Columba Catholic College builds entrepreneurial spirit in students

From country Queensland to Parliament House and even Buckingham Palace, a young go-getter is blazing a trail of success with her business ideas. And she’s determined to inspire other girls to dream big too.

She’s only 14, but rural Queensland student Isabella O’Sullivan has already impressed the Governor-General with her innovative thinking.

The Charters Towers teenager was named Australia’s first Enterprising Girl of the Year in 2024, after the national competition was launched earlier this year.

The competition aims to unleash the entrepreneurial potential of females aged 10-18 and Isabella won for her entrepreneurial spirit and a big idea to help crop farmers, called Moisture Master.

The go-getter captured the attention of Governor-General Sam Mostyn when presenting Isabella with the award at a female founder event at Parliament House in Canberra. Mostyn was so impressed that she promised to share the idea with King Charles during his Australian tour.

Isabella said she was deeply honoured by the response.

“I felt very excited and privileged, I wasn’t expecting that,” she said.

The premise of Moisture Master is based around a robot that would test soil moisture and trigger irrigation lines if needed, to help fight crop rotting and reduce water waste.

With a love of agricultural science, Isabella said her idea was borne out of a drive to make life easier for farmers.

“I think entrepreneurship may be in my blood as my grandparents own numerous cattle

properties throughout northern and central Queensland,” she said.

“They are people who started out with very little and worked very hard to build up their

Businesses. They’ve experienced lots of setbacks like drought, bushfires, rising interest rates, and low cattle prices, and throughout it all, they have remained positive and ultimately succeeded.”

Royalty and dignitaries aside, it’s back home where Isabella is having the greatest impact.

The self-starter schooled herself in the foundations of business development through the Academy of Enterprising Girls, before entering the academy’s inaugural competition.

She’s now on a mission to recruit fellow classmates to the academy’s free workshops and online course, which aim to inspire girls in the fields of STEM and business.

She is setting up entrepreneurial clubs at her school to encourage other girls to think beyond traditional gendered roles in rural communities. And she helped run one of the Academy’s GLOW (Girls Leading our World) events at the school, with two local businesswomen invited to share their stories with students.

“In the town where I live, the words ‘The World’ are written on the tank,” Isabella says.

“I want girls at my school to understand that although our town is a good place, there is so much more out in the world waiting for them.”

Columba Catholic’s career advisor Helen Milton said the school is planning a range of activities to help foster and support an entrepreneurial spirit in students.

“The school community is so proud of Isabella, and younger students are looking at her and saying: ‘Well, I like to do something like that – or I could do something different. It’s inspiring them,” she said.

She said the award had sent ripples of positivity through the community, with Isabella’s win the talk of the town.

“It’s been uplifting for not only our school, but our wider Charters Towers community, I’ve seen it mentioned on our community Facebook, on community discussion boards – it’s so good to see positive news stories on local kids,” she said.