PROJECT: GLOBAL TALENT TWO: REORIENTING OUR BRIGHT SPARKS

Progress update: Ministry of Science and Innovation continue to be a major supporter of ‘internships’ across New Zealand with its programmes. This is supporting organisations like The ICEHOUSE to create life-changing internship opportunities for graduates and post-docs from our Universities. No further progress on raising funding to support a scaled internship programme.

Creating a ‘finishing school’ for graduates from Universities in New Zealand to expose them to the entrepreneurship system in New Zealand and what being globally mindful actually means.

The ICEHOUSE has been a fantastic platform to engage with the start-up process and has continued to challenge and expose me into the realities of business in New Zealand and abroad. I believe The ICEHOUSE has the potential to springboard the success of young adults towards global leadership in business both at home and abroad through its unique access to resources, knowledge, networks and long-term ecosystem. – Danny Robertson

New Zealand is not producing a significant supply of leaders who are able to help drive our Kiwi economy to global success. It seems to be an overweight supply of world class corporate guys and girls being produced, and a lack of ‘world class entrepreneurs’

Over the past twelve months I have acquired a skill set that simply couldn’t have been learnt anywhere else. My role at The ICEHOUSE has exposed me to New Zealand’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and has given me an insider’s view of what’s required to start and grow a world class business. With aspirations of becoming an entrepreneur myself, I am totally convinced there is no better place I could be at this point in my career. – Mark MacLeod-Smith

This talent needs to be ‘re-orientated’ very early in life. Our New Zealand system has the potential to produce many more entrepreneurs through exposing students to the world of entrepreneurship and global business. The early exposure of the global market will shape what they do later in life when they are wiser, more experienced and ready to build globally scalable businesses from New Zealand.

The ICEHOUSE continues to be a vital step in my journey into entrepreneurship. I am incredibly lucky that our relationship exposes me to top entrepreneurs from different sectors all using a plethora of business strategies and models. – Shay Wright

The ICEHOUSE would like to see a scaling up of internships created for students at Universities. We want to see these bright young adults spending the first year after their degree, working at organisations in the innovation ecosystem like The ICEHOUSE who work with many entrepreneurial start-ups and companies. We want to see them working in start-ups, we want to see them starting companies. For the best of these interns, we would find them internships off shore to continue their journey

“As a fresh graduate with a BSc degree from the University of Auckland, the internship at the Icehouse has been a real eye opening experience for me. Entrepreneurship and business incubation is such a broad area and the ICEHOUSE has been the perfect place for me to learn about it. Working with the ICEHOUSE team, EiRs and Start-up companies, I was able to experience and learn many different aspects of starting and growing a business in a relatively short period of time. Most importantly, everyone I’ve met during my internship here was so passionate about creating and growing value-focused businesses, regardless of their role in this process and it’s been truly inspiring.” – Yun Jae Lee

To do this we need to create a fund that would support up to 100 annual internships across New Zealand for University students to have a year-long internship at business incubators and angel networks. We would expand these internships with the best graduating into some of the key beachheads in global markets NZ Inc are looking to create. If you would like to get involved we are looking for funding for both the administration of the programme and also co-funding of the internships with the business and the intern themselves.

People – Daniel Robertson, Mark MacLeod-Smith, Shay Wright and Yun Jae Lee (photos with quotes)
Contact – Andrew Hamilton, a.hamilton@theicehouse.co.nz , 09 308 6201
Owner – The ICEHOUSE