A NOTE FROM JACK, FORMER CEO
Jack giving an opening address at final pitch night
Jack presenting a lean business canvas workshop at i48
Hi there!It is with immense pride that I am able to introduce the 2020 annual report for the Generation Entrepreneur Group. As the group confronted the challenges of this year, we are delighted to report a year of progress on our mission to inspire a Generation of Entrepreneurs.2020 was a year of many firsts for Generation Entrepreneur, from adapting to the “work from home” environment, to creating online programs to be delivered into schools, it has been through the challenges of 2020 that we have become more empathetic with our students. We’re reminded of the resilience that young people across Australia, and the world, have displayed - their ability to stay strong and adapt through 2020 inspired us to continue working towards our mission of making a real difference for educational outcomes in Australia.The highlight of our year is always stepping back to recognise and highlight the achievement and impact of our work with students around Australia. This year, we had 459 students attend our programs from across 30 different schools - these students, despite being thrown in a difficult environment, chose to remain committed to their pursuit of education. These 459 students have reminded Generation Entrepreneur of our role, and the role of other passionate organisations like ours, in playing a part in facilitating inspiring educational opportunities.As we look towards 2021, we are reminded of our history. Six years ago, Generation Entrepreneur as a concept was not started in a big meeting room — it was started in the playgrounds of a high school, it started in the living rooms of family homes, in noisy cafes all across Sydney.We started this organisation because we believe that a quality education — one that is filled with passion and filled with inspiration — is the type of education that young people deserve.We hope you enjoy reading through our 2020 report and we can’t wait for 2021.Jack Leung
Former CEO, Generation Entrepreneur
2020 IN NUMBERS
SCHOOL PROGRAMS
STARTUP 101
2020 was a year of immense growth and change; a year over which our Startup 101 program evolved tremendously.Startup 101 is Generation Entrepreneur’s flagship one-day incursion workshop for high schools. The program is designed to inspire, excite and empower students to tackle problems in their communities that they are passionate about.Throughout the day, the students work in teams to participate in a business building competition - brainstorming, researching, designing and presenting their ideas.Startup 101 provides a one-of-a-kind project based learning opportunity for the students where they can develop and apply their creativity, critical thinking, leadership and public speaking skills under a high-pressure environment, all in their own classrooms.This year, we have adapted the program to not only be run in person, but also online to meet our different schools' needs during the online schooling period.
WHAT WE'RE PROUD OF
Our Startup 101 programs impacted 289 students in 7 high schools in 2020. On top of this, our average student satisfaction rate is 4.3/5!
What did you like the most about today's program?“Working together as a group whilst getting great feedback along the way”
Jordan Flynn“Getting to look into addressing every important aspect of a product, including the problem and preexisting solutions, in order to implement it.”
Moriah College“I liked how the presenters were interesting and energetic, they spoke in a language we could understand.”
Eliya Adler
Startup 101 at Seven Hills High School
Thank you card from Moriah College
STARTUP+
Startup+ is Generation Entrepreneur’s inaugural online program developed for high schools.The original goal for Startup+ was to provide students with an engaging program while they were home-schooled. However, the potential is so much more. It’s about proving online education as an effective means of teaching students about entrepreneurship, which will ultimately allow Generation Entrepreneur to reach more students.We hosted the content on our online learning management system, Thinkific, where students could access our learning modules, videos, quizzes and feedback. We also created a Microsoft Teams space so the students could reach out to the Generation Entrepreneur team at any time and connect with their fellow participants.The pilot program was run in partnership with Baulkham Hills High School (BHHS), an academically selective, co-educational school in Sydney’s north-west. We’re excited to grow this product and accelerate our impact in the high school space.
WHAT WE'RE PROUD OF
— 74 participants
— 80% active online engagement over 8 weeks
— 29% of students said they are interested in pursuing a startup business in the future
A NOTE FROM THE CAREERS ADVISOR FROM BHHS
"I’m very grateful for the flexibility that Generation Entrepreneur have shown in co-designing the program in a way that suited the school. Startup+ has increased the students’ interest in business and entrepreneurship and as a result, they have started a new Business Club in the school! I am always excited to work with Generation Entrepreneur for their passion, their enthusiasm to share knowledge and the fact that they really connect with the students, providing them with valuable support and guidance.”
A snapshot of our entrepreneurship course hosted on Thinkific
INITIATE 48
OUR FLAGSHIP HACKATHON
Initiate 48 has been Generation Entrepreneur’s flagship event for over six years. 2020 was a trying year, where although our usual events were limited in capacity, we still ran an event at American Express as well as partnered with universities across the state to run more!
