Young entrepreneurs put their ideas to test
FIVE of Cairns’ brightest young minds have secured themselves the chance to compete against 15 other Queenslanders in an innovation bootcamp.
Oscar Lupton, Kaitlain Goulding, Cherie Gade, Brody Oxenham and Nadia Low will travel to Brisbane on Friday to take part in the Young Starters Weekend.
The group will take part in a pitch bootcamp with the hope of being one of the 10 selected to compete in a Pitch Breakfast held on July 23.
Prizes include an entrepreneurial skills program for their school, up to $5000 for a startup, access to a co-working space and participation in the Start-up Catalyst Youth Mission. HONOUR: Bendigo Bank regional community manager Ross Growcott presents Cardwell Community Bank director Lauran Baillie with an award celebrating 10 years as a volunteer director. munities across Australia. “This year marks 20 years of
Ms Gade hopes to develop an app providing a service she describes as a cross between Uber and online shopping.
“My pitch is about an app which makes online shopping quicker, faster and easier to use so you don’t have to wait days for delivery. The items you buy are delivered within the hour,” the 21-year-old said.
“I want to start small just in Cairns for now, branch out to the suburbs, and then if it works, continuing across the state.
“In my mind I see big chain stores like Coles and Woolworths, liquor stores, chemists, and down the track hardware and specialty stores being involved. Banks’ community banking model. To celebrate this milestone, all community banks across Australia will be meeting in Bendigo, Victoria, to attend the National Community Bank conference later this year,” he said.
“The Babinda event also celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Cardwell Community Bank and Mission Beach Community Bank and the 10year anniversary of Cardwell Community Bank volunteer director Lauran Baillie.”
In a survey recently completed by Roy Morgan, Bendigo Bank was named the third most trusted brand in Australia. I’m stage.”
The Young Entrepreneurs Project events and marketing professional has just started a criminology degree and hopes to learn more about building a reliable app.
“It’s absolutely amazing for Cairns to have five people attending, especially because of Cairns’ low youth employment rate,” Ms Gade said.
“It’s good to see young people doing something different and doing something for themselves. I’ve always been interested in entrepreneurship and starting my own business.
“The appeal is just in doing something different every day. still at the idea I get to see people’s lives change and get to see the happiness from people enjoying what I do.”
YEP business development manager Kate Montgomery said the Young Starters Weekend was “a fantastic opportunity for the young and innovative youth leaders of our region to connect and develop their business and startup skills”.
Teenagers Oscar Lupton, Aoife O’Toole and Jason Blee won the inaugural Big Fish innovation weekend for young people in Cairns in April with an idea for an event platform aimed at locals described as TripAdvisor meets Eventbrite.