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Wednesday 12 December 2018 9:59am

Esmay Eteuati image
Associate Dean Pacific Esmay Eteuati is ready to launch the Pacific Incubate Programme – Entrepreneurship, to Dunedin high schools next year.

The Otago Business School is launching its first outreach programme next year in a bid to attract more students.

The Pacific Incubate Programme – Entrepreneurship (PIPE) is the brainchild of Associate Dean Pacific Esmay Eteuati and will target Pacific pupils from Otago Girls’, Otago Boys’, Queen’s and King’s High schools.

Eteuati says it is important to “plant the seed” early in the minds of new high school students to promote social entrepreneurship.

The aim is to expose and encourage Pacific students to consider taking business papers which may help inform their choices when looking at career pathways.

She is hoping for between 30 and 40 pupils next year.

The programme will take the form of eight two-hour workshops where the pupils work with undergraduate students, OBS staff, community groups, business people and the Pacific community on their own group projects.

“The plan is to take students, their parents, OBS staff, everyone involved on a journey together to encourage students and their families to think about a business degree.

“We need to help students move away from that old fashioned view of business; the man in a suit with a briefcase,” Eteuati says.

The programme will eventually be opened to all Dunedin high schools.

“We’ve had a very positive reaction from schools and other stakeholders, so we expect it to be a success.”

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