The 17-year-old St Hilda’s Collegiate year 13 student started a business last year as part of the Young Enterprise Scheme (Yes).
Next month, she will head to Wellington for three days as part of a select group of students to attend the Entrepreneurs in Action programme.
Olivia said when she was thinking about what her business idea for Yes would be last year, her father mentioned not many parents were claiming the donation tax credits they were entitled to.
She decided to launch DonateMate, a business that provided a guide to claiming back school donation money parents were entitled to from Inland Revenue.
‘‘Claiming back a portion of school donation has been perceived as confusing and time-consuming — so I put it together on a guide.’’
Many parents and caregivers were not aware they could claim back about 33% of all their donations for the past four financial years.
‘‘At our school the donations can be $1500 per year ... so that's $500 back per year for children at school.’’
Since launching in 2023, her guide had been downloaded many times and with the help of her new business partner and classmate Niamh Parker, 17, they were expanding by offering their product directly to schools nationwide to provide to parents.
‘‘Last year, I just did St Hilda's and John McGlashan College, so we’re trying to get involved with more than just Dunedin.’’
To make a more sustainable business model and divert from being a social enterprise, the pair were planning to introduce pricing packages for schools to purchase the guide.
Niamh and Olivia did not know what the future held for their business, but both planned to study commerce at university next year.
