An Australian-first for business-savvy students
Two Year 12 students from Sydney’s Moriah College have been selected to launch first entrepreneurship program of its kind in Australia.
Jake and Zac Wein
Eighteen-year-old twin brothers Zac and Jake Wein are on a mission to prove that you’re never too young to start your own business.
In fact, as well as sitting their HSC exams this year, Zac and Jake have been selected to launch Australia’s first ever LaunchX Club in association with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at their high school, Moriah College.
LaunchX is an American organisation that provides>entrepreneurial high school students with real-world business experience by supporting and assisting them in creating their own start-up companies in just six months.
Now, 24 forward-thinking individuals in Years 9-12 at Moriah College will be selected to make up four teams that will design, develop and build their own fully-functioning businesses, and the boys say that applications from innovative and ambitious teens for the sought-after spots are already flooding in.
Last year, Zac and I were applying to different colleges in America to see if we could do a summer course there for two weeks. One of the applications was to MIT, but we didn’t get accepted because we didn’t have a lot of entrepreneurial experience,’ says Jake.
‘They then invited us to be launch club presidents of a program called MIT LaunchX,’ adds Zac. ‘We were blown away and applied and got accepted last year, but the timetabling was run on an American schedule so we weren’t sure we could commit to it.
‘We decided to wait a year and apply again, going through the school and making sure we could do it all properly.’
Jake and I have already spoken to investors and we’ve got a lot of interest from people who want to come in and help. We’ve also got the Moriah Foundation on board, which we’re really appreciative of for their help with the initial costs of the program.
‘LaunchX provides us with a course structure to go through and certain requirements and objectives to meet each week so that our teams can stay on target and grow their businesses in the right way.’
‘We’ve had a few hundred students express their interest in the program and it’s only going to continue to grow over the next few years,’ says Jake.
‘The great thing is that age is not an issue,’ Zac continues. ‘It’s about your passion for entrepreneurship and whether you think you can take on the responsibility and have the right skills to succeed.’
