Published 25 November 2024
EduGo Mobile Tutoring from Kenmore State High School was crowned the winner of the Future Anything National Grand Final Showcase 2024 at a high-profile event held at The Triffid in Brisbane last week.
In the culmination of Future Anything’s Activate 2024 program, eighteen teams of school-age entrepreneurs took part in the Future Anything National Grand Final 2024 in the buzzing Showcase Expo.
Showcase judges Adele Laughton (Queensland Social Enterprise Council), Murray Galbraith (Syntropic Studio), Harley Drake and Blaize Saxon (Unified First Aid) faced the tough task of selecting our showcase winners. It was a particularly exciting evening for Blaize and Harley, winners of last year’s National Grand Final, who returned as judges one year on.
The event was generously supported by Major Partner the Queensland Government though the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation and a host of epic organisations who contributed prizes to support the school-age entrepreneurs.
On the judging experience, Blaize Saxon said “It was a lot of fun judging the showcase and seeing all the different ideas – I wouldn’t have thought of anything that was out there. There were some really, really cool ideas out there. Getting to be a part of this whole process again in a completely different way has been such a blessing. It’s been really good and a lot of fun.”
Showcase Winner 2024: EduGo Mobile Tutoring
EduGo Mobile Tutoring from Kenmore State High School was awarded top spot as Showcase Winner 2024.
Their innovative idea brings affordable tutoring to underserved communities through a bus that travels around lower-income neighbourhoods.
Their prize pack included a cash prize of $1500, inclusion in the 2025 cohort of YouthX, Australia’s only accelerator program for school-age entrepreneurs, personal brand support from Be Social Be Smart, and a package to exhibit at the North Harbour Youngpreneur Market.
Showcase Runner Up 2024: Bass Buster Lures
Taking out the Showcase Runner Up spot was Bass Buster Lures from Canterbury College, who are creating lead-free fishing lures to end oceanic lead pollution, promoting a healthy marine environment without compromising quality.
The team also took out the coveted People’s Vote, with hundreds of votes cast by the audience at The Triffid on the night.
New awards for 2024
For the first time in 2024, a number of other teams were also recognised in special categories including Scent of Australia (Brigidine College Indooroopilly) who picked up the Showcase Sustainability Award 2024, NerFly (Queensland Academies for Health Sciences) who collected the Showcase Innovation Award 2024 and Bright Knights (Ferny Grove SHS) who took home the Showcase Community Impact Award 2024.
The Showcase wasn’t the only feature of the Future Anything National Grand Final 2024.
The event also celebrated eight more school-age entrepreneurs who pitched their social enterprise ideas live on stage. Read more about the Future Anything National Grand Final Pitch winners here.
The Grand Finalists’ enterprises were developed as part of Future Anything’s Activate in-school entrepreneurship program, which tasks school-age students to create innovative, sustainable and scalable businesses that solve the problems that matter to them. Finalist teams were selected from over 280 applications from schools across Australia and NZ in a series of competitive live National 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 second Future Anything Educator Awards 2024. Read more about the winners here.
Reflecting on the event, Nicole Dyson, CEO & Founder of Future Anything, said “We know schools have a really crowded curriculum with lots of competing demands, and the educators and school leaders that work with us through Activate take a chance on doing learning a little bit differently for the benefit of our young people. I send a huge thank to them all for backing us.”
Nic added “All of tonight’s teams have shown us the very real impact this can have, and we can’t wait to support them in their next steps of their enterprising journeys.”
Watch the pitches from the Future Anything National Grand Final 2024 on YouTube here.
THANK YOU
Huge thank you to all the partners, sponsors, educators and students who make this event possible.
Major Partner
Prize Sponsors