INITIATE 48: JANUARY
To kickstart 2020, we ran our flagship hackathon event, Initiate 48 at American Express. From Friday to Sunday, 41 participants worked on their own business ideas to present during Final Pitches on Sunday night.Teams started off the hackathon on Friday with a workshop on Problem Identification and Validation followed by some time to work on their ideas with their GE buddies. Then, students reassembled Saturday morning for a jam packed day with workshops on Customer Validation, Product Development and Lean Business Canvas. Participants also had the opportunity to have mentor sessions with industry professionals from companies including Finder, Westpac, American Express and Atlassian. After another workshop on Pitching and more mentoring sessions on Sunday, teams hustled to complete their final pitches.
WHAT WE'RE PROUD OF
— Over 40 students participated
— First event at American Express
— 12 mentors from 8 different companies
The winning team from Initiate 48 January
i48 at American Express
i48 Jan 2020 cohort
AUSTRALIAN INNOVATORS' CHALLENGE
OUR ONLINE PROGRAM
This year we partnered up with Finder to launch the The Australian Innovators’ Challenge 2020, a 2 week online business competition centered around the theme ‘personal finance’. We engaged 77 highschool students from NSW and Victoria by providing them with educational content and online video modules on how to start their own business, through an online learning platform.Teams had the opportunity to be mentored with industry professionals from Finder and be facilitated by GE members who guided them throughout the process. The Challenge concluded with a Final Pitch Night where the top 5 teams pitched to a panel of Finder judges including Chris Ellis (CEO), Jamie Finnegan (Global Head of Talent) and Marina Wu (Associate Product Manager).This competition allowed students to understand and tackle problems related to personal finance to create their own creative solutions. Launchpad, the winning team made up of Year 7 students from James Ruse High and Baulkham Hills High came up with an app that allowed University students to build their personal brand for recruiters to get jobs related to their educational field.
WHAT WE'RE PROUD OF
— First time involving participants from Victoria
— Youngest participants (Year 7) took 1st place
— First partnered event with Finder
Recap video of AIC 2020
Our online modules
Australian Innovators’ Challenge: Girls in Business
OUR FIRST ALL GIRLS PROGRAM
During the September holidays, our team partnered up with Finder to deliver The Australian Innovators’ Challenge: Girls in Business, a one week long all girls hackathon revolved around the theme ‘Female Empowerment’.After one busy week of online modules, mentoring sessions with the Finder crew and calls with GE buddies, the girls had the opportunity to present their final pitches during a live virtual Pitch Night. Our judging panel included industry professionals from Finder including Frank Restuccia (Founder and Co-CEO), Zahra Campbell-Avenell (Head of Publishing and Editorial) and Shirley Liu (Lead Program Manager).The winning team, Kallista, came up with a bracelet that connects to a phone app for women to discreetly contact emergency services when they are feeling unsafe. The judging panel and GE team were extremely impressed with the pitch quality from all teams.
WHAT WE'RE PROUD OF
— First all girls hackathon
— One team from every grade
— New online modules curated by our branding and program teams
2020 AIC:GIB Kick off Call
Mentor sessions with our partners at Finder
OUR COMMUNITY
OUR AMAZING MENTORS IN 2020
MENTOR MOMENTS: ISAIAH PERALTA
My experience as a mentor at Generation Entrepreneur could be defined in three words: rewarding, insightful and inspiring. Rewarding because being able to give back and helping people discover what they enjoy doing is always a bonus. It’s always insightful to see what newer generations are thinking, how they approach problems and collaborate in an ever-growing digital working world. The last word I had was inspiring; it’s inspiring to see what people are more passionate about. We tend to lose sight of that in our own working bubble, so being a mentor allows us to poke into that and unpack it a little bit, gaining a deeper understanding of their own perspective. That’s how I get inspired by it.For the future of entrepreneurship, I’ve always been a believer of a world without barriers, enabling a workforce and individuals to have equal opportunities around the world. I believe at Gen E, there is a very distinct message about being able to think in a way as an entrepreneur, being comfortable and being courageous around trying new ideas. In the future, there is more of that level of thinking in schools, that we’d be able to tap into and help students unlock that confidence to try new things and explore the world in a different way.One piece of advice I would have for any aspiring entrepreneur is from a quote I read the other week which was “When you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.” That hits home as the consequence of carrying on, we reach a tipping point of burnout where we may believe that we’re not worthy or learn to quit. Instead if we learn to slow down by a bit - we won’t learn to quit because we’re able to rest, recalibrate and go at it again.
Isaiah Peralta
Head of Distributed Team
Finder
STUDENT STORIES: GABI & SIDDHARTH
We were introduced to Gabi when she took part in our flagship hackathon Initiate 48 and Siddharth’s team earlier this year through our online Australian Innovators’ Challenge where they collaborated in a team environment to strive towards their target.This motivated team consisting of only Year 7 and Year 8 students made them our youngest competitor and impressed the judges even further through their creative and authentic solution to a common issue most of us face: Personal finance. They successfully tackled this problem through their idea of a launchpad service connecting high school students to employers, which ultimately placed them on top to win this year’s challenge. We asked the duo to chat about how their year has unfolded and what it has been like to take their experiences with Generation Entrepreneur into the world.
