34 national <strong>Grey</strong>power mAGAZINE » june <strong>2016</strong>
7 8 6 5 4 3 1 2 national <strong>Grey</strong>power mAGAZINE » june <strong>2016</strong> 35 Where’s Woolly? Children’s book a success for Young Entrepreneurs A group of teenagers in their final year at Nelson College, a school with a proud Business Studies Programme, have designed and published their own children’s book called Where’s Woolly. Where’s Woolly is a search-and-find book equipped with seven New Zealand themed scenes with iconic animals hidden in each. Three animal farm friends; Woolly the sheep, Collie the dog and Mooey the cow leave the farm and take off on a grand adventure which leads them to a beach, a ski field, a rugby match and four other iconic New Zealand places. Can you find them among New Zealand’s iconic sights? At the beginning of <strong>2016</strong> the group, planned to spend every spare moment they had trying to come up with new ways to market a children’s book. And it has become a privilege to to do everything to further their passion for business. The brief for the group was: Come up with a business idea and, with the support of teachers, mentors and the Young Enterprise Scheme, take it where you want to go. The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme was created to foster entrepreneurial creativity among New Zealand college students in their final two years of study. Student projects must pass a series of rigorous tests that demonstrate a real-world understanding of what it takes to build a successful business. “We wanted to create something that would represent New Zealand, and would be of an educational benefit to the children of this country,” said team member Alistair King. “We believe in re-defining learning, or as we call it, “finding literacy”. “We aim to transform learning into something children want to do, rather than being told what to do and subsequently, we are big believers in visual learning. “We designed and selfpublished the book, and set about getting a return on our out-of-pocket (our own) investment of more than $1000. “We began spending countless hours at the local market, talking to the people, getting ideas and clearing stock. “In the few months since, we have visited local schools, stocked books in local book stores, sold books to libraries and schools nationwide, and made four best sellers lists,” said Alistair. “We have sold more than $10,000 worth of books in the 10 weeks following March 20, all the while trying to balance part time jobs, and the most important schooling year of our lives so far. “We have recently donated 10 books to Starship Children’s Hospital, and have no intentions of lightening the increasing workload.” In the coming months, the group aims to host a treasure hunt-esque event for more than 100 local primary school children, donate a portion of sales to Starship, and put a Where’s Woolly book in every book store in New Zealand. The Where’s Woolly team has designed the book to be fun and provide a variety of information about our beautiful country. They believe that young children deserve to know about the diversity of New Zealand, and our book represents this view. Where’s Woolly is educational, engaging and most importantly extremely enjoyable for children of any age. “We are privileged to have the reins of such a business, and for the next seven months aim to take this as far as we possibly can,” said Alistair. “We have had support by more than 600 customers so far, and offer you the opportunity to become one of them. “By simply emailing Sales@WheresWoolly. co.nz we can arrange the delivery for a Where’s Woolly book to any child (or adult for that matter) across the country that would love to learn about our beautiful country in a fun and engaging way,” said Alistair. “Ultimately, if not for the help of our teachers, mentors, and the countless others who have supported us and lent us their time, there would be no way we would even be close to the position we are in today. “Where’s Woolly is our attempt at showing off our amazing country. We believe in making a difference in the lives of New Zealand children, about young people helping young people.” 9 1 2 DIGITAL PILL BOX LIGHT AND SOUND REMINDER IT’LL REMEMBER WHEN YOU DON’T • 4 separate alarms each day • Easy to set $25.00 INCL. GST WITH FREE DELIVERY! • Digital clock • Alerts with buzzer & flashing light Requires 2 x AAA batteries not included. BUY NOW from USL Consumer, Free phone 0800 658 814. Credit card payments accepted or contact orders@uslmedical.co.nz