FROM THE INCUBATOR

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.

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

expensive, so I thought why don’t I make some myself?” Brenna said.

Throughout the program, Brenna was recognised for her confidence, her passion and her attention to detail by her peers, Ms Ellis and external presenters and judges. Mr Luke Wild, Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, helped facilitate the program and was able to watch the journey of each idea grow into a pitch.

“Brenna was a standout during the program and impressed us all with her belief in herself and her brand, her confidence in delivering her pitches and her thorough approach to her go-to-market strategy,” Mr Wild said. Guest judges included Mr Aaron Birkby who has a long list of business ventures to his name and Ms Simone Joyce, an IGGS Old Girl who has held the title of CEO for several companies and is the current CEO and founder of Brisbane based company, Paypa Plane.

Both Mr Birkby and Ms Joyce were captivated by Brenna’s pitch and interested to see her grow her brand. I really enjoyed listening to it. I liked every aspect of what she articulated and I loved her idea, I really encourage Brenna to keep going with it,” Mr Birkby said.

Now at the end of the 12 week program, with a full go-to-market strategy in tow, Brenna hopes to continue to grow her idea and eventually launch her own swimwear brand.

“I plan to continue formulating my patterns to make them inclusive for all body shapes, engage a coder to help me build a website and then launch social media accounts to begin marketing my products.”