Education pioneers giving young entrepreneurs a start

Entourage pitch night

The winners will receive an all-round education in taking a business concept from idea to reality, with mentoring from experienced entrepreneurs throughout.

Education disruptors the Entourage set four young entrepreneurs on the path to success in Melbourne on Friday evening. The event celebrated the Sydney-based organisation’s launch in Melbourne, following in the footsteps of numerous other companies at the vanguard of disruption who are coming to the city and making it Australia’s innovation hub.

The Entourage were born out of a need identified by founder and CEO, Jack Delosa, for a forum where entrepreneurs could find a real business education at the hands of those who have succeeded themselves.

They are at the forefront of disrupting education, their aim to make Australia the number one destination for innovation and entrepreneurship. Jack Delosa said on Friday evening that the organisation’s three key building blocks to promoting innovation are education, partnership with government and partnership with industry.

He reinforced the fact that we spend the majority of our lives at work and how important what we do is to who we are. “Engagement in meaningful work will drive civilisation forward,” he said.

The value of entrepreneurship and innovation across all sectors and sizes of business is underlined by the fact, Delosa said, that 60% of the Entourage’s students are not SME owners themselves, but employees of companies large and small to whom they want to bring more innovation.

The Entourage offer three programs dealing with each stage of a successful enterprise – launch (getting your idea off the ground), build (growing your business), and scale (turning it into a high-quality, investor-ready concern).

On Friday night, in partnership with small business online-lending specialists Prospa – represented on the night by Franco Bombardieri – they offered the opportunity to young entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas and win a fully-funded place in their launch program. The winners will receive an all-round education in taking a business concept from idea to reality, with mentoring from from experienced entrepreneurs throughout.

The intention was to reward two pitches, but such was the quality of the pitches and the fact that one of the strongest was from a Not-For-Profit concept, that the Entourage team decided to offer an extra sponsored spot on the launch course.

The winning pitches came from:

Helen Todd – Lenen is sharing economy concept based on clothes

Rylan Sadler and Marc​ Grosso – Manners Are Free aims to increase tolerance by teaching creative forms of meditation and music to children in an attempt to increase their emotional awareness

Luke Sabato – Hub-Pod is a sustainable hub and pod for homeless people made from completely recyclable materials

We intend to follow the progress of these entrepreneurs at Inside Small Business and share their journey with you. For more information on courses visit www.the-entourage.edu.au.