Students finding success with sustainability business

With a vision to inspire ākonga and unleash young leaders for a prosperous Aotearoa, YES is helping shape future change makers and disruptors. Their programmes support students with opportunities to develop an entrepreneurial mindset before they leave secondary school. 

In 2022, YES worked with 85 percent of secondary schools across the motu. Education Gazette spoke with the young minds behind two businesses that have found success in sustainability. 

Levente (Levi) Scott’s sustainable business Upcycled Plastics uses 100 percent recycled used milk bottles.

Upcycled Plastics

Levente (Levi) Scott’s sustainable business Upcycled Plastics placed second in the 2022 National YES awards. He is also the recipient of the 2022 HSBC award for sustainability.

Levi’s business began in 2021 as part of his business studies at Canterbury’s Rolleston College.

“I’ve always had a big passion for environmental sustainability, trying to help the community and make the most of waste and rubbish,” says Levi.

A 3D printer he purchased himself sparked the business idea after he printed his mother’s name out as a Mother’s Day gift. 

“I thought, ‘what if I could make letter stands and sell them?’ Then I thought it would be amazing if I could make them by using upcycled plastic and timber.” 

Utilising his engineering skills, Levi began on a small scale, making small sheets of plastic then cutting out letters.

He built a machine to melt the plastic, trialling different types of used plastic milk bottles and ways to clean it, and developed seven iterations of moulds before finding success on the eighth.

“There was a lot more trial and error with the moulds than I initially anticipated so I worked through them.” 

He initially sourced his used milk bottles from cafes in the local Selwyn area, collecting them and taking them home to clean. 

“Using a woodchipper I would break down the plastic, then melt it to create a sheet of plastic and use the school’s CNC [computer numerical control] machine to cut out the letters.”

Business expansion

By Year 13, Levi was ready to expand the operation “to make the environmental efforts more impactful. I wanted to really go for it.”

Having spent much of his initial year tapping into the guidance of his business studies kaiako and business experts he had access to through YES, he landed on selling the plastic sheets (made of 100 percent recycled used milk bottles).

He experimented with various types of products that could be created from the plastic sheets including letterbox numbers, which he sold through the local hardware store Buildlink Selwyn and online. He also sold personalised letter stands online, and the raw plastic sheets to Latheabout Woodturning who transformed them into luxury pens and pendants.

Soon he was creating educational kits containing 98 characters, symbols and numbers for local schools to use as a learning resource.

“The kits allow learners to make almost any word or simple maths equation.”

With local accounting firm Whutupōro Accountants as a sponsor, he has been able to manufacture and donate 30 kits to the seven primary schools across the Selwyn area. 

By the end of 2022, Upcycled Plastics was a profitable business that had recycled more than 600kg of used plastic bottles.  

Community support

Levi says his success is a result of many hundreds of people – from Rolleston College, YES, and community businesses – providing guidance and support. 

“I got help from everyone and tried to listen to all ideas and learn as much as I could. There have been a lot of teachers who I got help from on how to present myself, public speaking, as well as the business – what business models I could go with and what products I could produce. It was a real community collaboration.” 

Working part-time as a barber enabled Levi to fund his initiative and build connections with his local community. His clients included the owner of the hardware store where he sold the letterbox numbers, and a cameraman from
Seven Sharp, which led to a media story.

Through YES, he was connected to large organisations, and was able to build on his pitching skills – which came in handy when reaching out to Anchor.

He was put in touch with the director of Anchor Milk Canterbury who, after hearing his pitch, agreed to supply Levi with used Anchor milk bottles, delivering up to 500 used bottles a week to his house. 

Adaptive learning

Levi says Rolleston College’s willingness to support his initiative was vital to his success.

“The lab work and cutting was done at school, I was really reliant on the CNC machine. The school is really adaptive – they do whatever they can to adapt the learning and teaching to support our ideas.”

Year 13 business studies teacher and student leadership mentor Lucy Erasito says the school encourages collaboration between learning areas to support student initiatives like Levi’s.  

“We try to recognise the projects that have that kind of potential, where they can’t do it all in the three 75-minute blocks.” 

Levi was able to utilise his technology time and the support of that learning area, in addition to the business studies blocks. He was also allowed to use his study blocks offsite, says Lucy. 

Year 12 business studies teacher Richard McBrearty says he and Lucy provide guidance on all aspects of a business, helping students understand what they don’t know. 

“Levi was great on the production side but needed support on the finance and marketing side. Knowing their strengths and where the gaps are challenges students to think more about their business and diversify.”

Richard says the Rolleston Spirit consists of three values – to develop self, build communities, and transform futures. 

“This is what we go back to as teaching staff, asking ‘what is it that you’re doing that’s helping learners and us as kaiako to live those values?’ I think Levi did that. 

“Having and living those values from Year 9 helps our learners develop their thinking towards the wider community and about the future of themselves and others.”  

