Five fledgling firms chasing $10k

A plant-based icecream maker and a skin care producer are among five fledging enterprises vying to win $10,000 in the final of a Taranaki start-up business competition.

Venture Taranaki selected the five finalists in the PowerUp Ideas competition after reviewing two-minute video pitches submitted by 50 young business entrepreneurs.

Venture Taranaki enterprise adviser Shaan Davis said the response had been overwhelming, with a high calibre of ideas submitted.

‘‘It was an extremely hard decision to pick just five,’’ Davis said.

The submitters were involved in an eight-week workshop to help build business plans on starting and growing an enterprise, before the finalists were chosen.

The finalists include Glen Stephens of Sol + Sea-skincare, Karen Danenhauer from MamaGaia-recycling, Lauren Oehme and Leon Power of Nano Bubble-agri-tech, Remy Zynfogel of Calypso Science-tidal technology, and Jenni Matheson, Mrinali Kumar and the team from Kinda Ice Cream.

Over the next two months the finalists will receive tailored support

to help them move forward with their ideas.

In June each will pitch their ideas to judges, with the winner taking home $10,000 to take their idea to the next level.

Venture Taranaki chief executive Justin Gilliland said the PowerUp competition helped to

connect enterprises, ideas and individuals with a range of new and existing services and opportunities to help them grow their capability and ultimately get their enterprise up and running and growing.

‘‘We encourage people within the any other community

who have a business idea, who want to develop their entrepreneurial skills, or have an early-stage start-up to engage with us,’’ she said.

Stephens, of Sol + Sea, said he couldn’t recommend the PowerUp programme highly enough.

Kumar, the founder of Kinda

Ice Cream, said the aim was to see the brand in every supermarket across New Zealand and make tasty plant-based alternatives the norm.

‘‘At this stage, the main challenges we face for getting our product into the market are commercialisation related, branding and getting investment ready,’’ she said.

‘‘Our hope is the programme will support us through these challenges and achieving our goals.’’

VENTURE TARANAKI Plant-based icecream makers Kinda Ice Cream are among five finalists from the Venture Taranaki PowerUp Ideas competition. A winner will be selected in June. Pictured from left are Kinda Ice Cream’s Mrinali Kumar, Brian Huynh, Regina Van de Velden-Cachuela, Jenni Matheson and Maria McGrath.

VENTURE TARANAKI New Plymouth entrepreneur Glen Stephens is behind Sol +Sea skincare and one of five finalists from the Venture Taranaki start up programme. A winner will be selected in June.