Infosys expands youth entrepreneurship programme across ANZ

Infosys is expanding its collaboration with Young Change Agents to roll out the Impact Boss programme across Australia and into New Zealand, reaching 500 students over the next year.

The programme will focus on First Nations young people in Australia and Māori, Pasifika, and other underserved young people in New Zealand. Students will work on real-world problems, develop ideas, and present them to Infosys employees, who will serve as mentors and panellists.

This is the first time the initiative will run in New Zealand, extending a relationship that began in Australia in 2022. The expansion comes amid broader debate over how Australia and New Zealand can widen access to technology education and strengthen pathways into digital careers for young people with limited exposure to the sector.

Skills focus

Impact Boss is a youth entrepreneurship programme designed to help participants build skills in innovation, problem-solving, and economic participation. Organisers say it gives young people more agency by asking them to identify challenges in their communities and shape their own responses.

The approach reflects a broader shift in skills policy, as employers, education groups, and governments place more emphasis on practical experience and earlier exposure to workplace ideas. Here, the programme combines entrepreneurship training with access to people already working in technology.

The latest phase will also create volunteering opportunities for Infosys staff. One element, described as a Living Lab activation, will see students pitch ideas directly to employees for feedback and mentoring.

Longer relationship

The two organisations have worked together for several years, beginning with the Climate Action Design Thinking Challenge hosted on Infosys Springboard, the company's free digital learning platform.

That collaboration was followed by support for the Global Credential of Entrepreneurial Education alongside Telstra Foundation. Infosys later backed the credential again and sponsored the Indigenous Entrepreneur of the Year category at the Teens in Business Awards, while employees took part as judges and mentors.

This new stage broadens that earlier work by moving beyond Australia and setting a defined target for student participation. It also sharpens the focus on groups that education and business advocates often identify as underrepresented in both technology training and start-up networks.

Wider targets

The programme sits within Infosys' broader education and skilling agenda. Over the past five years, the company says it has reached more than 15 million people through digital skilling initiatives and aims to extend digital skills to 18 million people by 2030, with an emphasis on students, teachers, and underrepresented communities.

For Young Change Agents, the partnership adds corporate backing to its entrepreneurship education work for young people. The latest effort links that work more directly to economic resilience and access to opportunity, especially for communities that have not always been well served by mainstream pathways into the technology sector.

The emphasis on underserved groups may also resonate with policymakers and employers concerned about the size and diversity of the future technology workforce. As demand for digital skills has grown, educators and industry groups have repeatedly pointed to unequal access to equipment, networks, role models, and early career guidance as barriers for many students.

By tying mentoring and pitching sessions to classroom-style problem-solving, the programme aims to expose participants to both business ideas and the people who work in the sector. That can be significant for students who may not otherwise see technology and entrepreneurship as realistic career options.

Over the next year, the organisations say delivery will prioritise youth agency, economic resilience, and more equitable access to opportunities, while collecting stories from participants about their experiences in the programme.

Infosys employees have already been involved in related initiatives as judges and mentors, and the expanded programme formalises that role for a wider group of students across two countries. The 500-student target provides a measure of scale as the partnership shifts from a mainly Australian collaboration to a trans-Tasman programme with a stronger inclusion focus.