STUDENTS STARTING UP


You will get an understanding of the realities of starting your own business, meet other students interested in starting up, network with fellow entrepreneurs and business people, attend workshops, get advice, and hear about other support and opportunities for budding entrepreneurs in Dunedin, New Zealand and internationally.

You will develop fantastic new skills, meet new people, it looks great on your CV and you’ll be in to win money and prizes to get your business off the ground. Last year, competitors shared in a jackpot of $40,000 in cash, services and other prizes to help them start-up – what have you got to lose?

How does it work?
Those entering the Audacious competition are required to submit a business idea, a detailed business plan and pitch their idea to the Dragon’s Den. Check out the Programme page for further details. Throughout the competition, students attend a range of start-up workshops and have access to a Business Coach for one-on-one advice.

Who is it for?
Audacious is for students of all disciplines at the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic – not just business students.

No matter what you study, if you are creative, energetic and keen to expand your horizons – Audacious could be perfect for you. If you are worried you lack business skills, or any other skills, we will do our very best to help you find team-mates with the skills you need.

Individual entrants must be current University of Otago or Otago Polytechnic students. If you are entering as a team, at least one member of your team must be a current student and that person must be your nominated main contact when submitting your ideas.

But you don’t even have to enter the competition, if you are thinking of starting up, you’re welcome to join the community – attend Audacious events, hang out in the Audacious space, speak to our Business Coach or simply ask for help!

Categories
To organise the wide range of ideas submitted every year, and to compare apples with apples, Audacious is split into five categories. In your Round One submission you will be required to nominate the category in which you think your idea fits, but they become more important in Round Two. As you can see, any idea can be a winner!

THINKING BIG

Don’t play safe, think long term. Bold ideas that are relatively untested and may have a long development phase, but could find worldwide success.

ACTING NOW

Get out there and make it happen. Ideas that are relatively straight forward, low risk and easy to bring to market.

DOING GOOD

Look after people and planet. Ideas that benefit society – for social entrepreneurs, not-for-profits, sustainable ventures and the like.

GETTING CREATIVE

Think outside the box. Ideas that are innovative in the design or marketing that is leading edge and provides a competitive advantage.

MAORI BUSINESS

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi; engari, he toa takitini; our achievements are a collective endeavour, not a solitary effort. For Maori students and those with a Maori-focused business idea.

RULES
Read the Audacious Challenge rules 2014. Competitors must agree to these rules in the submission process. Entries can be submitted via the Challenge section of this website. Any questions regarding these rules should be directed to [email protected].

Blog archive

  • Audacious > Blog

    23 Apr Posted by kari.petroschmidt Posted on 23 – Apr – 2012

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  • Audacious > Blog

    Posted by kari.petroschmidt So we had our kick-off on Tuesday night! Here’s some commentary…  Initially I was unsure of Professor Michael Bowers, ‘The Entrepreneurial Professor’ (I think we’re always a bit wary of ‘the academic perspective’ when it comes to such practical matters as starting-up). But the Professor raised some interesting points. I particularly liked his…

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  • Audacious > Blog

    30 Apr Posted by kari.petroschmidt At the launch event we featured a number of speakers who are heavy on sales. Scott Cardwell (pictured above) naturally placed a lot of emphasis on this in his role as the Marketing Manager for Language Perfect. So too, Julian Van Mellearts and Sheryl McPhearson essentially sell products in their…

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  • Audacious > Blog

    Posted by kari.petroschmidt At the Audacious business competition launch on Tuesday, everyone agreed – Dunedin needs more businesses if we want to keep young, talented graduates from flying off to brighter prospects in Wellington, Auckland, or overseas. The University of Otago is aware of the problem, and has thrown its weight behind the Centre for…

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  • Audacious > Blog

    Posted by kari.petroschmidt People don’t typically conceive of starting up as a craft or Art. Writing, yes. Design, yup. Fine Arts, of course. But starting a business is in the realms of dry, dull management. And true, starting up does involve some grind work. Like just about anything. But it also provides you with an…

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  • Audacious > Blog

    Got a business idea? Then be audacious. Business ideas for this year’s Audacious Challenge close at 5pm next Monday. Audacious started five years ago as a joint initiative by the Dunedin City Council, University of Otago School of Business and Otago Polytechnic to encourage tertiary students to pitch business ideas. It is now sponsored by the University…

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  • Audacious > Blog

    17 May Posted by kari.petroschmidt So you can find The Story of Stuff here. What I love about this video is that it really makes you think about all your shit. Where it comes from, the value you invest in it and the implications your consumption has on the rest of the world. Here’s some sound-bites. …

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  • Audacious > Blog

    Posted by kari.petroschmidt                                     Such is the phrase whispered by the Bokonists in Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, “whenever we think of how complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is.” I quite like this articulation.    Yet of course, most of us do not conceptualise the word ‘busy’ as connoting mystery, complexity, the convoluted…

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  • Audacious > Blog

    Posted by kari.petroschmidt ON SUSTAINABILITY (UGH) I know. You don’t want to hear the word ‘sustainability’ ever again.  But bear with me. Let’s start with an ostensibly basic question, what does the word actually mean? And, by implication, how are we to conceive of the environment? It has, of course, been a topic of much…

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  • Audacious > Blog

    Posted by kari.petroschmidt “THE EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH IMPERATIVE” I wrote about the difference between ‘sustainability’ and ‘thriving’ in a previous blog post. Now, this transition to thriving involves an additional challenge to what Stefan Collini writes has now become a self-evident and indisputable truth in our society; economic growth. Collini writes, “Since perhaps the 1970s, certainly…

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  • Audacious > Blog

    1. $3 DINNER SCHEME Francisco Hernandez 2. A PUBLICTRANSPORT NETWORK – QUEENSTOWN Evan Bloomfield 3. ARE YOU LINKED IN? Laura Judge 4. ATTICUS Kendall Flutey & Jenny Yun 5. BLACK CAT EARLY LEARNING Fabienne Le Comte, Rachel Kaspers & Libby Neale 6. CARRI-CELL Maria Brett 7. CATCH22 Kirk Feather 8. DEMI DUO Demi Keys 9. DESKIT Omri Moyal 10. EASY SQUEEZY Sam Reynolds 11. FACE-TO-FACE Ceire Hopley & Guy…

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  • Audacious > Blog

    16 Jul Posted by kari.petroschmidt I think a lot of us experience this anxiety surrounding the end of our University careers and what we should become. All these titles – ‘designer’, ‘banker’, ‘director’, ‘writer’, ‘artist’, ‘entrepreneur’. I’m beginning to wonder whether we’re approaching it in the wrong way. We’re thinking in boxes. University shouldn’t just…

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