Jo Burston, serial entrepreneur and Founder of Inspiring Rare Birds has a new venture, startup.business, that brings entrepreneurial learning in action into the classroom to inspire and equip the next generation to create real social and economic impact.
“Youth globally are our superheroes,” Jo says. “They want to find solutions to problems that previous generations have created and for these solutions to be sustainable, sometimes multimillion-dollar businesses. They are digital natives who thrive on being connected and, most importantly, don’t see any gender or cultural barriers to success. We must keep these imaginations alive and healthy.”
Her first partnership is with Australian Government-funded research and development body, AgriFutures Australia, that will sponsor seven schools across seven states and territories to receive a $7,000 education program that will take secondary students on an immersive journey into the entrepreneurial startup scene to help solve the problems facing agriculture in Australia.
Australian agriculture produces an impressive 93% of our domestic food supply and 1.6 million Australians are employed in ag-related industries, making it the biggest employer in rural and regional communities. But the world is changing. The population is growing and the climate is changing, which means we need to work out how to feed more people with less land and less water. For this reason, it is imperative that agriculture in Australia embraces the new technology revolution. That’s where entrepreneurship and innovation comes in.
