Victoria Business School student Kate Burn accepted the top award in the Global Enterprise Experience (GEE) business competition business proposal recently on behalf of her eight team members from Indonesia, Nepal, New Zealand, Rwanda and the Netherlands.

A simple and remarkable idea to establish beehives in urban areas as a way to better integrate homeless people into society has won top award in the Global Enterprise Experience (GEE) business competition for 2016.

The winning business proposal aimed to provide employment for Johannesburg's homeless while making the most of the city's climate and conditions, according to Victoria Business School student Kate Burn.

"We chose Johannesburg for our project because rooftop beehives are legal, the city has over six million trees, a great climate for honey production, and a very high homeless rate.

"Most of the homeless are keen to work, but unemployment levels are over 30 percent so they get stuck on the streets," she said.

Kate, a BCom student majoring in Marketing and Management, accepted the Champion Team Award at the international competition's award ceremony at Parliament recently on behalf of her eight team members from Indonesia, Nepal, New Zealand, Rwanda and the Netherlands.

Nearly 900 students from fifty-three countries took part in the annual, three-week contest, in which they developed a business concept proposal on a profitable product or service fostering social cohesion.

Each of the 111 teams this year was led by a New Zealand participant, most of whom were from Victoria University.

Kate said despite the "gulf in our societies", her team became friends throughout the three week project.

"We Kiwis had to stretch our cross-cultural understanding and leadership skills but after three frazzling weeks we had really grown, stepping up to become global leaders."

Students overcoming extreme challenges to take part in the contest

With team members from all over the globe, participants must overcome differences in culture, time zones and languages to work cooperatively.

GEE founder and director Deb Gilbertson says each year she hears of students overcoming extreme challenges to take part in the contest to develop global leadership skills and create business ventures tackling social and environmental problems.

"Pegah Bezrooli is banned from study in Iran because she is a Baha'i, so studied architecture at a Baha'i underground university," Ms Gilbertson said.

"She runs the risk of lengthy imprisonment for studying and communicating with foreigners, and her global team drew on her skills to create low cost adobe housing for the Nepalis to rebuild following last year's devastating earthquake."

"Our Nepali participants frequently face 12-hour power cuts each day, Nigerians used cellphones rather than computers to write the reports, Rwandans struggled to access the internet during the weeklong commemorations of the 1994 genocide, and the Armenians were caught in the outbreak of a war."

GEE is sponsored by Victoria Business School, the University of Otago Business School and Te Kaihau Ltd education consultancy.

This year's judges were Dr Jian Yang, MP and Education and Science Select Committee chair; Dr Jo Cribb, Ministry for Women chief executive; Guy Ryan social entrepreneur and 2015 Young New Zealander of the Year; Alan Koziarski, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise director coalitions and sectors; and Dame Susan Devoy, Race Relations Commissioner.

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