Business Venture Competition: 7 finalists selected

More than 1450 teams entered New Zealand's first business-planning competition. The entries ranged from weather forecasting, fashion design and kids' supermarket trolleys to on-line games, automated library systems and an eco-exhaust pipe.

Bridget Wickham, chief executive of the Great New Zealand Business Venture, said the number of contestants was overwhelming.

"The level of interest indicates New Zealanders have a lot of enthusiasm for building businesses and giving it a go."

The competition began in March, and consisted of three phases. Entrants submitted their business idea, a business case and then a detailed, 30-page business plan.

By the beginning of the third phase, the original 1450 entrants were whittled down to around 270. Now, on the day of the final awards ceremony, there are only seven budding entrepreneurs left with a chance to win a main prize of $80,000 or one of the three runner-up prizes of $40,000.

"The judges were looking for businesses that demonstrated global potential, breakthrough innovation, scalability and a strong indication of market acceptance," said Bridget Wickham.

"All of our seven finalists demonstrated those qualities and showed a huge amount of passion for their new business ideas.

"With the help of their mentors they put together first-rate business plans that promise to grow into successful companies."

In many cases the competition finalists have been prepared to sacrifice secure incomes to pursue their dreams fulltime.

CREM2000.COM


Entrepreneurs: Samina Anwar, Tim Muhundan

Area: Auckland

Category: Software Technology

Samina Anwar and Tim Muhundan started designing and implementing e-commerce sites three years ago. But they found that it was taking them too long to launch the sites to the market and that most of their customers wanted to build and manage their own.

However, there was no tool on the market that would allow e-tailers to do this, so the pair re-developed CREM2000.

Their aim with CREM2000 (Customer Relationship and e-commerce Manager) was to provide customers with the tool to build and manage a scaleable e-business themselves - one that can deliver secure order processing as well as drive a rich one-to-one marketing campaign.

They aimed to remove the complexity and risk, so that anyone could create an e-business with a few mouse-clicks.

CREM2000 has already earned market acceptance in New Zealand, with Auckland International Airport using it.

Currently, Anwar and Muhundan are busy working on the soon-to-be-released version 4 of CREM2000, designed to be run on Microsoft Windows 2000 Data Centre Server and able to handle millions of customers with zero downtime. The new international version will support 80 languages, all currencies and is designed to be hosted by Application Service Providers.

Samina Anwar and Tim Muhundan work on the business full-time but have not had a pay cheque for more than a year. All their profits are being ploughed back into the business.

The Turbo-Chiller


Entrepreneurs: Stephen White, Josephine Serrallach, Esther Garland.

Area: Palmerston North.

Category: Energy and environment

The Turbo-Chiller is the brainchild of Stephen White, a chemical engineering expert with more than 15 years' experience in research and in the oil and gas industry.

The Turbo-Chiller has been designed to increase the power output of gas turbines in power generation plants by cooling the turbine inlet-air.

After two years' working on this technology, the company recently completed a prototype of the Turbo-Chiller and is now forming a partnership with an energy-supply company.

Inlet-air cooling is a relatively new market opportunity that is growing rapidly in North America. The Turbo-Chiller is targeted at gas turbine manufacturers and engineering contractors worldwide, especially in hot, humid climates where refrigerated systems such as the device can generate more electricity than other cooling systems.

The team now aim to install field demonstration units and begin marketing the Turbo-Chiller overseas.

X-Sport


Entrepreneurs: Angelina Ashcroft, Paul Ashcroft.

Area: Ohakune.

Category: Sports/leisure technology.

Angelina and Paul Ashcroft have invented an exhilarating, adrenalin-pumping bobsleigh ride that compares in speed and sensation to the Olympic bobsled, but is completely safe. They describe it as designed to "take you to the edge and back again."

The ride, which was invented by Angelina and uses technology developed by Paul, a civil engineer, has a number of appealing features. These include its application year-round on skifields, its appeal to a wide range of ages and its safety.

The Ashcrofts have worked in the industry for five years and the bobsleigh is an idea they have been considering for some time. They are negotiating with a skifield to install it in time for the 2001 ski season.

Over the next year they will focus on marketing the bobsleigh ride internationally. It can be manufactured entirely in New Zealand for installation by overseas contractors.

Bookrite


Entrepreneurs: John Allan, Jeremy Palmer, Brett Penlington, Mark Feenstra.

Area: Auckland.

Category: Tourism.

Bookrite is an application service provider of e-commerce services to the travel and tourism industry, adding a real-time booking functionality to the websites of travel and tourism suppliers.

The concept for Bookrite was developed three years ago and has been tested and improved with two in-bound Australasian travel operators.

Bookrite has recently won a major contract with Tourism Victoria, who held a worldwide search for a supplier of this kind of service.

Like many of the other entrepreneurs in this competition, the Bookrite team members had been juggling full-time jobs with their new business, but they abandoned their other sources of income six months ago to pursue their vision full-time.

If the Bookrite team win one of the prizes, they will use it on more marketing.

Mole Snap


Entrepreneurs: Adrian Bowling, Rob Nichol, Mark Gray.

Area: Auckland.

Category: Health.

Many deaths from melanoma could have been avoided with early detection. The Mole Snap project offers low-cost, readily accessible and accurate melanoma screening technology.

The team consists of engineer Adrian Bowling, dermatologist Mark Gray and accountant Rob Nichol.

Mole Snap offers a screening solution through an innovative melanoma camera and supporting technologies. A complete diagnosis of a patient's moles and recommended action plans can be provided in 15 minutes at a GP's clinic for less than half of the cost of visiting a specialist, and with an accuracy far greater than manual inspections.

Mole Snap is at an early stage of development of a prototype and the team aim to have the product launched to world markets within the next year.

Rennacs Autoscanner


Entrepreneurs: Glenn Thorley, Wendy Thorley, Allan McFall, John Hurst.

Area: Waikato.

Category: Manufacturing.

Over the past 15 years electronic systems have revolutionised the vehicle and automotive service industry. Today's cars can have up to 15 on-board computers - making it difficult for some mechanics to keep up with the rapidly changing technology.

Glenn Thorley has invented a fast, simple and affordable solution which takes much of the guesswork away from a mechanic's diagnosis and allows workshops to perform a cost-effective, reliable test and repair first time.

The system is simpler and more "universal" than any other diagnostic tool on the market.

The software runs on any IBM-compatible PC. When hooked up to a vehicle, it will diagnose any areas not running smoothly.

The target market for the Rennacs AutoScanner is garages and individual mechanics.

The product's value to an automotive technician is that the software can automatically read the self-diagnostic information from a greater range of vehicles than any other system.

For the public, the AutoScanner means motorists can be assured of a more thorough tune-up, diagnosis, pre-purchase or pre-holiday check.

Radiopie.com


Entrepreneurs: Stefan Reynolds, James Marris, Stuart Smith, John Brewerton, Geoff Thompson, Tim White, Anthony Hurst, Heemi Hill.

Area: Waikato.

Category: Entertainment.

Combining web-based technologies, media and entertainment, Radiopie.com offers personalised audio services using the internet.

Targeted at the lucrative 25-44 age group, Radiopie.com will offer their customers a wide range of audio products that are personally relevant to the customer.

The Radiopie.com group has recently grown to eight people, taking on experts in strategy, finance, technology and radio, and is now one of the larger teams to compete in the competition.

The next step for Radiopie.com is to finalise development of their website. The prototype is already up and running.