Future Anything National Grand Final 2021 Winners Revealed

Nine teams pitched their ideas live, answering tough questions from the high-profile judging panel, which included Professor Rowena Barrett, Pro Vice-Chancellor Entrepreneurship at QUT, Lauren Capelin, Principal at Startmate and Lucas Patchett OAM, Co-founder & MD of Orange Sky.

Chloe, Founder of Chloe’s Heat Wheats and a student at Moreton Bay’s Redcliffe State High School, took out the top prize worth over $12,000 including $2500 cash, a website and branding package from Gold Coast’s Syntropic Studio, and professional mentoring from Powered by Purpose, a boutique innovation strategy agency.

The winning social enterprise sells sustainably produced heat wheats which proceeds supporting local farmers affected by drought. The top prize will support Chloe’s Heat Wheats to develop and scale the business in the real world.

Virtual Break from Redlands College took out the Runner Up spot, winning $1500 to launch their innovative business which aims to improve young people’s mental health by supporting them to take regular breaks from technology.

The judges awarded the Highly Commended prize of $500 to Just Be You. The team from Springfield Central State High School is developing a new range of clothing designed to make people living with Dwarfism feel confident, comfortable and included.

The hotly-contested People’s Vote was taken out by Drink Safe, an innovative product designed by students from Marymount College to combat the issue of drink spiking.

Over 800 audience votes were received with event viewers selecting their favourite teams who showcased their for-purpose businesses in a virtual and venue expo.

The Grand Finalists’ enterprises were developed as part of Future Anything’s Activate in-school entrepreneurship program, which tasks students across Australia to create innovative, sustainable and scalable businesses that solve the problems that matter to them. Finalist teams were selected from over 300 applications from high school students across Australia in a series of competitive live Semi Finals held in October.

In addition to showcasing the best student-led social enterprises, the Future Anything National Grand Final celebrated the teachers who have led entrepreneurial thinking in their classrooms with the inaugural Future Anything Educator Awards 2021. Read more about the winners here.

Reflecting on the event, Nicole Dyson, CEO & Founder of Future Anything, said “What is so powerful about tonight’s winner, Chloe’s Heat Wheats, was that it’s a very simple idea, but it can have such a huge impact. It’s something that makes people feel better in themselves, but also supports others who are doing it tough.”

Nicole added “Everything we do has the potential to bend the future. I hope that everyone who was part of tonight’s event, whether they’re young or old, reflects on those little business ideas that are hiding in the back of their heads. I’d push them all to ask themselves, ‘why not?’, ‘why not me?’, ‘why not now?’. We can all bend the future.”