GIRLS‘ GRAMMAR
Young Innovator & Entrepreneurship Program
“... this program embeds a variety of skills in each student that will be beneficial throughout their high school lives and future careers.“
In 2020, the School established an Incubator for Young Innovators and Entrepreneurs, aimed at inspiring local and international students to become confident entrepreneurs capable of developing real startups. Thus began the first 12 week Young Innovators and Entrepreneurs program designed to inspire students how to create a business from ideation through to a pitch. Year 11 student, Brenna Fellows, was excited to start the program and grow her childhood hobby into a real business. “I’ve always been interested in the idea of being an entrepreneur and I thought this was a really great opportunity for me to learn more about the ins and outs of actually being an entrepreneur,” Brenna said. The Incubator for Young Innovators and Entrepreneurs strategically partners with mentors and organisations to provide a targeted E-STEAM curriculum. Our Entrepreneurin-Residence, Ms Peta Ellis, is an IGGS Old Girl and accomplished entrepreneur committed to educating and inspiring young people to create startups of their own. Described by her colleagues at the Queensland University of Technology as “the hub of the Brisbane startup community” Ms Ellis excels in facilitating entrepreneurship programs for young people and has encouraged and aided in countless ideas and startups. Ms Ellis first spoke to the IGGS student body on assembly and in true entrepreneur fashion, she gave them a pitch. “Ms Ellis articulated exactly how the program would run and I was completely sold. I was so glad I could take advantage of this program through my school and didn’t have to look externally for a similar program,” Brenna said. “Working with her throughout this program has been really great. I felt like I could relate to her more so because she was an IGGS Old Girl and it gives me something to aspire to. Ms Ellis was educated at IGGS and we’ve had similar experiences and she’s accomplished so much, so maybe I can too.” Ms Ellis believes this program embeds a variety of skills in each student that will be beneficial throughout their high school lives and future careers. “They came in to learn about entrepreneurship. They wanted to learn more about the mindset, the tools and strategies to 22 | @GRAMMAR | ISSUE 17 | 2020
take either an idea or a problem and come up with a solution,” Ms Ellis said. “They had to walk through the process of validating this idea or problem to see if it’s worth solving, who’s interested in it, identify who their potential customers could be, what the business model would look like if they took it to market, how to take it to market, how to build a brand that resonated with their customers and finally the go to market strategy.” For Brenna, this meant taking her childhood hobby of crochet and using these skills to turn it into a startup. “I grew up doing crochet with my mum. When I was little I remember going through her old crochet books and teaching myself how to do it. I hadn’t thought about crochet in a while and then last year I was doing some online shopping and I saw some cute bathers, but they were really
