3 December 2025
THRIVING YOUNG PEOPLE | MELBOURNE, 2025
Nathaniel Diong can still pinpoint the moment his ideas of education were reset. A school excursion took him from a classroom where he felt invisible into a room where professionals were given 48 hours to solve a real-world problem. Hearing about design thinking, pitching and business modelling showed him that learning could be energetic and hopeful. He took that spark back to school, ran his first entrepreneurship programme in 2017, and kept going.
Today Nathaniel leads Future Minds Network, a youth innovation charity that pairs creativity with practical learning, providing hands-on programs in entrepreneurship and life skills, linking young people to mentors, industry and paid opportunities across schools and communities.
In March 2025, at Evans & Partners in Melbourne, TFN donors committed $66,000 to Future Minds Network’s Young Artist Center. The program turns artistic passions like crochet, jewellery and mixed media into micro-businesses, with training in pricing, sales, negotiation, marketing and business modelling. “TFN just came at just the right time to be able to give us that leg up to keep this legacy going,” Nathaniel says.
A pilot cohort of 15 young artists completed an eight week programme of skill building and mentoring, producing core business documents, practising customer conversations and refining their brands. Studio sessions paid them to teach their craft, and free stalls at markets and festivals let them test prices and negotiate. The programme ended with a showcase where they pitched, ran an indoor market and auctioned work before family and friends.
The numbers show early agency. “At the start, roughly 40% of the participants were at zero revenue. By program close, four in five were earning money,” Nathaniel says. More important was what the earnings represented. Teenagers who arrived shy and hesitant were standing at stalls, setting prices with confidence and explaining their work to strangers. An online community now hums with product ideas, stall photos and invitations to upcoming markets, keeping momentum between events. “We are such an active community that is so supportive,” Nathaniel says.
Partnerships have turned funding into real-world practice. Hume City Council provided venues for weekly training and the final showcase, along with on-site support. Local retailers and festivals offered free trading space so young people could set up and sell. The spark Nathaniel carried back to school all those years ago now lights the way for young creators to earn, belong and choose their futures.
• Be authentic and human about challenges and impact.
• Wait for partners who share your values.
• Collaborate widely to build community and outcomes.