Helen Baker. Welcome to the mentor absolute privileged to be here. I want to talk a little bit about it because you've got a pretty amazing backstory, Helen Baker, And I want to look at you. Unless you're married to a Baker, and even if you're not married to a person called Baker or your first name Helen, you're of Asian descend by the look of things. Where were you born?
So? I was born in the Philippines in a city called the College, which is south of Manila.
Right and big joint. So tell me the story, Like, how did you end up here in Australia.
Yeah, so I was orphaned when I was a.
Baby, which means you went to an orphanage. I presume that's which you mean. Yeah, yeah, parents.
So I was given up for adoption. And the reason I was given up was because my mother was dying at the time. Oh wow, yeah, father couldn't afford to keep.
Me sad Like, what was she older or younger?
I don't know, you don't know, I don't know the backstory.
But how do you know she was dying?
Well, the nursery kept records of the orphans, right, and they told my adoptive parents that the reason I was given up was because she was dying at the time. And yeah, my father was a cane field worker, couldn't afford to keep me and two of my siblings had passed away from malnutrition. So I was one of ten children whoah from one mother, from one.
Mother whoa yeah one as she wasn't well like ten kids. No, I don't mean flippantly like that's a heavy load. It is heavy on anybody. If you're genetically any way related to mom, wouldn't have been a too big a person, particularly during that period growing up in the Philippines in a poor area.
Yeah, well that's right.
And do you ever think to yourself in biologically that you'd like to meet your father?
Yeah?
Have you met him? No, he's alive.
I have absolutely no idea. And I did start that search some time ago, but they actually shut down the department. Wow, the government department that organized all of those searches. But when I was younger, my parents always asked me, do I want to go back to the Philippines?
How old? How old were you when you adopted? In other words, did you live thirteen months?
Oh?
Okay, so you wouldn't have any memory of the place. And so I guess your adopted parents, mom and dad have told you the story about what they saw when they went down went to the particular orphanage. I mean, how's it all work? Because I'm always been I mystified how this stuff works, Like how does Australian couple, I presume the Bakers they've decided We'll talk about them in a moment, but they've decided to go to the Philippines to adopt a kid. Does that it works where you
make an application near the Philippines embassy. What's yeah?
Yeah, so back then, this is in the seventies, so I am actually older than I look. So yeah, so back in the seventies it was actually a lot easier to adopt than it is now. And they did it through an organization called Asian And how they did it was they literally wrote to the orphanage and lots of back and forth. Back then it was paper. Everything was paper based, so it took a year for the adoption to come through. But my dad was also working over
in the Philippines with Apex. Do you remember Apex like Rotary And he was working on a project over in the Philippines Rebuilding Orphanages project. Yeah, yeah, correct, and then he he saw the devastation of you know, these children, what it was like in the orphanages, and then wrote back to my mum and said, can we adopt one of these children? Oh?
That's cool? Did they have Do they have kids of their own at the time?
Yes, So I've got an older brother and an older sister who looks nothing like me.
Yeah, I can imagine if they were born to miss from Missus Baker exactly in Australia. And so your father and it was sort of like your father's idea as a result of seeing the conditions that orphans have lived under in these environments. And how does that make you feel when you hear that story? I mean, and by the way, when did they first tell you that story? I mean we were a little kid, boy.
I think I always knew. I mean I was very different and I was.
You knew, but you hadn't been told. How does it work?
I mean I must have been told when I was from a young age. I mean I don't remember the specific day when Mum and Dad sat me down and said, by the way, you adopted. I think it was just always it was they must have told me from a very young age, and I always new but it was very obvious because I was the youngly Asian in school.
Yes, well the only Asian.
Well. I was plucked out of this orphanage and then placed into a rural farming community land. Yeah, up in warrigal And, Gippsland. And back then it was yeah, I was the only Asian in school. And how was that terrible?
We're going back into the seven.
We going back to seventy years and just bear in mind as well that it was shortly after the White Australian Policy had been abolished, especially two years after, so.
We forget about the White Australian policy too. Racism was rife, yes, probably more so in the regionally.
In the regional areas it was rife. I mean I was spat on in the street, really told to go back to where I came from. I was the only Asian in my school.
It was because Vietnam was on at the time too, so a lot of Australians would have been filthy on that, on someone who might look like their.
Vietnamese everyone and only then I don't think they could really distinguish between the different countries as well.
Totally they were particular. Exactly kid from a kid, Yeah, exactly, Although you would, I'll guarantee you can pick the difference between most of the Asian nations.
Yeah, I'd like to think that I'm pretty savvy about that, But back then, kids particularly had no idea, So of course I got called everything from people thought I was Aboriginal through to Chinese, Japanese, you name it. I was every possible thing.
What's that like for a kid? I mean, I grew up in a certain part of Sydney where in those days a lot of the kids who Australia like in Irish English derivation, and I had Greek surname, Greek food, you know, blah blah, different sort of things going on in my life. And I experienced a bit of it, not too much, but like enough to be aware of it. But I can't imagine being, say, in your case, by the way, i'd left score at that stage when you
were growing up. But I can't imagine being someone who was fully Asian fully and Asians looked totally different to Europeans. To Europeans sort of a little bit look like the English and the Irish et cetera. Where difference is our skin's a bit darker, and it is definitely different, but you're you would have been completely different.
