November 6, 2009
Three entrepreneurial Kiwi companies with real potential to make strong
international marks on their specialist sectors have shared the $1
million in funding offered by the inaugural University of Auckland
Business School Entrepreneurs’ Challenge for 2009.
Coffee roasters Allpress Espresso, smart water meter technology developers Outpost Central and hot water heating control technology company Senztek have all topped the pool of more than 100 companies which put their names forward for a share of the money, donated as part of a $3 million gift by ex-pat international financier Charles Bidwill.
Launched in July, the Challenge will grant loans to the three successful companies on favourable terms and rates in order for them to move through the critical stages of their growth into international companies.
The companies will also receive mentoring from highly qualified business professionals and an increased profile in New Zealand and overseas.
“We have been absolutely blown away by the standard and numbers of entrants,” Business School Dean Professor Greg Whittred says.
“If this inaugural year is anything to go by, our judging panels will have an extremely difficult time in years to come. Well over 100 companies took part this year, and all presented business plans which promised great potential in terms of enterprise, entrepreneurship and export.
“Our benefactor Charles Bidwill has been very impressed with what his gift has achieved in its first year, and the Business School is very appreciative of what the Challenge has given us: an opportunity to further strengthen ties between academia and the business world.”
The Challenge marks an escalation in the School’s commitment to supporting the growth of promising small and medium-sized enterprises, and will enhance New Zealand’s economic growth and productivity by turning ideas into profitable products and services that can be marketed and distributed, Professor Whittred says.
In turn, the School’s activities will further create opportunity and prosperity, in association with its existing entrepreneurial ecosystem that includes The ICEHOUSE, the New Zealand Leadership Institute, the student-initiated Spark $100k Challenge and other entrepreneurial programmes.
The Business School's executive-in-residence and Challenge investment committee chairman Brian Hannan says all three winners reflect the ethos of the competition.
“Actually, all five finalists displayed clarity of purpose that reflected in not only what their companies did but how they talked about their businesses,” he says.
“No matter what the subject – marketing, people culture, sense of enterprise, risk-taking – that clarity shone through and captured the attention of the judges.”
The five finalists underwent an extensive due diligence process, including presentations to the high-powered investment committee and visits to each of the businesses.
From the 108 official entrants representing 40 industries, 14 qualifiers were selected for further scrutiny and five finalists chosen.
