HAWKE'S BAY WORKSHOPExpression of interest
Our Enterprise Programme
Our Introduction to Enterprise and Enterprise Programme have been engineered to respond to New Zealand’s unique economic, social, and cultural context and to empower young New Zealanders with an entrepreneurial mindset and enterprise skills.
We work alongside rangatahi aged 18-30 to grow their ability and vision to ‘make a living’ and value their own contribution to a thriving Aotearoa economy for themselves, their whānau, and their communities.
Enterprise Programme
The King’s Trust Aotearoa New Zealand runs a number of different programmes to assist with getting young people to where they want to go.
Before we launched in Aotearoa New Zealand, we travelled the country and asked young people what they thought about their future.
Young people told us they were concerned about their prospects, and we saw that as an opportunity to support taiohi wanting to test their ideas, and either launch a business or explore getting a job. We believe supporting young people to investigate entrepreneurship is going to make the greatest difference to Aotearoa.
The Enterprise Programme supports young people aged 18-30 and has four key dimensions; a short training workshop, mentoring, funding, and networking that sees alumni stay connected and continue to be supporting by us and each other.
UPCOMING in-person WORKSHOPS 2026
UPCOMING online WORKSHOPS 2026
Our Enterprise Programme has four distinct elements:
Training
Intensive and immersive short courses either face-to-face or online, infusing self-awareness and technical skills with design thinking, business literacy, marketing and product development, and delivered in a modular way to respond to the needs of local young people.
Mentoring
We’re building a network of experienced business experts to voluntarily offer both long-term one-on-one support and short-burst specialist advice for our alumni as they embark on their business development journeys.
Networking
Our growing network of Enterprise graduates are benefiting from linking with each other and discovering new opportunities through masterclasses and their on-going connection with The King’s Trust Aotearoa.
Funding
In May 2022, we launched our He Kākano seed grants for young entrepreneurs ready to test their business idea; launch their venture; or expand their reach.
To date 110 young people have been funded from the He Kākano seed fund. A full alumni mapping is underway and we look forward to sharing these results.
Our Enterprise Workshops and Masterclasses
Our Enterprise Workshops and Masterclasses
Our Enterprise Workshops and Masterclasses
Our Enterprise Workshops and Masterclasses
Our Enterprise Workshops and Masterclasses
Our Enterprise Workshops and Masterclasses
mentoring
Become a Business Mentor with us
One-on-One Business Mentoring is a free service available to all participants once they have completed one of our Enterprise workshops or Accelerators.
Through intentional matching, a skilled mentor can help our alumni with specialist support to develop and grow their business at any stage of the journey.
Types of Mentoring:
Why volunteer?
Volunteering as a business mentor is a powerful way to give back by supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs. By sharing your experience, insights, and practical knowledge, you can help a young person, gain confidence, and unlock new opportunities.
The benefits of volunteering with us are:
Being a part of a dedicated and passionate group of volunteers with shared values
The reward of giving back with purpose and the chance to make a genuine impact on someone’s life and in our wider community
The personal development in growing your mentoring skills whilst helping young people overcome significant barriers and challenges.
Who can apply?
We are looking for reliable, approachable professionals in a range of different industries aged 18+ who believe in the potential of young entrepreneurs – regardless of background or challenges. If you’re someone who enjoys sharing real-world experience, guiding others through problem-solving, and helping emerging entrepreneurs build confidence and capability.
If this sounds like you, we’d love to have you as part of our mentoring community.
Corporate Volunteering?
Inspire the next generation of innovators by empowering your team to become mentors. We are looking for teams who want to use their specialty skills to help young entrepreneurs build confidence and real-world skills to help them and their businesses thrive.
Give your people a meaningful opportunity to lead, connect, and create impact in their community.
Our mentoring programme makes it easy for corporate teams to share their experience, broaden their community engagement, and help shape future business leaders.
Our process
1
Expression of Interest
Answer a few questions about why you want to volunteer with us and share more information about your experiences, skills and interests.
2
Approval
We’ll look over your EOI and if we think there’s a good match between our needs and your interests, we’ll invite you for a short informal interview.
3
Interview
This is usually a 30-minute online chat with our Mentoring Coordinator. We'll give you some further information about our mentoring, the work of The King’s Trust, and ask some standard questions to ensure everyone is safe and ready.
4
Onboarding
If we all agree we want to work together, we will email you to confirm our interest in joining our community. We will also ask you to send us a picture of yourself as well as a bio to send out to potential matches.
5
Vetting
As per our policies, all volunteers are required to be vetted every 3 years. We will email you a copy of the Police Vetting Form to complete and send back. We will also need two form identification documents (e.g. passport, driver’s license, birth certificate, etc).
6
Training and Induction
While the vetting is in progress, we will invite you to join us for a short 3-hour training session. This will be delivered either online or in-person with other new volunteer mentors.
7
Start Volunteering!
We will notify you when the vetting process is complete and you are ready to get started. We will look to have a match sercured for you ready to go. Our Mentoring Co-Ordinator will be with you every step of the way if you need anything.
Te Kete Aronui
The Voice of Taiohi – watch and read the In Their Own Words case studies