Australian Experiential Learning Centre

Rosie Thomas - Business Icon Victoria 2010 Winner

Some of Victoria’s most entrepreneurial young minds have just come to the end of one of the most gruelling weeks they have ever experienced; pushing themselves and their resilience to the brink.

Victorian Business Icon 2010 saw 32 young entrepreneurs battle it out for the title. All of the competitors excelled in the four business focused tasks they were given and shocked the sponsors with their creative, innovative ideas; especially given the very short time frames for completion.

At the final event luncheon held at the CQ Function Centre and MC’d by Channel seven reporter Amy Parks, the final four contestants presented their final task to a crowd of over 200 and a panel of six high profile judges. They were then asked eight minutes worth of tough business focused questions. In the end a winner was chosen based on the judge’s decision and an audience vote.

The 2010 winner, Rosie Thomas, is a Melbourne local who co-founded PROJECT ROCKIT, an anti-bullying/youth leadership program. Rosie is a highly creative and innovative youth professional, dedicated to facilitating the hopes and dreams of young people.

The following are highlights of an article printed in the Sunshine Coast Daily about the Queensland Business Icon competition.

SOME of the best and brightest young business minds have just come to the end of one of their most gruelling weeks ever.

“This is a great networking opportunity even if you don’t get to the final,” 24-year-old Marlene Pulls said. “You get to meet all these amazing people who are driven, cool and have a different focus in their lives. It makes you so inspired and enthusiastic about your life.

“I had three hours sleep last night, the intensity is at 1000% and we are all working our butts off because we all want to win.

“In my group, we are all leaders, so sometimes you have to back off. Part of being a good icon is to communicate the right way, respect other people and work as a team.

“You don’t have to be the loudest, but you do have to assert yourself and get your ideas implemented.”

Fellow contestant Aron Du-Shane, 23, is doing a dual degree in business marketing and interactive entertainment at QUT.

The Brisbane man also runs his own company helping small businesses with marketing strategies.

“In a word, this competition has been busy,” he said on Thursday. “When I heard it was going to be on the Sunshine Coast, I thought it would be lots of fun and that I might get to the beach.

“But the tasks have been very time-heavy and there are lots of really talented people here who keep you on your toes. . .”

Mr Du-Shane said the week had been a blur.

“I called a friend of mine on the first night and she asked me how I was holding up,” he said. “I said it’s like The Amazing Race on steroids.

“It is very intense. We are all such big personalities and we all have big opinions. We’ve had a couple of conflicts in our group, but nothing too serious.”

Read the full article at the Sunshine Coast Daily.

Last night our young entrepreneurs found themselves in hot water as they were pummeled in a grueling 12 minute question session when presenting on Gen Y’s answer to climate change.

A large task done in just 24 hours in teams of 3. The judges had a hard time selecting them but the final 4 came through with determination and passion. I can’t wait to see the final task that will be delivered on Wednesday in front of hundreds of people at the CQ Function centre in the Melbourne CBD.

Good luck to James Hopton, Lucy Wu, Brook Hornung and Rosie Thomas.

Final Four in Victoria Business Icon being briefed on the last task.

The Queensland Business Icon competition is over for this year but the buzz still remains. This story went to air in Queensland during the competition.

Over the years we have watched sponsor organisation after sponsor organisation benefit from the amazing solutions Business Icon teams have put forward in answer to the tasks set for them during the competiton.

This year, it was our turn with task two of Victoria Business Icon. The AELC wanted a social media campaign focused on further branding itself in the student space worldwide and got it we did!.

The four teams had approximately thirty hours from briefing to making their presentation in front of the judging panel.

To give you an idea of what can be done in that short time by the determined and talented young contestants, have a look at this video. Friday morning, the contestants were briefed on the task. By that night, this video had been conceived, scripted, shot, edited and uploaded to YouTube for the world to see. Even more amazing, the video was only one part of that team’s presentation – it fitted into a much bigger scenario.

All four teams came up with similarly impressive social media campaigns, in less than two days! This is shaping up to be quite a competition.

Yes, the team that created this video won that round and yes, you will definitely see AELC putting some of those fabulous ideas from all teams into practice.

www.aelc.edu.au/services/internships/