaya Walker (Year 13)
The enterprise HUB is a beautiful new space that I have found inspires me to work harder and share my work with the class more. The room feels so well considered, from the wall decals to the seating options, and so fitting for the whole subject of business overall.
Victoria Hart (Year 13)
The new Enterprise Hub is an exciting new space open for fellow commerce students like me. The setup of the room, including whiteboard tables and booth seats, creates an engaging work environment that helps encourage enterprise and collaboration between my classmates and me. I love how easily we can all share our ideas and brainstorm flexibly while also building teamwork and effective communication skills. This space creates a realistic and work-inspired feel to our learning, which makes me feel prepared for future challenges outside of the school.
Charlotte Flanagan (Year 12)