Young achievers surprise, delight

AFTER three days of competition, the winners of the FedEx Young Achievement award have finally been announced in Singapore. The competition for students between the ages of 16 and 19, has been won this year by a pair from New Zealand. Paul Minors and Chuck Slogrove won with their idea of a market strategy for the export of carpets to Egypt. The judges chose the winners based on the presentation and content of their idea. In second place were Talman Madsen and Aimee Gordon, also from New Zealand, and in third place was an Australian pair, Laura Flint and Jade Robertson from St Catherine’s in Melbourne. Almost 1,700 students from Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand took part in the challenge and of that, just 42 were chosen to represent their countries at the finals, held in Singapore last week. FedEx Express Asia-Pacific president David Cunningham believed the challenge would benefit his company in the future. “The finalists in this year’s competition truly exhibited teamwork, leadership and innovative thinking that will help them drive success in a dynamic business world where opportunities abound,” Mr Cunningham said. Monica Macgregor is a year 10 student at Melbourne Girls Grammar School. She joined Lloyds List DCN on work experience last week.