Young people feeling inspired by the future
Festival draws thinkers of the future to plan for tomorrow
This weekend more than 1000 youth will come together to ponder, discuss and dissect the issues facing New Zealand at the Festival for the Future in Auckland.
Now in its sixth year, the annual conference for Kiwis aged 13 to 30-ish is organised by youth-run social enterprise Inspiring Stories.
About 20 young leaders from not-for-profit and commercial organisations will speak on topics ranging from mental health to equality.
The New Zealand Herald asked five of the speakers how to build a better New Zealand.
Rab Heath, 29, Auckland
Entrepreneur, co-founder of protein powder supplier Whey Cartel and tech venture Haptly.
“I think the most meaningful change that we can make for New Zealand is by our peers supporting our peers, young innovative people supporting each other.
“There’s a lot of tall poppy syndrome in New Zealand.
“If you’re successful at something you’re praised to no “What drives me personally is thinking around how the decisions that we make today impact seven generations away.
“Thinking beyond us — we’re kaitiaki here, we’re guardians. end but if it looks like you haven’t succeeded yet or that you might fail, it’s usually you’re eviscerated, to a certain extent.
“I think the best thing we can do as a society is support the mavericks and the change makers and encourage people to try again when they fail, rather than cutting them down more.”
Bop Murdoch, 24, Wellington
Theatre graduate, co-founder of group CoLiberate — mission: to be “the Les Mills of mental health”.
“We just have to step into a more confident place responding to mental distress. We have to eliminate the stigma around mental health and acknowledge that mental experiences are everyone’s experi-
“There are questions that we need to ask besides, ‘How do we get people engaged in politics?’
“I mean, the question ences and human.
“We have to upskill. We have to outgrow this whole kaupapa of distancing ourselves from mental distress or from coming at it from fear we’re going to get it wrong.
“We need to learn to support each other in ways that are empowering for both parties so that we can all feel better a lot of the time, be more present and be ourselves.”
Lisa King, 40, Auckland
Chief executive and co-founder of social enterprise Eat My Lunch, which for each lunch bought, donates one lunch to a child who’d otherwise go without.
“It’s really great see young people in universities and even in schools teaching the younger generation about to that we’re all should be the why. How is our country doing in terms of the health and wellbeing of our children and young people.
“In terms of housing, in terms of education, in terms of [having] one of the highest rates in the world of young people dying of suicide.
“Those kinds of things, things that are impacting our generation. And when we grow out of that generation, will continue to impact the new young people.
“As young people we inherit the consequences of the decisions made today.” entrepreneurship and also social entrepreneurship — this idea that business can actually do good and make money at the same time, it’s not one or the other.
“It’s actually the responsibility of businesses and individuals to contribute and help those most vulnerable in our community together. It’s really great, particularly when they’re young, to start that conversation.
“We have a lot of parents who want to bring their kids in here to show them that not everyone lives [the way they do] or has the things they do and you need to think beyond yourself and come up with solutions that benefit everyone.”