2021 End of Year News

We thought 2020 was tough, and then we had to hold tight again in 2021.

Highlights

• Full rebrand from PopUp Business School to Rebel Business School!
• Rebel was a finalist in the Wellington Gold Awards
• We moved from Vivian Street to Johnsonville in Wellington!
• Co-working space in a X-mas decorated office and a puppy sometimes!
• Now over 1,300 Alumni entrepreneurs - Wahoo! 
• More active social media with lots of memes, informational content and updates!
• We are now on TikTok!
• Longitudinal Studies of graduates across Wellington and Auckland!
• First-time events across new regions even during COVID 2.0!
• Renewed L4 Accreditation with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD)!
• Welcome to our team to Lynley, Sonia, Kamilla and Lucy!
• Best wishes to Jo who left us to study!
• Teasing new programs and tools for our Alumni!

Despite COVD, we had an eventful year

As a country and as a team we have had to bathe in the spirit of Kia kaha as an essential attitude. When COVID hit last March, Rebel Business School, like many other businesses, had to pivot and rethink how we delivered our courses. We had a few bumps along the way as we worked out logistics and protocols of running not only in person and fully online courses but also blended ones (a mix of both) for: 

1. West Auckland
2. Porirua (3rd time!)
3. Waikato
4. South Auckland
5. Hawke’s Bay
6. Taranaki
7. Kāpiti Coast (4th time!)
8. Te Kaha
9. Christchurch (first time in the South Island!!)
10. Kawerau
11. Auckland Online 

​​It’s been challenging for sure, but we’ve answered the call of our stakeholders and delivered what they asked for and what we know our participants need.

What's been happening in the Alumni space?

2021 has been another challenging year not only for Aotearoa but also for the small business space. Our 1300 strong Rebel entrepreneurs have shown their resilience and determination in seeing this year through when it comes to running their businesses. Here are some things of note:

• Over 900 members interacting and building synergies with each other in our Facebook group
• 18 Subgroups representing Rebel Alumni all over the country with 7 Active Ambassadors leading and coordinating them
• Longitudinal Studies of Alumni across Wellington and Auckland regions will provide priceless information of our impact on the development of the local communities
• The bi-weekly Virtual Coffee Catchups on Zoom have been drawing Alumni from all over the country to come together, build relationships and network.
• RBSA joined a select group of business mentoring providers to deliver in-depth business support services to MSD clients.  
• Sadly, two of our alumni, Gail Imhoff and Liz Hart, recently passed away. We want to acknowledge their advocacy and support for RBSA. Our condolences and thoughts have been passed on to their whanau.

Looking forward to 2022

We have been planning some amazing things for the next year to become even more efficient, have more team members, and a wider reach across Aotearoa so that every Kiwi has an opportunity to have a go at starting a business. Most importantly, we have got a more structured approach and a system for supporting our Alumni post-course all the way through their business journey coming soon, so watch this space! In the meantime, here are some things to look forward to:

• More Rebel courses booked for 2022!
• Short courses, involving our Bizezi app, are being designed!
• Courses to be run during the school holidays, too!
• Youth courses are underway as well!
• More informational content, more memes, videos, and news on our social media!
• Plenty of new products, tools, and resources for our Alumni (e.g. deeper tailored business support to entrepreneurs through our mentoring services, Masterclasses and the Business Plan Blitz, plus a portal for our graduates to find each other and collaborate together)!
• Expanding our co-working space from Wellington to all over the country in partnership with The Salvation Army
• Being Vaccine Proactive & following the traffic light system
• Increasing RBSA exposure across Aotearoa
• Growing our team
• As always, we are open to your suggestions! Please comment under this post :)

A special thank you

It's been a journey and we couldn’t have done it without the continued support of our stakeholders: Auckland Unlimited, Local Boards in Auckland, Porirua City Council, Waikato District Council, Hawke’s Bay Business Hub, Napier City Council, Hastings District Council, South Taranaki District Council, Kāpiti Coast District Council, WellingtonNZ, ChristchurchNZ, Te Puni Kōkiri and of course, the Ministry of Social Development. Same goes for all of our ever so supportive alumni and amazing facilitators and speakers. Thanks one and all!

We will now introduce you to some new team members we are lucky to have this year, because we couldn't have made it without them either. On the left wearing antlers is Kamilla Korokhova, our new Marketing Assistant, who has taken over from Joanne Clark. In the middle we have two new team members, Lynley Middlemiss, our Special Projects Manager and Hattie the Puppy. And finally, on the right we have the festive Sonia Mustard, our Projects and Logistics person, and Lucy O'Neill, our new Head of Sales! 

Now that we are all acquainted, we want to wish a very Merry Christmas to all of you! We've just sent everyone an email with a cute Christmas card from our team. So enjoy your holidays wherever you are and let’s hope 2022 is full of opportunities and joy :)