I stood out like I saw So how.
Did you feel at the time, I mean, do you remember feelings of despair? Perhaps?
Oh well? And truly yeah, absolutely, no, I was. It was such a double edged sword because I was incredibly grateful for the opportunities that I had.
So you aware of gratefulness, You're aware of.
How you were for sure, absolutely. I mean it was very obvious that I had come from dire circumstances, so I was grateful that. And I think this was drummed in to me from a young age from my dad as well, that there's there's always someone worse out there than yourself. I was pretty fortunate for me, That's the truth, absolutely, But at the same time it was it was a real struggle because I didn't know who I was, how
to fit in. I just wanted to be to be white, to be honest, because I was just teased all the time every day.
What do you think it is, Allen? Do you think it's the color of your skin, or the style of your hair, or the color of your eyes? What is it that sort of was a thing that freaked people out most.
I think it was color of skin. Yeah, yeah. And I'll give you an example of something that was quite devastating for me. When I was in high school. I was the only actually there was one other Asian in high school as well, and we both knew each other and the struggles that we both faced. And there was a school play that we auditioned for. And I remember going along and auditioning for this school play, and you
don't have it back then. They put the paper up on the board and you'd go afterwards and see whether you got a parsh. And I went to see and I got this part, and I thought, oh wow, it's awesome this part in the school play. And then I found out later that this other Asian also got a pash. And we were both playing indigenous.
Kids, Australian indigenous kids, yes, as opposed to Filipino indigenous.
Kids, because just because we had brown skin. Wow. So they decide that's just an example, one very small example.
And how did you did? We did your heart slump?
Of course?
Of course, I guess you're not going to get the nativities seen as Mary at Christmas time or something like that. But I'm just saying, like, you know, I don't know, don't she could have been asing. I don't think she was. But I mean, by you today, that wouldn't be the case. You could get a Nativity scene Mary today because it doesn't really matter because you're just you're just playing a part as opposed to having too.
But back then it was because you've got brown skin, therefore you should be in a in a role that is aboriginal, according to them.
When I went to school, we had one kid in the whole school who was Chinese kid. I member, your name is Michael Chinui and god, who's an unbelievable athlete, guy like he could do anything. He was a bit younger than me. But it's funny, nobody my school is such a mix of kids Lebanese, Greeks, Italians, and like every mix you can imagine different regional areas, and you know, because in the West and but this kid never had a problem, like nobody really said much like said negative
things about him. I remember I held him in awe because of this his unbelieved athleticism. Is an incredible, incredible athlete he was, and racism sort of did exist I'm going back, you know, ten years before you're talking about in the sixties. I was at school sixties to late sixties. I left school seventy three, so that was actually last
year was my fiftieth anniversary doing a year twelve. I can't believe it can like fifty years animersal My god only died when I realized and I went and saw all my old schoolmates who were I was young for my years and younger than all other kids. And I got a shock when I wasn't seen he's got fifty And I got a shock when I went and saw them. But we But I didn't realize how very Australian my school was until I saw these guys out at Rusby. Yeah, and you're someone like you growing up in your area.
I know what it did to me being one of the wogs. Was it actually made me try harder? Effect did it have on you as a student.
As a student, No, it didn't. I was with the opposite. I was quite rebellious, said fuck them, Yeah, I was very What does that mean?
What did you to cut your hair gray, fingernails, your hair purple and green?
I don't know, no, I just I think I acted out just because well there are a lot of a lot of reasons, but I think it stemmed from conversations that I would have with my dad. So my dad was very much my role model growing up, and he would always say, don't give a shit about the color of your skin, like, it's not about what you look like, it's about what's inside that counts. So often, yeah, it would just be a few kind of mentality. So yeah, I was really I was really rebellious and did.
Lots of naughty things.
Yeah, lots of naughty things. I was naughty. I was really naughty.
Naughty as a young girl or naughty as a teenager, like naughty and like that.
Well no, I no, no, I didn't do no, not that naughty. I didn't do drugs and all that kind of stuff. But I was just I was rebellious in a lot of a lot of.
Ways, just in being cheeking class.
Just being cheeky, doing things that pushed the boundaries a lot, you know. I just I think I was a risk taker as well. So I literally just I don't know, I think.
Did you hang out with the bad kids? No, not really, not as a lonely kid, like in terms of friends, I was had.
One best friend, Tiffany. She was amazing and her family were incredibly supportive of me. But yeah, I think I was just I didn't know who I wanted to be. I was very much you didn't become anywhere. Yeah, I really lacked identity.
Because I'm sitting here talking to you, and obviously your skin colors different anyone else in the room. There's one, two, three, four, five or six people sitting in this room, and but all different nationalities. But look at it to me, and and and I guess like today all kids, I guess like and me at the time, so we all want
to belong somewhere. But when you don't really know where you belong, like I was a half cast because my mum was Irish, but I was both like I didn't know whether I belong on this side or the other side. Like and it was a bit a little bit confusing to me. You know, obviously okay with it these days because normal, but with you, if you don't know where you belong, then you For me, I was a bit
mischievous too as a result on belonging. I thought, then, okay, stuff that I'm not going to do what everyone is telling me. To do, but it did drive me to try harder. I did. I did try to be really competitive because I was determined not let anyone be or anything.
