Hamish hits heights on global summits

BUDDING entrepreneurs can follow in the footsteps of whiz kid Hamish Finlayson with nominations open for the Philip Leong Youth Program.

The Townsville boy was a major grant winner of last year’s youth program and has become something of an international star after being selected to attend the 2016 Global Entrepreneurs Summit in the US.

He has now been invited to this year’s summit in Hyderabad, India, next month.

Hamish has high functioning autism and has created several apps for smartphones and tablets.

His father Graeme Finlayson said Hamish pitched a concept to the summit’s 2017 organisers for a 3D virtual reality app to help people on the autism spectrum deal with road safety.

Mr Finlayson said after the pitch the summit team had decided to invite him, while his application was also supported by US and Indian companies with some entrepreneurs reaching out to him on Facebook, encouraging him to apply.

“At the end of GES 2016 officials from the Indian consulate in San Francisco asked him to seriously think about coming the Hyderabad,” Mr Finlayson said.

“Some entrepreneurs reached out to him on Facebook. It was nice to have that gesture.”

Grants of up to $ 10,000 are offered through the Philip Leong Youth Program. They are available to people aged from 15 to 26.

The grants can help with the cost of study, rent, tutoring and textbooks or assist with the cost of personal development or with a business start- up.

Mr Finlayson said the support of the Philip Leong Youth Program and other awards had helped Hamish with the expenses of developing apps and travel.

“It’s an incredibly important start to help you get the things you need,” Mr Finlayson said. “It just opens up opportunities.” Nominations for the youth pro- gram are open until Saturday, November 25, with applications available at www. philipleong. com. au or on the program’s Facebook page.

Meanwhile, Hamish is preparing for another international adventure.

He told the Bulletin he was “pretty excited”, looking forward to seeing summit friends and learning about India and its “cool technology”.

“I want to hear what the Indian Prime Minister and Ivanka Trump ( who will speak at the summit) have to say about being an entrepreneur,” Hamish said.

While in India, he hopes to visit the Telangana Hub or T- Hub, which is in Hyderabad and is that nation’s largest incubator for start- ups.