A growing number of Pacific students around New Zealand are saying “yes” to being involved in the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) and gaining entrepreneurial skills.
As part of the YES programme, students set up and run a real business, and each YES company creates their product or service and gets to experience what it is like to go to market.
Nationwide, there are 485 Pacific students participating in YES within 92 Pacific companies this year.
In the coming weeks and months, the Ministry for Pacific Peoples (MPP) will support the Pacific companies by showcasing Pacific companies involved in YES.
This will help boost the teams’ profiles and hopefully help turn followers into customers of Pacific companies’ YES products.
Meet Pacific YES team HandyM8tz from Mangere College.
Run by a dedicated and passionate group of enthusiastic Pacific young women, the YES company HandyM8tz is making reusable bags for fruit and vegetables.
The company’s aim is to reduce plastic use in supermarkets, particularly in their fresh produce departments.
HandyM8tz products are made of 100 percent polyester fabric, which is washable and biodegradable.
Follow HandyM8tz on Instagram: @HandyM8tz.
Visit MPP to see how the Ministry supports YES.