Oh yeah, I've always been competitive and I did a lot of sport. But I also think it comes down to my mother was very controlling, so I've always had authority. So she let me just think of an example of where she was really controlling. So I would have very.
Strict, very strict like is that does that mean though strict about don't wear that short dress? Were correct? Yeah?
Yeah, so even going to the stroll. So in primary school, for example, we didn't have a school uniform, and yet Mum made us wear school shoes as though wearing the school school uniform. So I would rebel against that. So any not only that, you know, I played the piano, she would come along to their piano lessons and take notes. And then she didn't play the pian herself, and then she would instruct me as though she was my piano teacher.
She wouldn't. She didn't even know how to swim, and she come along to the swimming lessons and walk alongside the pool, so she was the swimming instructor. And there are lots of examples like that, but she was I did not get along with my mother very well at all.
But what do you learn from that as an adult? What do you think you learned and what did you take out of that social development from what you saw with the mother into your adult life and into business. For example, So I.
Neglected to say that my mother was an alcoholic as well. That doesn't so I would go to school and face bullying and abuse at school, then come home and my mother was in her pajamas, depressed, drinking wine. So I didn't know what to expect when I got home as well. So to answer your question around you know, what did that teach me? It would It meant that I would surround myself with people who are cheerleaders so very much, so I would go my dad was my role model.
He would leave notes under my pillow, for example, quotes that would pick me up. My best friend's mother was amazing her family, so I think I took that into my career as well. Is to really surround yourself with people who who you could trust and who would be cheering you on the side.
In terms of positivity. You're talking about.
Positivity, but also just yeah, people who would it would be your advocates who'd really be there for you. Just I've got you back.
So you've left school? Did you leave school on year twelve?
Yeap?
And what did you do off that?
So? I went to UNI down in Tasmania. I wanted to get away from countrytown Victoria and applied everywhere, and there just happened to be a big c between mainland exactly, that's straight. And I just thought, oh great, this is as far as a way possible I can get from my parents from.
You know, ogle from the situation.
Yeah, exactly, And that's I think that's what I did too. I escaped a lot from those situations. And yeah. So we went down there and did arts psychology and had a great time, absolutely loved it, and then came back to the mainland. Didn't know what I wanted to do. It was a really tough environment here. So we're talking nineties, so it was a recession time, so jobs weren't they went that.
There was a recession the early nineties.
Yeah, and so I didn't know what to do. And I ended up doing a legal administrative course kind of like a paralegal course. And I did that and then I ended up working at law firm called Filips Fox, which in our DLA piper.
Well pretty big firm.
Yeah yeah, yeah, So got a job there. I start, I started arts admin and then got into a paralegal intellectual property paralegal position, and that was yeah, it was patents and copyright, trademarks, yeah, trademarks, Pyton.
Copyright and then we're too from there to Arthur Anderson.
Arthur the demise of I think they were involved in the in Ron right situation.
Because there was enough the young and and Arthur innoson but they both don't exist anymore. Once Gordon it's the young but now he was, but I never knew what happened Arthur Anderson.
Yeah, so they essentially with the demise of Enron went.
Down, right, that were the orders correct, Yeah, famous Enron case, one of the greatest collapses in the world of corporate history.
Exactly. Yeah. So I was working at Arthur Anderson in their legal yeah before yeah, before their demise, and then when overseas, worked overseas for some law firms over there, came back and got into recruitment, into legal recruitment and from there, so from there then went out on my own and had legal recruitment company, recruiting lawyers for law firms and for in house and then yeah, set up my own business, had that for ten years, and then
worked at Deloitte and then post Aloit post Deloitte. Quit my job at Deloitte because I always wanted to give back to young people like myself. So it's sort of come full circle. And I was volunteering at the time for an organization called Adopt Change. I don't know if you've heard of it before, but founded by Debliefines. What's your same Jackman's. Yeah, So she founded this amazing Adopt Change organization because she was struggling to adopt children here in Australia, so.
She became really hard.
It was really tough and it still is tough. So the laws, Yes, it's really difficult to adopt now, but back then when I was adopted, it was easy. It took a year. Now on average it's close to seven years or so.
If you're like you exactly by.
Which time you've aged out of the process.
Correct you, So you're too old? Yeah, well they'll think you're too old.
Yeah, a lot more barriers so yeah. So yeah, So I was volunteering at the time that I was at Delouche, and I realized that I just can't. I can't give back in a firm like Deloit, and I really wanted to help kids like myself, so those who were really disadvantaged. So I thought, I'm going to quit and go out and create an organization that inspires young kids, helps young kids in.
Some way, shape or form, and what's that called.
So I created a company called Spill the Beans, which was kind of like hey, Ted talks for kids by kids.
Okay, it's cool, yeah, which was great.
