Monique van der Westhuizen was nominated by her YES facilitator in the Regional Awards this year. There were 172 students from Canterbury that were nominated under 10 categories. Monique was chosen to receive a reward under the Enterprise category. The judges’ commented that she defied stereotypes, overcome adversary by starting a business on her own in her first year of YES and did so successfully even when the Young Enterprise Scheme is not widely known within our school environment.

A bit of background; Monique is a second year YES student. Last year Monique’s YES product were reusable custom paintbrushes. This was a fantastic idea to reduce the amount of plastic use in paintbrushes and paintbrushes going to landfill. At the regional awards last year Monique’s pitch won her an award for innovation.

This year Monique has developed a sustainable soap with the added benefit of relieving a number of skin conditions. Monique has a fellow student, Finn, that is part of the soap product and Monique has been mentoring Finn on the processes and thinking that must go behind creating and launching a product.

Monique has thought about creating a change within the community by ensuring that both her products and both innovative and sustainable.  

Well done Monique; we look forward to hearing of your product successes in the future.