Two years ago, Dunedin businesswoman Heidi Renata launched a youth entrepreneurship programme, aimed at people aged between 16 and 24, to inspire change in the business world.
The 12-week programme was based on applying matauranga Maori principles, critical thinking and resilience-based activities for the modern work environment for youth living in Dunedin.
Now it has launched a mobile phone app to broaden its reach.
Ms Renata described it as a "digital living workbook" designed for people to self-teach.
Launching an app was a project Ms Renata had been thinking about since the first lockdown in 2020 and to see it launched was "very exciting".
"It has been a long process to get here so it’s fantastic to finally see it on our phones," she said.
Late last year, Mana Rangatahi received a $300,000 two-year grant from the Otago Community Trust and partnered with the Transition to Work Trust which made
the app possible, Ms Renata said.
She wrote the app’s content and her brother Steven Renata’s media production business Kiwa Digital developed it.
"You could say it has been a bit of a family effort," she said.
The aim of it was to teach people the ways of doing business in a simple format that was easy to understand.
Ms Renata believed having a "business mind" was highly transferable for young people navigating through life.
There were not many resources available for those people and Ms Renata hoped to fix that.
"It’s about giving rangatahi the skills to encourage and inspire them to learn more to become a leader," she said.
Although the programme was delivered in Dunedin, anyone globally could use the app.
It was also a great way of helping display the country’s culture to those who wanted to learn more.
"It is there for everyone, no matter where you are," Ms Renata said.