So I booked out in the Melbourne Conventions Center, set up the company, booked out Melbourne Convention Center for six hundred people, started selling tickets, had these great kids ready to talk, and then COVID hit oh my god. Yeah, I'll never forget that time when the event managed a called up and said we.
Have to specially kids can't bring them.
Yeah yeah. So so then I thought, what do I do now? So I had to pivot very quickly into an online offering.
But for the same thing, same deal, similar So.
I called it pitch Fest. It was actually young kids pitching their business and charity ideas to entrepreneurs. So like a mini shark tank, not for investment, for advice. Okay, so yeah, they'd pitched their ideas and she was It was literally like a mini shark tank for kids. And we had amazing yeah yeah exactly. So I had the co founder of Netflix on. We had you know, one of the sharks from Shark Tank USA, Matt Higgins. We had named miss Simpson. We should have had you on, Mark.
We had all these amazing entrepreneurs on the show and created this this production. But it was costing me a lot of money to produce.
Yeah, so in which weren't making money.
I wasn't making money exactly. So then I thought, how do I turn this into something that can make money from.
A proper business model?
Yeah yeah, So I turned it into an educational resource and then started teaching it in school. So schools were paying me to facilitate these ideation workshops with schools, teaching kids how to bring their ideas.
To life at a school at schoolchools.
Yeah.
So did you have to do a deal with your Victorian but you have to deal with the Victorian government, No, I know.
So the schools that I approached just said we'll pay you to come in and do these ideation workshops with the kids and help them bring their ideas to life.
So like the work that you do in the schools is helping kids think about an idea for business and then or is it about they've already got an idea for business, and how do I bring this life by teaching them how to perhaps pitch the best right both.
So bringing thinking of ideas based on problems that they were trying to solve, and then going through the ideation process of right where to Now, how do we validate these ideas and then how do we execute on those ideas and sort of entrepreneurship in the name of the business. So it's still spill the beans now and now, So that's kind of morphed into solve it.
So which is your new business?
Yes? Correct?
And that's now just quickly summarize solve it for me because and then I want to go to the bring and when I come back, I want to talk about solve it. Yeah, I can't say it, probably because I've seen the spelling of it as x l o V I t o l V was close.
Yeah, So like think of xerox zero.
So what is resolved? Just take me through to the final conclusion, where soolved is now obviously is going to have more iterations as you go on, But where Resolveds sit right now in terms of you're offering it's out.
In the market now. Yeah, so we're teaching at universities.
So you've gone beyond schools.
Beyond schools universities. It's of course companies are paying for it. I'll talk to you in more detail about it, but essentially what it is is a crowdsourcing app for student innovation helping companies to solve social problems.
Stayed again, So it's a crowd stay it against.
So it's an app companies with students.
So it's a marketplace in that regard. So you've got students over here and you've got corporations over here, correct, and what are the students putting onto the marketplace?
So companies create challenges on the app that are aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development goals in relation to real problems that they're facing, and then students pitch their ideas, then win the opportunity to meet the executives of those companies and potentially built up their ideas with the companies.
So they picture there idea about how to solve the problem. So BHP put a question up there about whatever, is there a mandate as to what as to what areas? Is it mandated as to what areas can be put on there for.
Solving Yes, so they have to be aligned to the
United Nations. What is that though, sdbs SG So you know the SDGs, No, I don't, Okay, So the STGs, the United Nations have put out basically a blueprint for the future around They've set seventeen goals that they want to achieve by twenty thirty and it might be poverty, no poverty, zero hunger, gender equality like we have you know, equal amount of men and women in the workforce, or just there are seventeen of these goals, climate action for example.
So I'll give an example of one of the challenges is on the platform. So Village Cinemas is on the platform. For example, They've created a challenge that relates to getting more people through the cinemas, helping to create more mental health and wellbeing for people. Because during COVID it was all lockdown and everyone was using streaming platforms. So they've put a challenge on their in relation to SDG nine, which is industry and innovation, how do we attract more
people through the cinemas? So go on and solve it.
And kids and the challenge. Now, well, I'm going to get come straight back. But when I come back, I want to talk to you, talk to you about sort of a bit more, get into the weeds of how it all works, if you don't mind. I'm back from the break and I'm here with Vegan and we are talking about resolve it. I can't even bloody pronounce it, but as I've got to hear in front of me, x O, l V I T, and I presume it's resolve it dot com dot or just solve it dot io, dot I io what I.
Stand for now, it's just a fancy tech.
It's just but as new tech domain, is it?
Yes?
Okay? X O, l V I T, dot io. And you know, in my simple terms, it's a marketplace between let's call it corporations who are trying to have been adopting the mandates of the Sustainable Development Goals goals thank you, which is sort of like the mandate coming out of the United Nations. And I think there's did you say seventeen of the seventeen of these seven en goals, so they can pick any goal they want, whatever it is,
so they can pick numerous goals. They put the challenge up, or they put the problem up, or the challenge up onto the onto your website. Then kids, I'll presume anywhere.
In the world university students, but anywhere in the world.
