Our vision for Openground is to be recognised as the ‘benchmark’ for learning entrepreneurship and business in New Zealand secondary schools.

Openground provides a supportive environment that nurtures Year 13 students' entrepreneurial skills, encourages their personal growth, and equips them with the confidence and knowledge needed to pursue their entrepreneurial endeavours. Here's how:

• Openground provides practical experience - by creating and running actual business ventures, students gain first hand exposure to the challenges and responsibilities of entrepreneurship. 

• Each Openground student is matched with a mentor.
  
  
• We have access to high calibre guest speakers who bring real-world experience and insights, providing invaluable inspiration and knowledge to Openground students.  
  
  
• Access to funding - during the programme, we conduct 1-2 Dragons’ Den events, where students are given the opportunity to pitch for legitimate funding.
  
  
• Openground is managed by Ant Ford, who has over 25 years business experience which provides him a deep understanding of business & entrepreneurship and the ability to share real-world experiences and knowledge.
  
  
• Openground provides a fast moving and well-designed curriculum. 
  
  
• Students get the required time - they spend two periods per day in Openground, during which Business Studies Level 3 is delivered.
  
  
• Openground is located in what is arguably the best space in the school - a kitchen with a flash coffee machine, great aircon and plenty of space. 

Students don’t necessarily need to come up with a completely new business idea – it might be introducing innovation to an existing business. Students can work in groups or on their own. 

This year we have 21 business ventures - ranging from an AI powered education app revolutionising teaching and learning, premium mousepads for gamers in need of a competitive edge, personalised dried flower gifts & decorations, a venue discovery tool for nightspots and venue owners in Auckland and affordable high-quality sports jersey framing.  

For more information, contact Ant Ford  [email protected] or 027 5408396.