Kitchen welcomes women’s support
Five female-led businesses have been given their share of half a million dollars in lending to help fast-track their growth plans.
Pomegranate Kitchen, DermNet, Dove River Peonies, Memory Foundation and ShearWarmth will each take a cut of the $500,000 funding pool, as part of the SheEO initiative.
SheEO is a global scheme that seeks 500 women to contribute $1000 each to create a funding pool of $500,000.
The money is then distributed among five female-led ventures as an interest-free loan.
Rebecca Stewart, co-founder of Pomegranate Kitchen, a Wellington catering company that employs former refugees as cooks, said the support and money from SheEO meant the company would be able to put its growth plan into action.
That plan would allow her to double the number of cooks getting work experience, training and employment, Stewart said.
It will also enable Pomegranate Kitchen, which offers Middle Eastern-style food for group catering events and individual lunch delivery, to expand its products and services.
‘‘Being one of the first groups to receive the loan is an honour and a vote of confidence for our business,’’ Stewart said.
‘‘We have exciting plans for growth that are going to make a real difference for more former refugees and their families.’’
SheEO was launched in New Zealand in October, fronted by My Food Bag co-founder and former Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung.
Of the businesses that applied, 100 met the criteria, and 10 finalists were announced in February. That was then narrowed down to five.
The five winners will have to meet to determine how much each business will get. The initiative does not offer an even split of the funds.
SheEO was the brainchild of Canadian businesswoman Vicki Saunders, who operates the scheme in Canada and the United States.
In December, Gattung said the investors, who were called activators, not only gave money, but could also offer their support and become mentors.
‘‘It’s signing on to give women a leg up, because it’s so much harder for women at that stage of their business to get funding.’’
In the US, just 4 per cent of venture capital funding goes to women. In New Zealand, there was no equivalent data, she said.
Businesses must pay back the loan in full within five years. At that point, five new businesses are chosen.
So far, all the US and Canadian businesses chosen by the initiative had been successful.