Just aus trailer, just Astralia the moment, but Australian university students. And it doesn't really matter with it in year one or year it doesn't matter if it's it doesn't matter the courses. Does anyone any goods? And they then put up suggestion how that this particular thing can be met, this goal can be met, and this challenge can be solved. But what actually happens when let's say, you know, my
grandson puts it up. Yep, he's not at university at the moment, he's too young, but thetume is a university. He puts up one of these solutions. What actually happens, does let's call it village road shows put up the issue as you suggested, Does the CEO get him, does he get a mentor.
What does he get so he gets to our ideation workshop with the company with the executives from the company, so whoever they choose to bring into that ideation workshop. So we did one recently with Microsoft, so Microsoft is on the platform. They created an AI challenge. An NBA student from Melbourne Business School pitch their challenge won that opportunity. We had a group of executives from Microsoft and Melbourne Business School attended to our ideation workshop to help build
out this idea. You know, what would it look like, so to ideate around potentially bringing that to life.
So an NBA student unfair because he's probably already got a degree or she's got a degree, but it doesn't matter. So the NBA it's great anyway. So the NBA students, now incentivized to do something, gets an opportunity to meet up with these with Microsoft execs. Does Microsoft then say, in terms of building this AI model out which involves software, does Microsoft lend them any resources?
So it's really just an idea at the moment. It's just this is what it could look like. This, maybe we build it out, maybe we take certain parts of this and work on this in the future. But it's not you know, we're not taking your IP for example, okay, stealing your IP to go and build out your product specifically, So it's really just an opportunity to more. It's more about the connection from the student and the company connecting,
coming together, and that's what the students want. So we're solving that problem for the students and then for the companies, we're helping them to raise brand awareness with amazing students across universities.
To companies do this out of their corporations, do this out of their obligation to do community stuff like things for communities. Is it part of it?
It's doing good in the world for them, And maybe you want to talk about this after the break, but there are lots of reasons why companies want to do this. The first is that they're trying to deal with the problem that they're losing graduates. So the graduate reneg rates are at the highest they've ever been right now. So graduates are applying for positions at many companies, they're getting offered positions, but then they're renegging on their offers.
But doing what that after.
The reneq going to one company, So twenty applications out there, they'll choose one offer to go with one company. Yeah, so they're renegging on their office and it's the highest that it's ever been. It's the twenty five percent, and that's costing companies at the moment like two point six million per year for example the other So that's that's solving a problem for them because they're trying to attract
but they're not attracting them because they're going elsewhere. And the reason that they're not attracting them is because they're not necessarily aligned with the student's social values. So in our sort of customer discovery that we did for Zolvers, we found that a lot of students will leave or graduates will leave a position, and gen Z in particular, will leave a position within a couple of years if
they're not socially aligned with the company. So if they don't feel that your company is making a societal impact, see you later, and they will lose their workforce.
What do you mean? But what do they mean by when you did you research? What does it mean that for a company to be socially aligned with that Z person? For example, what.
If they feel like you're not contributing to the community, for example, doing volunteer work in some way, or you don't have a you're not donating money to foundations, or if you don't have a carbon footprint, some kind of EESG strategy across a number of social issues. If you don't have that in place in your policies, then gensit are not interested in you. Because they really care about the world. They really care about gender equality, they care
about diversity inclusion, they care about the climate. There's so many things. And if your company is not aligned socially with these values, then they're going to choose another company over here that is more attractive for them. So that's a problem that they're currently facing.
So when you pick the United Nations seventeen let's call it chapters, that they have obviously carefully considered the seventeen social issues that are probably existing in the world today. I guess they're not expecting it to be exhausted, but be fairly exhausted. It's probably easier then for corporations just to adopt one of those because they at least an
they're in a safe space. They're picking something that is relevant. Yes, and so your your app actually is it a web app or an actual app, it's an app you but your program anyway allow gives them this opportunity to become or to stay relevant.
Yes, to young people the future workforce.
And Okay, that's interesting, and so it is sort of a bit of a branding exercise, but there's also relevancy exercise. Got I guess branding is about relevancy, relevancy and branding in relation to recruitment, because if you can't recruit, you in trouble.
Correct. So, really, what's overd is is a clever pre screening recruits tool for companies and.
For students, and for both for students as well, because the student gets to look at these guys aren't genuine or they are genuine or they you know, they they believe what I'm what I believe, and so it's not really it's sort of like a it's sort of like a dating apport between corporations.
Say that socially responsible dating, Yeah, totally.
Yeah. Yeah, it's not people just turning up to their house or something that. But it's like actual you know, like hanging out together and sort of getting an opportunity to meet each other and talk to each other.
Yeah, that's right.
And so what's the business model on it though, Helen?
So for you, yes, yeah, so companies pay.
They pay to be to be on the site. Correct.
So companies. The value for the companies is that it's raising brand awareness to university students, and it's it's gaining talent, and it's also youthful perspectives and innovation.
That's sort of part of their recruitment program. So they might end up in seek or something like that. But really what they're doing here is as sussing out there. They're allowing others to suss them out, and they're going to the nursery, which is university is one of the one of the nurseries and universities to find out who wants to actually tackle the issue. Do people get an award or something like let's say I'm a student, I go on there and I design you for you know
whoever it is Microsoft? Do they get a certificate as.
