Roseville College: Entrepreneurial Challenge

Roseville College Year 10 students are solving real-world problems for business partners throughout the week-long Entrepreneurial Challenge, which is an initiative of Roseville College to develop design thinking skills while supporting students in building industry connections and broadening their exposure to a variety of careers.

With a theme of Ethical Citizenship, the Entrepreneurial Challenge develops students’ entrepreneurial abilities by applying design thinking to deliver ethical solutions to real business challenges.

“We aim to foster keen problem solvers, active citizens, social and environmental stewards, entrepreneurs, and trailblazers; students who are passionate thinkers and doers,” said program coordinator Terrie Franklin.

In teams, students develop innovative solutions to problems posed by the Entrepreneurial Challenge’s business partners – including Mastercard, World Expeditions, Coca-Cola Australia, Edify Energy and Port Jackson Partners – with the guidance of Accenture Interactive’s Fjord Consultancy, which specialises in a design and innovation.

“Yesterday we researched the users and what’s stopping them, and today we’re brainstorming solutions using empathy and design thinking. It’s really interesting working with a real life problem,” said Year 10 student Archisha Mukherjee.

A highlight of the Wednesday program, which girls found particularly inspiring, was when keynote speaker, Selena Griffith, UNSW Senior Lecturer in Design Thinking, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, encouraged the students by highlighting young women who have built entrepreneurial businesses out of identifying an ethical or environmental problem.

The Entrepreneurial Challenge is an initiative of Roseville College to nurture industry connections and exposure among its students. The College thanks each parent volunteer for sharing their network of business partners with the school, to make such an invaluable opportunity possible for its students.