Latest news with #GetaGrip
NZ Herald
31-07-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
SquareOne's Dragon's Ben competition helps kids turn ideas into businesses
A $10k prize gives young entrepreneurs real-world tools. Get a Grip. It could save you serious injury, reckons a crew of young basketballers from the Hawkes Bay. More than that, the team is blazing a trail where pre-teens are thinking well beyond the classroom or sports field – instead eyeing up the boardroom for long-term success. Get a Grip is making waves thanks to financial-services-provider-for-the-next-generation SquareOne. Cofounder Jamie Jermain is on a mission to teach young New Zealanders that a dollar earned is worth more than a dollar spent, and that creating value is the key to lasting success. 'We're a country of entrepreneurs and small businesses,' Jermain says, noting that upwards of 97% of Kiwi businesses are small to medium enterprises. 'And while Kiwis are renowned for having that entrepreneurial spirit, financial literacy hasn't always kept pace. That can be a major limitation in achieving dreams.' SquareOne's Dragon's Ben competition – run in partnership with The Hits Breakfast with Jono, Ben & Megan – sparks entrepreneurial spirit, builds financial smarts, and gets kids thinking like business owners long before they're old enough to regret a dodgy car loan straight out of uni. In days gone by, kids learned their first lessons about money by schlepping cash to the post shop through school. 'I realised that kids don't have this conceptual association with money anymore when someone said their child asked, 'what's cash',' Jermain explains. 'They see mum and dad tapping something like a magic wand, thinking there is an infinite supply.' SquareOne's platform teaches youngsters the value of earning, saving, and spending. There's an ATM card, of course, an app, and instead of just getting money, children are encouraged to earn it. Or, as Jermain notes, 'By earning and learning that money isn't free, young people gain an appreciation of creating and exchanging value.' The platform itself encourages entrepreneurship; for example, it has a nifty QR code feature for lemonade stands (or any other enterprise) that's more high-tech than most average childhood hustles. Then there's Dragon's Ben, named as a cheeky nod to the beloved TV show and to Ben Boyce himself. 'The idea is taking kids' amazing ideas, working with them and their families, and going from concept to reality,' Jermain explains. The winning Dragon's Ben entry scores a $10,000 prize package which includes some cash, but the real treasure isn't the money. 'Turning a good idea into a business, whether it works out long-term or not, is an exercise in how the real world works. So, the value is in the mentorship, the connections made, and the journey involved in going from drawing board to operations.' This year's winners are a group of five basketball-loving kids from Hawke's Bay: Arai, 10, Mila, 9, Conor, 8, Maia, 8 and Tia, 6. Their surprise and delight was clear when they found out live on air – a reminder that this is more than a business lesson; it's a big moment in a young person's life. 'Oh my gosh, actually?' Arai said on The Hits. 'Thank you so much! I'm like so happy, so thankful. Thank you.' Tired of slipping on the court and racking up injuries, the team wanted to protect themselves and their friends – so they dreamed up a spray that adds extra traction; an idea with soul, you might say. 'The best founders have lived the problem, and they know their market,' Jermain says. 'The Get a Grip team plays the sport, slip, get hurt. And now they've come up with a solution to what is a real issue for themselves and their peers.' Beyond a product idea, Get a Grip arrived with a brand, a proof of concept, and a plan to scale. SquareOne's support includes everything from website setup to retail connections, proving that even kids can tackle the big leagues with the right backing and encouragement. Last year's winner Ruby Grace is making strides with her card game FIX, which helps kids with learning disabilities. Now 17, Ruby's prototype is moving towards commercialisation, with SquareOne providing guidance on manufacturing, retail strategies, and introductions to the business world. 'Ruby's very capable and involved,' Jermain says, noting that support includes navigating the complex stuff, like manufacturing in China and setting up a B-to-C website. The Dragon's Ben journey isn't about instant success or even just about the finalists (there were six this year). Just learning about the competition and entering gets young folks thinking like entrepreneurs. 'It really is a mindset. The sooner our youngsters get into that mindset, the sooner they start thinking about solving problems and adding value, the better for their long-term prospects. And the better for the economy, too,' Jermain enthuses. Each idea might start small, but for these kids, it's personal – and that's what makes it powerful. SquareOne's partnership with organisations like MOTAT and the Young Enterprise Scheme is helping Dragon's Ben grow, with plans to expand the prize package and attract more interest, widening the field of entrants. 'It's growing in stature, and that's really quite rewarding,' Jermain says, excited about the future. 'The goal isn't just to churn out mini moguls, but to instil a mindset of value creation in exchange for financial reward. 'After all, the world is all about value exchange. If you want a paycheck, you have to think about how you can add value to society.' Visit to learn more or get your young entrepreneur started.
Irish Examiner
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Podcast Corner: Angela Scanlon's new show aims for the 'Therapist Ghosted Me' market
Angela Scanlon is one of those multi-hyphenated stars we've become used to in the 2020s - she's in ads, she's acting, she's presenting on TV and radio, she's co-founder of a buildable, customisable jewellery company, and yes, she's a podcast host. Angela Scanlon's Thanks A Million came to an end in 2022, but she's back this month with Get a Grip, co-hosting with Vicky Pattison, a fellow multi-hyphen. The bio: 'From navigating motherhood and newlywed life, to dissecting culture, internet drama, and the ridiculous expectations placed on women, this is an unapologetic podcast where no topic is off-limits." So basically, a bantercast, so beloved of the podcast ecosystem in 2025 - and yes, it is available in video form. 'I like an overshare,' says Scanlon early on in the first episode. Soon, Pattison is talking about wearing spanx, sharing some, ahem, toilet humour, about people who wear such to the Met Gala, and gossiping about Rihanna's third pregnancy ('When did the second one come?'). Come the second episode, Scanlon says she knows when her eggs are dropping; Pattison replies: 'Like a chicken!?' It's funny, a little TMI, and very much focused on the market cornered by My Therapist Ghosted Me. The co-host of that show, Joanne McNally, is the first guest on Katherine Ryan's new show What's My Age Again?, wherein she asks her celebrity guests how they feel about ageing and then has them take a biological age test to find out how their bodies' age compares to their chronological age. It's science… we think. Like Scanlon and Pattison, Ryan is also many different things to different people, perhaps most notably a standup and panellist on various UK shows. 'Why aren't you in the cryochamber,' she jokingly asks McNally - though it's something she returns to with her fifth guest Olivia Attwood, who came to fame on Love Island season three and hosts her own podcast, So Wrong, It's Right. Indeed, Ryan admits to an interest in cryotherapy, Attwood telling her: 'I was doing that HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) over Christmas. So I had a couple of little procedures. And it's great for healing. And I was recommended into it. So I went down a hole of reading about the benefits of HBOT. And unfortunately, it's not available on the NHS, apart from very, very specific diseases. But the healing and your brain, your cells, that is incredible. The science is there. It's just not widely backed.' You may want to do your own research first. As for the age test (there is a disclaimer that it's not a medical-grade device and the biological age is not a predictor of life expectancy), McNally is told she's an outlier, in the top 1%, while Attwood gets the lowest age possible. Perhaps What's My Age Again? Is best taken with a pinch of salt.