Yes they do. Yeah, they get a certificate of achievement to say I've solved. I'm assolver for Microsoft or I'm resolver for Iba.
What do you call it? As over okay? And as it competitive? So in other words that let's say Microsoft puts this thing out there, Yeah, to twenty people, do they pick one?
They pick one out of twenty or fifty exactly?
Do you any much flow through here? Like in terms of students.
Yeah, so we're just we literally only just launched this year. But yeah, So how we're changing the education system in a way is that this has been if you think of it as a you know, the flywheel, it's a double sided marketplace, right, So you've got the students who are the users, and you've got companies that create the demand and the universities provide the supply of the students. So in terms of getting students on the way that we acquire students onto the platform is actually by teaching
it in class. So you'll probably remember from your days at UNI, you probably studied a lot of Harvard business case studies.
I actually I have taught them in them in my teaching career at the university.
Yeah yeah, so I guess Soolve it in a way is substituting the h Harvard Business case studies. So instead of jumping, you know, a lecturer standing up in front of class saying, hey, we're going to study a Harvard business case study, we're going to jump on the Zolve platform. So they'll actually use it as a formal assessment teaching
a correct Yeah. Yeah, so they'll do a formal assessment in relation to deep diving into the actual problem itself, coming up with a business recommendation report, and then they'll do a pitching assessment as well.
Use apply all the training for that.
Yeah. Yeah, So we provide an education guide and formal assessment briefs and rebricks to the lecturers to teach it in.
So is the source of the students getting onto the problem that needs to be solved in this is in class, through the through the university. So is your game to sign universities up? Correct? So that's what you do, pert you and your team, So you go to the university, you pitch your idea why they should do it, what's in it for the universities.
So a number of things for them. It's their work integrated learning experience for the students. So students do obviously who come through the program get to win this potential opportunity with the company. So it's a connection of industry with the students. But also a lot of you know, students are dropping out of classes at the moment too because they're not feeling engaged. It's currently twenty.
Six percent because the courses of relevant I'm not so grazed respect to the university I'm at you in a study, you know, school business. I find the course of relevant. I mean most of the subjects are irrelevant. The students have worked it out. Yeah, say what am I doing in a three year degree for cost me fifty grand? And I'm doing I could have done it one year because there any stuff I really want to know about is blah blah and.
Yeah, and they're preferring to go and work and get money, whether it's a subway, KFC wherever it is, attend to yeah, exactly, or entrepreneurship then attend class. So universities are losing students in that way. They need to engage them. So for universities, it's about engaging them in an interesting, fun, practical way because they all hate theoretical like you know, the Harvard business case studies. We're sick and tired of these studies.
Let's bring practice into the class. So it's solving a problem for universities in that way. But also you've probably come across lecturers. They have a very limited resource in terms of the industry people that they know because they haven't worked in industry, and they keep calling on their mates to come into class. But there's so much you can do so solve. It helps bring a number of companies into the classroom.
And so would Microsoft, for example, come into the classroom.
They can. Now it's up to the lecturer. We can organize that for them. I guess we're sort of that conduit between the industry partners and the universities. But it's it's really so when the companies actually promote their challenges on a platform, you've got the executives recording themselves promoting the challenge on the platform too, So it's quite engaging.
Do you have to train the executives because it means my experience with some of these executives is that with a gress respect, they're not very good in front of a camera and a lot of them other all that exciting or don't really motivate. They're not really motivated.
To provide the script for them.
So it's really actually write it out, do yeah, okay, yes, change abuty or open. So are you actually using AI for this stuff? We are, So they give you instructions.
So or we make it really low barrier for the companies to come on. We say, give us a topic in relation to a problem that you're solving. So a brief as in a just just give us one topic in relation to something you're struggling with. It might be a paragraph, it could be a word. It could be say, for example, Ronald McDonald house, I want to come onto the platform. We're struggling with food waste in relation to you know that our houses come up with a challenge that relates to that.
So you give back. Give me an example, how would you instruct the machine for the machine learning to give you the answer that you want the script? How would you instruct it?
Well, they actually the AI comes up with the challenge itself. Instruct your challenge, Well, it just depends on what would put in would be create a challenge aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal. Basically choose the goal and it relates to food waste, and then it comes out and we say, you know, we'll limit it to give us two hundred words.
To Okay, you say the number of words we have it.
We have a number of things that we would ask.
How many peop we've got in your place in your organization?
How many were they're in the room with us. We've actually got seven interns, chief operating officer, Marketing manager, Partnerships manager, an it person as well.
Yes, this is pretty this is a I'm getting wrapped now, but we're gonna both get wrapped. But this is pretty sort of innovative. It's like it's somebody come out of nowhere. What I mean, what you're telling me, it's it's it's quite for me. I mean I see lots of business ideas, but for me, this is sort of quite obverse, something I would never think of. Like it's just not many people ever think of it. And it's interesting and sort
of how you went through your process. All the sort of things that you did, you sort of plot them on a curve and they sort of ended up sort of up here somewhere. And if you look at the x y AXSS like that you ended up here somehow. With this current iteration of all your ideas and all your experiences going back right back to when you were a little kid, it's quite amazing. Yeah, totally like you're giving back now but making money out of it too. People,
And it's begun for it body. But you said a year now, what is the next step for you from here? Or is it just more built?
