Sam Donovan

"I think what’s unique to the Business Navigators programme is the need for adaptability and thinking on the spot, because in normal lectures you don’t get that opportunity to engage as much. But Business Navigators is such a close-knit community, so it’s a really great space to learn. When someone asks you a question, you have to adapt and think on the spot."

"I think the best thing that I’ve experienced so far during the Business Navigators programme is just seeing all the guest speakers come in. First of all, Jamie Beaton and FZ Jiang, who came in and taught us for our first six weeks – it was so insightful to learn about their journey. It was great to relate to them, as they came from the University of Auckland as well. I also think Rod Drury from Xero, who was our guest speaker in the first week, was amazing, just amazing. The lived experiences that he shared and the knowledge that he could impart just from answering our questions was also so insightful and I really valued that."

"Of course I would recommend Business Navigators to other Commerce students! I think every Commerce student as a first year would really benefit from this opportunity, just because it’s such a different course to everything else that you’re offered at university. As a second-year student I have had the experience to do a few other courses, and this programme is extremely unique.

"One thing that I would really recommend is just learning and applying those lived experiences from the guest speakers. That’s the best thing to get out of this programme – especially in Business 113, with all these different guest speakers coming in. They’ve lived their lives, they’re experienced in the industry, and they’ve had experiences that they can apply to your theoretical knowledge – and that really helps you understand and contextualise things."