A youth entrepreneur in encouraging fellow Generation Zers to step up and be part of the post-COVID-19 business rebuild.
Founder of GirlBoss New Zealand Alexia Hilbertidou, 21, says young people need to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset to help rebuild the nation.
"Generation Z are such a passionate and dynamic generation, and there are so many problems in this world right now. I believe that young people can be the ones to see a problem and realise they can be the ones to step up and be part of the solution," she told Rebuilding Paradise with Paul Henry.
"I really hope this can serve as stimulus for my generation, that it can recentre our thoughts, make us more energised and make us really deliberate in our actions, that young people can be inspired by these problems around us."
Part of the problem for Gen Z, she says, is they're entering the workforce for the first time and they have to compete with experienced people who have recently been laid off. This means a diverse range of employment solutions should be looked at to help young people into work.
"So often, young people fall back on study in times of recession, but that's not the pathway for all young people - it works for some, but not all."
She says pay-as-you-earn schemes, apprenticeships and incentivising businesses to hire young people will help with the solution.
Hilbertidou believes the impacts of unemployment and recession from the pandemic mean women are at a high-risk of being the most impacted.
"If we look at the fields which are hardest hit - retail, hospitality, tourism, part time work - women generally dominate in those fields. Don't forget that a lot of homes rely on one woman's income. Gender always needs to be on the agenda, but especially now."
Watch her full interview with Paul Henry above.