It's a combination of more built but getting into as many classes as we can and helping as many young versions of me.
How many universities or campuses are you on now? So per school or per university.
It's a university. So we formerly partnered with Swinburne University of Technology who have been incredible support. They actually provided us with funding initially to build out the second version of this because I built out the first one myself. We didn't talk about that, but so swin burn UNI at the moment we're on in Victoria, but we're expanding across Australia first before we global.
Yeah, but you go to the university. Swinburne is more on online university, isn't it. I know they are campus Yeah yeah, I know them to be quite a big online or quite active in the digital environment.
They are so swinburn MELBOUNI, Melbourne Business School r MIT for example. They're all on the platform and they're all yeah, yeah, they're all teaching in class.
That's fantastic. I don't know the name because I don't know if when you say it sounds good, solve it? But would I would spell it Z O L.
V I T, but as well I try that, but that to my name was already taken.
Yeah, now that is kind of sexy. It is as cool, but as long as you understand it, like I might not. If you had said to me, spells it, I would have said Z. But maybe if you said wrong, pick a first letter, another first thing, I might have come up with excess sexy. When you see it, I get it, yeah, but like probably instinctively. But now I understand it. Now I know why I might. My logic sort of let me down that track, and that you've just corrected me. That Xavier zero zero, I see when I names it.
When zero came out, originally I thought myself, I don't know if that name is going to stick. But of course it's now global business, so don't worry about what would I know about how to spell a brand name? Do you raise money for this? You for zol like as an investors, I feel like you're pitching to me. I'm doing what you used to do.
Yes, so I have angel investors. I have angel investors.
Yes, and then what's the next stage in terms of you know, economies of scale more important. Yes, therefore you need more people on the ground and Sydney meln.
So we'll have to go down the point of properly VC at.
Some stage just a scare you VC.
Yes and no, mostly yes, but no because it's a requirement I think in order to scale properly. And there's some amazing angel investor out there that just says, yeah, here, here's millions. But yeah, yeah, of course. And also, female entrepreneurs are in the minority as far as VC funding.
Goes, and vcs need to therefore inter their own diversity policies, need to actually fund more female entrepreneurs.
Yeah, they do.
There's sort of nearly a compulsion to do it. And by the ways, plenty of good ones around you don't They just don't have to pick someone for the sake of it. There's plenty of good female entrepreneurs where they can invest. I want to just round off all this one thing, Helen Helen Baker today, do you ever encounter any negativity today based on your biological origins then factors you're female as well, the factor is a female entrepreneur
as well, a single female, a single female. So do you've experience any constraints and or pushback at all that would remind you of what it was like when you're.
A kid, Yeah, all the time.
And what what would you what would just what would you say the most stark reasons as far as you can sort of work out for that constraint or for that.
Pushback that people were giving me.
Is it because your female is because you're an entrepreneurs, because you're female entrepreneurs, because you're a female entrepreneur with tan skin, or what is it?
I don't think it's it's a female entrepreneur with tan skin. I think it's in terms of the pushback that I get, it's mostly I think related to you don't have enough traction yet. But when it comes to funding for example, Yeah, for example, yeah, yeah, that's right, you don't have enough tracks.
Where's your first million bucks? Where's your first me in doors proper?
Yeah? Yeah. But in relation to other pushback, and I think it's just standard sales. Yeah, it's just picking up the phone to people and trying to sell selling and you get pushed back all the time.
And how do you deal with that? Do you give a shit? Like do you just see move on? Who cares?
You? Just move on? And do you.
Employ people of let's call it, of diverse backgrounds in your business in order to make sure that everyone has.
A chance, not just because everyone has a chance. But of course diversity is really important to me, absolutely, but they need to have the skills and the talent and the right fit as well.
So where do you draw the line on that? So how do you do that? How do you balance that up? Make sure you've got enough diversity both gender, sex, nationality, ethnicity, et cetera. How do you build a balance or is it just a constant moving target between that and skills and not overdoing it and say too many females because obvius you might not have enough males. I'm like, how do you?
I think you just get the best person for the job.
Yeah, that's interesting coming from someone like you. That's very interesting. The best person for the job, best person for the job without any prejudices though of course you do not have any prejudice against the It's probably impossible for you to have a prejudice it.
You know what is interesting about this mark is it often what I'm seeing, particularly in terms of those people who come through the zolvet platform who really want these opportunities are people like myself who've been dissed as students, as in students who've had disadvantage backgrounds and who are trying to get ahead and that this is their way to really demonstrate that they're prepared to go the extra mile. And often it's international students, so that is really interesting.
Do you think, as you have to wind up here, but I'm always fascinated about this, do you think that's as a result of our non international students have it too good and there's no compulsion, there's no need for them to really put themselves out there.
I think Australians very privileged. I think Australian.
Students relative to non Australians.