Saint.

Waitākere College business students Sarah Opetaia and Wesley Paongo are empowering young Samoans to live to the Samoan foundational values of respect, service, and love.

Saint. is a Pacific student-owned and led sustainable vintage clothing brand that won the 2022 YES National Excellence Award for Pasifika Business.

It is the enterprise of Waitākere College business students Sarah Opetaia and Wesley Paongo using sustainable fashion and empowering young Samoans to live to the Samoan foundational values of respect, service, and love.  

“Fast fashion industry contributes heavily to carbon emissions so we want to be the change that ends unethical processes,” they say.

Passion for fashion

Sarah says she and Wesley established Saint. to illustrate to other young Samoans what is possible.

However, even with an idea and a passion for sustainable fashion, starting a business was hard, she says.

“Having Sir [the school’s business community liaison and commerce HoD Matt Cicchini] alongside us was amazing. He guided us and outlined everything, handing it back to ourselves but was always there to support and back us up.”

The pair say Matt helped them understand business basics, such as finance, market research, and business plans.

“We asked so many questions,” says Sarah.

With three stakeholders initially, they each invested $307 for start-up costs and utilised the five hours of business class time each week to work on the business.

“We spent lots of time outside of class working on it too,” says Wesley. 

They set about finding local suppliers and printers that fitted with their sustainable values.

“We found some 100 percent organic cotton T-shirts through Clothing Direct, and use water-based inks to have as little impact on the environment as we can.”

They say the design process was difficult as they initially tried creating the designs themselves but quickly realised their skills weren’t up to scratch.

After finding a designer online, they presented their ideas, but it took some time to land on designs that matched their vision and beliefs.

One design has a thesis statement that says: ‘Our culture cannot thrive without respect’.

“We’re Samoan and have been brought up with values of respect, service and love, and want to educate through those values,” says Wesley.

Their other designs talk about how people can make an impact in society and do good in the world, he says. 

Learning new skills

With the production side of the business sorted, the pair started working on their marketing. 

Wesley says they built four websites before their current one and taught themselves how to build it and integrate an e-commerce store. 

With a TikTok account and a regular stall at the local night market, the business started making sales. By the end of 2022, Saint. had made more than $4,000 in sales. 

Matt says YES is a great way to introduce students to small business. 

“New Zealand is such a good country for business and people can achieve it. Students always think business is so far out of reach, that they are too big and complex, so it’s really about giving them the confidence by using the student-centred work, empowering them to take that challenge and do that step.”

Matt says his role as kaiako is to provide students with information while being careful not to take over. 

“Sometimes they get a little frustrated because I’m not giving them enough but I’m giving them enough information for them to take the lead and learn from it.”

He says Saint. took the lead “amazingly”, which is why they’ve done so well.

“Their passion for their business, experimenting, trialling new things has really helped them to progress.” 

Future focused

As Year 13 students, the pair plan to launch a new collection in March/April this year. 

“We just want to produce products with meaning. We want to make sure each collection has a meaning behind it to inspire the next generation of students,” they say.

Matt says the YES awards helps all students strive for success when they may not have had the passion like Saint. did at the start. Last year, Waitākere College had 21 student businesses. 

“Being part of the awards nights – regionals and nationals – gives them great confidence to move forward.” 

Sarah’s advice to other students considering participating in YES is to “go for it”.

“There’s always someone you can ask for help, and if you fail there’s always other options. We went for it even if we failed at times and made mistakes along the way. We just put our faith in God that we’ll make it out.”

Matt agrees, saying business isn’t going to be perfect every time and experiencing failure is how you advance in business.

“That’s what we emphasise – there’s going to be things that go wrong but we work through them, correct them, learn from them and move on. There is no such thing as failure, it is all a learning process that determines your success.”

Matt says the hope is that Saint. and other student businesses can carry on when they leave school. 

“That’s our entire aim, to have something to set them up for real life.”

Sarah says they learn from other students and their businesses as well. 

“We always ask what they’re up to and share ideas to help improve each other’s businesses. It’s all a learning process.”

Sarah and Wesley’s hope is to continue growing Saint. 

“I want to go to uni to develop my knowledge,” says Sarah. 

Saint. brings together a passion for sustainability with cultural pride.

Young Enterprise learning

Through The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme, students get to learn about business planning and operations, develop a range of personal and business skills, and consult with and create networks in their community.

Each company needs to complete four YES challenges, including Validation, The Pitch, Sales and Promotion, and an Annual Review. 

Kura can deliver YES as a timetabled course, or as an extracurricular option. YES is commonly used as a vehicle to deliver Business Studies Achievement Standards at Levels 2 and 3. All students who complete YES will receive the YES micro-credential.

There is over $20,000 in the national prize pool as well as regional awards, cash prizes and tertiary scholarships. YES(external link) students have opportunities to attend national business competitions, events and go on partner programmes.