On Thursday 7 August Troy Fuimaono (Year 12), Mr Prasad and Mr Simento and myself attended the 2025 ‘Revved’ event.  This was a conference on the theme of business leadership, and was MC’d by Paula Bennett, the former Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand. The 30 speakers in the event ranged from local, small business startups to globally recognised individuals, all of whom had a unique perspective and experience in the business world. 

This event was something I was surprised to be invited to, as I am not particularly business-minded. I was always under the impression that business and their respective owners were boring, bureaucratic individuals who happened to get lucky with an idea. After attending this event, those expectations are shattered. These entrepreneurs are some of the most keen and engaging speakers I have ever heard, and you can tell just by listening to the way they share their experiences, trying to grow a company from the ground up, that they are deeply passionate about what they do and the ideas they have. 

This event was a place where people could share the story of their current or former business. The speakers, being as educated and keen as they are, often broke away from the larger theme of their panel to talk more collectively about how they have faced or responded to the issue at hand. There was an entire panel that sort of derailed from the original question and, as they were all entrepreneurs with the environment as their key focus,  just began sharing statistics about how we as people, and we as a country, could be leading the world in renewable energy and technology.

My favorite part of the day was this derailing, as it gave these people the ability to speak to what they had worked so hard to achieve, and share that story with an audience who may be facing similar struggles in their own business. At one point, the lines between business insight and motivational speaking blurred, leaving only life lessons that can apply to any field or aspiration you want to fulfill. Almost every speaker highlighted, at some point, just how important mindset and mentality are in the game of business. These are people who fell in love with the struggle of creating something new, and seeing them come together as a collective, even in different sessions, all trying to hammer home the point of mentality to the room full of aspiring entrepreneurs, was what made Revved special.  I see now, after today,  that to be an entrepreneur is not to know all the rules and follow them, but to obsess and care so much about something that you are willing to sacrifice everything to see it reach its full potential.  Revved was a truly special experience, and my gratitude goes out to both the organisers of the event, but also the St Paul’s staff who gave me the privilege of attending. 

Matthew Blanch (Year 12)