Yep, yes, I believe. So. I also believe and this racism is still ethnic discrimination still exists. And Monash for example, put out a study recently which proved is quite well in the workplace. They did a study of two year study with twelve thousand applicants. They put applications out there. They had English sounding names and you know, ethnic sounding names, and those with ethnic sounding names received fewer callbacks compared to the English and they had identical safees.
So you know, I'm sorry, I just do not get why there should be any prejudice against a person because of whether oborn, what kind of their eyes and skin are, or their hair, what their culture is, what the religion is.
I just don't.
Understand how they can make any difference in relation to hiring a person at all.
Well, that is a lovelyad here.
No, but I grew up that way. But like, how can anybody. I don't care if you're black from Middle of Africa, the Congo wherever, if you have got the skills, But I don't see what that individual's different. But the difference is that particular individual because of the color of the skin, for example.
But it goes back, it goes back to history and back to the nineteen oh one. These I know, but it's still ingrained in culture today.
Even if you grow up that way, surely you're an intellect will tell you there is no difference.
Do you know what I love about this gen that the next generations though, they embrace diversity like no other generation, which I absolutely love.
Well, do you think there's mull? Just have finished off this sory because I'm getting wound up. But do you think there's any difference between Like in my case, I just don't see any difference between aywheys so yep as opposed to I don't go out and embrace diversity and say, oh, I ain't going to go get an African person who work in my place and I we're going to get a that's just for it.
There's a lot of that going on.
Do you think there's any difference between actually embracing it as a young person, say a gen Z person who actually is sort of passionate about it, as opposed to say someone like me, which I think I think there's a lot of people around like me, but obviously never that's in terms of sovis that's the end of one, which is not Brett good so very statistically speaking I'm talking about. But where I think I just don't think
it's any different. So between anybody. I don't care what you look like or which part of the worlds you're born and born and even where your book are brought up. I couldn't care less if you've got the skill and you've got the energy and whatever, you've got the job in my case, And is there any difference between the way I feel and gen Z who actually embraces it like, actually it's a thing for them, it's not a thing for me. But I also prejudice is not a thing
for me either, not either one? Is it a difference because I'm only just thought of this now and you're someone who's in the middle of it all this, so maybe you can help me out here. Is there a difference? Should I be actually embracing it like the gen Z am I letting anyone down by not embracing it, given that I don't have any prejudice whatsoever prejudicial bone in my body? Should I be changing it up and embracing it like gen Z?
How would you do that?
I don't know. That's my second question to you, when I was going to say how do I do it? But yeah, how would.
You embrace it? I guess you have you have a platform that you can embrace it in that way.
I could promote it.
Yeah, yeah, you could promote it, but you could also embrace it in Is there.
A reason why I need to do that? I mean, I'm not asking for a judgment a bit, like just just help me out it, Like is your industries what you do? And you're somewhere in between me and those gen zs closer to gen Z than you ask to me, but like it, just help me out it, Like is there something that I'm missing that I'm not doing as an old dude.
Something that you're missing, that you're not doing well.
I think should be saying, all my team and okay, let's from now on, we're going to have two more girls, and we're going to get.
The best way. And one you don't want to do something just for the sake of it, which is washing. But the best way I think that you can embrace this is by leading by example. So it's by the smallest, it's the little one percent. It's the treating people you know in a cafe who just exactly how you would treat anyone, but exactly anything you do anyway, So you're already embracing it.
Okay, that's enough.
Students, don't you know young gen Z for example, sometimes they go a little bit too far.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, That's sort of my point because something I'm wondering if I think that's where you if I'm out of touch, and because I've always thought this way, I couldn't care less where someone comes from. Like I said, that Chinese kid Michael him like he was like I was an order of the guy, Like I didn't even sort of I mean, obviously he looked different everybody else, but I meant nothing to me. Yeah, I actually felt like you looked a bit, like, in a good way,
exotic relative to all of us. You know, I look like a typical European and all my friends look like typical Australians. He was like, yeah, he was. He looked exotic, like he looked cool. It was cool, looked like him. Like girls like you, Like if you went to my school or the girls school next door to me, the boys would have thought you looked exotic relative to all the other girls. I think I don't know, maybe I'm.
Just do you think I think a lot of boys.
Yeah, I'm not sure.
I'm just saying you're coming from your friend, Yeah, yeah, I just lovely.
Yeah, I don't know, but like I'm just thinking that's what they would have thought. But maybe they didn't. But because and because I think what's really important is always to keep evolving and from where you are, where you and where you've evolved, it just to continue to evolve, because I think in terms of relevancy, you must evolve. And and you know, gen Z is a really mysterious,
mysterious place for me, and I'm always trying to stay modern. Yeah, yeah, because I think it keeps you, It keeps you keeps you young, keeps you young great, and if you don't, you can sort of slump back into a pretty shitty place, and then you start to age my view, and.
You need to surround yourself with young people too. And that's why I love like I've got eight interns at the moment, and they're young and enthusiastic and they keep me young. They're great.
It's worked. Thanks good luck to you. Thanks very much, Ellen. Great talking to you got me thinking great.