Gabi making an elevator pitch at our i48 event
GABI WONG
Q. What are the main influences and motivations that help you achieve your ambitions?G.W. The main influences and motivations for me would have to be my family. I think my dad has instilled in me the importance of creating something for myself so that I have agency within my own life and whatever I have done has wholeheartedly supported me. He has always taught me that I can do anything I put my mind to. It is because of the support of my family I strive towards my goals so that I can make them proud and one day, somehow, give back.Q. What is the biggest, recurring challenge in your experience of i48?G.W. The biggest, recurring challenge during i48 for me was the fact that you never knew everything. Just when you thought you did - something would come in the way and remind you that you really didn’t have all the answers. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but something to keep in mind and accept. I remember thinking we had our pitch downpat and were ready to answer almost anything only to be thrown off by a simple question which we answered with “I don’t know”. These challenges guided me in the right direction to constantly improve every step of the way. Q. How have your passions developed throughout the course of participating in i48?G.W. Through i48, I developed a stronger interest for business and most specifically entrepreneurship. I think what I loved about it was the fact that it was creative rather than methodical and repetitive. The excitement of the process drew me back to GenE through Challenger and my studies of marketing at university now. I think it has provided me the constant possibility of creating a business as I experience the world and the problems that could be solved - and in that case, a passion for making the world as cheesy as it sounds, a better place.
Winning team of AIC, Launchpad [Siddarth pictured second from left]
SIDDHARTH SHASIDHARAN
Q. In your opinion, what is the hardest entrepreneurial skill to develop (e.g. problem-solving, product development, pitching etc.)?S.S. We think the hardest skill to learn is the discipline of not jumping into solutions or ideas before taking the time to understand, listen and empathise with our customer needs and wants. It sets out the foundation for solving the right problem and having the biggest impact in the eyes of the customer.Q. What are the main influences and motivations that help you achieve your ambitions?S.S. We have been working as a team for the past one year as part of an elite business entrepreneurship club named “FutureX club” where we meet every week to discuss creativity, design thinking, start up skills and mock up new ideas. The conversations and discussions around business during these club sessions were key influencers in our success. Also Mentors and Support provided by Generation Entrepreneurship team and Finder team were critical for shaping and sharpening our idea.Q. What are the main advantages of partaking in an online competition such as AIC?S.S. Firstly, competitions like this allows us to spend quality and fun time amongst us developing and creating something new. Secondly, AIC enabled us to pull together knowledge from our various school subjects to apply cohesively into a real world practical problem enabling us to appreciate the subjects better. Last but not the least it enabled us to step out of our comfort zone and pitch in front of real audience and judges improving our communication skills and self confidence.Q. What are your inspirations to come up with a meaningful and effective business idea?S.S. We narrowed down our focus on solving pain points of our target audience. We tried to live and breathe their life journey and understand their motivations and drivers. In our case it was about the life of a university student and their struggles. We looked beyond just the financial struggles and we wanted to get deep into their drivers and motivations. This enabled us to understand the problem very clearly and unlock the key areas where we could have a huge impact in their life. I think our inspiration came from this new confidence we gained through this competition that even at this age we could make a significant impact in society if we empathise with our customers and work creatively adding value to our customers.Q. How does it feel to have won the AIC competition?S.S. It feels great to be recognised for the effort we put in. However, we know that we are at the start of our learning journey in becoming a successful change-maker through entrepreneurship. It has given us the confidence to compete in other business pitch competitions and hone our skills. We also as a team have bonded well and understand each of our strengths and complimentary skills.
OUR ADVISORY BOARD
2020 was a truly trying year.As an organisation, we had to respond to the difficulties which arose from running a non-for-profit during a global epidemic.As a team, we were stretched in all directions to find ways of delivering impact to our community of entrepreneurs, educators and stakeholders.And as individuals, we had to back one another and support one another more than ever before, on a professional and personal level.Truth is, we didn't do it alone.In the year of 2020, Generation Entrepreneur had the honour and privilege of working with four of the most forward-thinking, empathetic and selfless individuals who make up our Board of Advisors - Garry Visontay (Chairman), Isuru Wanasinghe, Gabriel Kawao Guedes & Jacqui McAleer.Each member of the board took it upon themselves to work even closer with the leadership team in 2020, despite having to overcome various challenges in their own primary field of work. This unconditional support ventured beyond the leadership team and has been felt far and wide by the entire Generation Entrepreneur team. It was this sense of belief, empowerment and faith which lifted the entire team up and these lifted spirits were the ones who went on to create a great deal of positive impact during a year like no other.On behalf of all the young minds impacted, we say thank you. Thank you for all that you do for this team and our community.
