These young guns are big fish of tomorrow
AN event platform aimed at locals which has been described as TripAdvisor meets Eventbrite has won the inaugural Big Fish innovation weekend for young people in Cairns.
The parents of Oscar Lupton, 15, Aoife O’Toole, 17, and Jason Blee, 15, encouraged the youngsters to take part in last weekend’s event as a way to make friends and build on their entrepreneurial tendencies.
The trio were over the moon their pitch, YE Cairns, was selected as the winning entry, which will now mean they can take it to the statewide Young Starters’ Competition.
The Young Starters’ Competition can help connect budding entrepreneurs with leading innovators, develop business skills and help get a start-up idea ready for investors.
St Monica’s College student Aoife said YE Cairns filled a glaring need in the city by advertising events for local young people.
“In taken Cairns, tourism over advertising, has so events for locals don’t get as much attention. That’s not just my opinion, because people answering our surveys said the same,” she said.
“Absolutely, I want to take this through to completion.
“It’d take a while, probably by the end of the year.”
Jason, a student at the Hinterland Steiner School, said there was not enough cheap or free events advertised in the city.
Cairns State High student Oscar is also keen to follow this idea through to completion for the career freedom the opportunity offers.
“I’ve always kind of liked the idea of self-employment,” he said.
Now the group has received an indication their idea could work, there are plenty of things on the to-do list for the next few months, including workspace, professional advice, cash for marketing campaigns, and support from local authorities and business.
Federally funded Young Entrepreneurs Project facilitator Tara Diversi was on hand to assist at the Big Fish event and said she had no doubts “the future looks bright” after meeting participants.
Students Tamanna Dahal, Grace Harbidge, Nadia Low, Taylor Maclean and Sam Winborn-Sharp placed second with their idea Bully Knot.
The program monitors teen chat conversations using artificial intelligence to notify parents when their child is being bullied on social media.
The Bully Knot concept, if developed, would be able to connect to all major social media platforms and filter key words and threats, sending results to parents, schools and other authorities.